Spice Drawer Organization

Welcome back to Home with Emily Jean! I am truly humbled by the support I have received since the launch of this blog. You guys are the best!! To show my appreciation, I will be announcing a giveaway on Instagram later this week… so stay tuned! Until then, read ahead to see how I organized my kitchen spice drawer earlier this week.

Since the stay-at-home orders were implemented last year, I’ve gotten a few new cookbooks, tried several new recipes that Vince and I love, and have actually learned to enjoy cooking! With that, I have also expanded my spice collection and subsequently, have needed a better way to store my spices. Now that we’re all settled in the new house, it seemed like a good time to tackle this simple project.

So why did I choose to use a spice drawer rather than a spinning spice rack or a tiered spice rack? Well, I like to keep my countertops pretty minimal to avoid clutter so a spinning spice rack would not be ideal. Also, I tend to knock jars overs and forget about certain spices when they’re layered in front-to-back fashion so a tiered spice rack wouldn’t work. A spice drawer right beside the stove seemed perfect for me… easy to access yet hidden from plain sight.

I started by purchasing some glass spice jars and a spice tray insert from Amazon. There were so many jar options available, but I chose the square/rectangular jars that wouldn’t roll around easily in the drawer (Does anyone else get nervous from the sound of glass clanking?). The jars came with a collapsible silicone funnel, pre-printed clear labels for the jars (not pictured in this post), pre-printed chalk labels for the lids (not pictured in this post), extra labels, and a chalk marker; HOWEVER, I decided to order some cute contemporary spice labels from Etsy instead (pictured below) and love how they look! The spice tray insert is also optional, but it helps position the jars at an angle so that they’re easier to grab from the drawer.

I carefully placed the labels on the empty jars and got down to business.

I filled each labeled jar with its respective spice, initially with the silicone funnel and then without. To be honest, I found it troublesome to clean out the funnel between spices to keep them from mixing so I ended up just pouring the spices directly from jar to jar after the first few and dealt with the minor spillage that occured.

I organized the spices on the tray insert by frequency of use, by type of spice/seasoning/blend, and in alphabetical order. I placed the extra spices that I didn’t use as often and couldn’t fit in this drawer in the cabinet right above. And there we go… I was ready to start cooking!