My $20 Space-Saving Cabinet Hack in a Tiny Kitchen

If you have drawers in your kitchen right now, cherish them. Yes, I’m talking drawers where you store silverware, dish towels, cooking tools, and basically anything else that you regularly use in the kitchen. When I moved to my new apartment, I quickly discovered that there isn’t a single drawer in my kitchen. You heard that right — not one! Which means that I can’t even make use of the OXO organizer Kitchn’s executive lifestyle director loves, these expert-approved drawer organizers, or this chic tray to tidy up a junk drawer. One particular downside of this design is the lack of a spice drawer. To remedy this, we’d initially shoved four roommates’ worth of seasonings into our cabinet, taking up almost an entire shelf and wasting precious storage space. That is, until I decided to think vertically with these $20 wall-mounted floating shelves.

These handy shelves come in a set of two and are perfectly sized to hold up to a whopping 18 spice jars each. They’re made of durable steel with bars that are positioned low enough to easily see which spice you’re looking for, but high enough that they won’t fall out. You can also store heavier items like olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, or other condiments because it can carry up to 40 pounds.

You do need to have a power drill for installation, but putting them up was a breeze. We ended up using smaller anchors and screws than what was provided in the pack — they were too large for our brittle walls. Once we sorted that out, all it required was simple measuring, installing the metal plates provided, and then sliding the rack on. I especially love the sliding design because we didn’t have to navigate drilling an entire shelf into the wall.

These shelves are also extremely customizable to place wherever suits your needs. For instance, you could hang them inside your cabinet doors to keep your spices away from sunlight (as advised by spice pros!) while still freeing up storage space.

An added perk of these shelves is that my roommate remarked how cozy they make our kitchen feel. There’s a lived-in quality that they add to the space, in addition to the ease of having seasonings at the ready and an entire section of our cabinets now available. Next task on the list: buying matching spice jars!

Buy: Wall Mounted Spice Rack Organizer, $19.99

This post originally appeared on Kitchn. See it here: The $20 Organizer That Saved so Much Cabinet Space in My Tiny Kitchen