Homemade Pallet Spice Rack- DIY Makeover



I wrote in a previous post how many spices I use, and how the little bitty spice racks I see them selling all over doesn't hold nearly enough spices for me, and the few I've seen that seem somewhat large enough are extremely over priced. I was overjoyed when my husband made me a homemade spice rack made entirely out of pallet wood. It was beautiful and rustic and perfect and held so many spices....



However, when I got matching jars to fill the whole thing, I saw that despite it holding 32 spice jars... it wasn't enough. I still had more spices and spice mixes in my cabinets that wouldn't fit on my spice rack. But since I don't like a cluttered look, and as it is, having a spice rack on the counter was a compromise aesthetically to me to take into account my cooking style, I did not want to build another spice rack next to it, because. I felt that would be too much. But whatever, I just was happy to deal with it.


My husband, Mike, though, decided he needed to improve my spice rack. It bothered him that the wood wasn't sanded down enough, and it looked too rustic. Mike noticed that it was a bit lopsided, something that I had not noticed at all. So he took it apart to fix it up and rebuild it, sanded down everything with an electric sander, and adjusted the shelf lengths so that it wouldn't be lopsided.

Because he was taking it apart, I asked my husband if he would mind adding an extra shelf or two to the rack so that I could store more spices (maybe even all of mine) on it. Mike measured the height of my jars and built the shelves accordingly. (The first time he built it I wasn't using uniform sized spice jars, so he made the shelves big enough to fit the largest ones, but now that I'm using smaller ones the shelves can be smaller.)


With the two extra shelves I now am able to fit an extra 16 spices onto my rack, while taking up the same amount of counter space as before, so that's awesome. I just need to go buy more containers to fit the last two shelves, and then find the chalk to finish labeling all my jars. (There is room on the top shelf but still beneath the cabinets.)

Though the rustic look was awesome, it didn't exactly fit my color scheme in my kitchen, eggshellf/offwhite, cherry, and dark grey, so my husband painted the spice rack with a cherry stain that we had in our house. Its not exactly the same shade as the cabinets, but its close enough that it now has a more cohesive look, and the spice rack looks like it was meant for my kitchen.


I'm in love. I really liked the spice rack before, but with this makeover, it is simply out of this world!

My oldest son, Lee, is convinced that this my husband's absolute best building project ever. I'll admit, it is definitely way up there, one of his best, but he's made so many awesome DIY projects that I can't pick just one favorite!


How many spices do you use? Would 32 jars on a rack be enough for you, or would 48 be enough, or would a spice rack this size still mean you have overflow and need to keep spices elsewhere too?
Where do you store your spices?
Does this look like a project you'd attempt?

Penniless Parenting

Mommy, wife, writer, baker, chef, crafter, sewer, teacher, babysitter, cleaning lady, penny pincher, frugal gal

21 Comments

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  1. I LOVE your upgrade! Really enjoyed reading about some of your other pallet projects the other day. You guys are so creative and resourceful. :)

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  2. Looks awesome. Totally like something out of an expensive kitchen shop!

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  3. My spice drawer holds 36 jars, and yes, I still have some overflow. Mostly the rest of the larger packages (since I buy commonly used ones in bulk) and a few orphan/rarely used spices or mixes (eg. tortiere spice). These are kept together in a basket in my pantry.

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    1. when I kept spices in bags in the pantry I could never find what I need/know what I had, so it all ended up in the trash.

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    2. It's only the excess that doesn't fit in jars, and the rarely used or particularly bulky (eg. cinnamon sticks)spices that are in the pantry. When a jar is almost empty, I look in the spice basket first before adding the spice to my grocery list. I'm not perfect about it, but it works well enough for me. I couldn't handle all my regularly used spices being in bags in a basket though.

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  4. lovely idea have to ask somebody to make me one

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  5. Great job Mike! Looks wonderful in the kitchen. I like all the little jars too. I don't really have the space but for about 8 large jars, so when Kroger puts their canned spices on sale for 1/2 off I switched out the out dated ones and now have them hanging via magnets on my back door. Works great because at a glance I can see what I need. I use about 20 spices overall, I'm a bit of bland girl.

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    1. I can't even begin to imagine what it would look like to have all my spices hanging from magnets... lol. Yea I really like a lot of different spices. 20 isn't so little. I have a friend that literally uses onion, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika.

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  6. Love it!! Where did you get the cute jars??

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    1. From a local cheap store... And that was the most expensive part of the project. Because they were around a dollar a jar, so you can imagine how much the lot cost me....

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  7. I love your rack! I think mine would be about as full as yours, but I would have to figure out a place for that size rack first. :) Thanks for your inspiration!

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    1. Thank you! How much kitchen countertop space do you have? This doesnt take up so much room, since its only a few inches deep, it just takes more room in height.

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  8. I love it! It fits perfectly, and looks built in.
    Do you spices get buggy from sitting out on the counter?

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    1. With jars that seal properly I don't find they get buggy. Plastic topped jars that don't necessarily seal properly when closed are more likely to get buggy in my experience.

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  9. My spice jars stand on little steps on a cupboard shelf. I bought the steps at Target. They're like risers that a choir would stand on, making it possible for me to see at least the top part of each bottle so I can grab the right one. I'm not sure how many there are; I think closer to 36 than 48, maybe a little less than 36 but surely more than 20.

    The spices we use most stand on the shelf in front of the first step. The others are in alphabetical order for easy locating.

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  10. Love the project and how it turned out. I am a bit of an absent-minded fan of your blog ... don't always remember to check for the latest posts, but always enjoy reading when I do. Your dedication to saving money is to be admired. I am always thrifty and don't spend money unless I have to ... or, in the case of a vacation, when I really really want to! At my age (early 60s), thriftiness is a lifestyle and I can't imagine spending more money on anything, if it's possible to get it cheaper. Keep up the great work, and don't let the odd troll get you down. I am looking forward to your book.

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  11. That is a great way to organize spices! By the way, where can we get the labels from? Thanks in advance Penny! :)

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