Fiona, Kaisa & Nathan Judd

This magnetic spice rack is a simple, effective, and (most important) cheap way to clear up counter space. Fiona knows how much I value things organized well. Our kitchen is quite small. In fact, when we moved from renting our first home to our condo the kitchen is the only room that got smaller! Small kitchens, condos, dorms, and other smaller spaces make it necessary to have a well laid out space that you can easily live and work. We had a rotating bamboo spice rack, while nice, took up valuable counter real estate. This is how we cleared that up.

Tools & Materials:

• Drill
• Phillips head driver bit
• 1/8″ drill bit
• Grundtal magnetic bar from IKEA
• Button Magnets
• Glue
• 2 1/2″ course thread all-purpose screws(or 2″+ screws with anchors for your walls)

This project has two parts; First the magnets on the spices:

1. Take the magnets out of the package and put them together in a long row. The button magnets should do this very easily if not automatically after you take them out and set them next to each other.
2. Because magnets have a North and a South pole label them as such. Hold your magnet column and label the top of the top magnet with an “N”. Take the labeled magnet off and subsequently label the new top magnet with an “N”. You’ll use those labels when gluing.
3. Many, if not most, spices will have an indentation on the bottom of the small jar. Squeeze a dollop of glue there and place the “N” of the magnet face up or down. It doesn’t matter which, just be consistent. Let the spice jar with a magnet on bottom sit for 24 hours or as directed on your glue. Note: I first used a hot glue gun which did not work. The hot glue bubbled the plastic container and did not have the staying power of my super adhesive.
4. Make sure when adding additional spices/magnets that the North South is tested on the magnetic bar before glueing or else you’ll have unneccesary gaps.

Place the magnetic bars on the wall, it’s pretty self explanatory but if you must…

1. Place Grundtal magnetic bar in position, drive pilot holes with drill bit through holes on bar.
2. Twist in your screw to hold the magnetic bar, don’t forget the spacers on the back that come with the Grundtal. Continue to screw in the screws with the drill. C’mon people, it’s not that bad.

IKEA also has a cheaper version on the Grundtal. I think it’s their own brand (as opposed to the one with the designer). Those bars were lighter and I didn’t think they would have the magnetic hold for some of the spices. That celery salt is pretty heavy for such a little jar! Voila! You have more counter/cupboard space, you can easily see and find your spices, yet they are out of the way so you’re not constantly moving them trying to get at the Kitchen Aid or Worcestershire Sauce. This was a fun little project and the magnetic spice rack fulfills a need in the niche of kitchen storage in a small galley kitchen.