A magnetic spice rack for the kitchen, seems like the perfect way to arrange your spices in order of their frequent usability or in alphabetical order. It's a great way to keep things organized in the kitchen when it comes to your essentials - herbs and spices. When putting together a spice rack, there are many things that come into play, like shelf life for instance of the spices and herbs you're putting away. Also, the best way to store spices and herbs, is to place them in stainless steel containers, with clear lids, to keep them fresh and long-lasting. You don't have to hire a professional to do the job, you are your own handyman (or woman!).
Shelf Life of Herbs and Spices
It is important to know which spice are long-lasting, and which ones will spoil quickly over time. The shelf life of spices and herbs depends greatly from one to the other. So before we get into kitchen remodeling ideas for a rack, we first take a look at how you can differentiate between their shelf lives.
Dried Herbs
Any kind of herb that's been dried and packed, can last you about a year. It can be prolonged, but still the accurate time gap for shelf life is not exact. So approximately taking into consideration its shelf life, let's say it's about a year. If you go with freshly packed herbs that you've personally picked out and stored, then yes you could be replacing these often knowing that they'd not be fresh after a certain lapse in time.
Whole Spices
Spices like cardamom, whole nutmeg, cloves, star anise and so on, will last you about two to four years.
Ground Spices
Powdered spices in any form have a short life span when it comes to storage, and needs to be changed every six months, or even two years depending on how long their freshness can withstand storage conditions. There are ways of knowing this, like checking to see if they still have their aromas intact, or if you sense some growth formation or clumping. Buying them whole and having them ground is a better alternative, since you can frequently replace these after a certain time frame.
Freeze Dried or Dehydrated Foods
Some ground spices like onions, ginger and garlic come in dried form, and can last you about six months depending on how it has been dried. Garlic if granulated can be stored for up to a year, whereas other dried foods should be checked with store owners, on how long they'd last and what alternatives would help.
Custom-made Magnetic Spice Rack
To begin on your project, buy all the necessary tools and things you'll need to put the rack together. For a wall spice rack you'll need the following matter.
- Toothpicks
- 4 oz round clear top tins
- Paper for mixing epoxy
- Paper work surface
- 1/4"x1/6" neodymium magnets (three magnets for each tin will do)
- Pocket knife tweezers
- 100 grit sandpaper
- Cold weld
- Damp paper towel
| Steps Involved | What to Do |
| Step 1 | Use the sandpaper to slightly roughen up the bottom of the first tin container, to have the cold weld stick well to this. |
| Step 2 | Using the damp paper towel, wipe off any dust left off after you've sand the tins. |
| Step 4 | Leave them aside to have any lasting dampness dry up. Using the cold weld steel and hardener of specific colors of black and gray, mix two equal parts of both and add this to your surface for mixing. |
| Step 5 | Using the toothpick, mix in your epoxy and let it attain a blended color tone, and then add three small blotches of this, not bigger than tiny blobs to the back of each tin using help from the toothpick. |
| Step 6 | If you add too much of it to the cold weld, just wipe it off to avoid it from creeping up the side of the magnet, ultimately coating it. Apply the magnet to the epoxy and be careful not to let the metal get attracted to these magnetic pieces. Do the same thing again for each tin, depending on how many spice tins you have in mind to put up. You can always add more of these later if you plan on a bigger spice rack collection. |
| Step 7 | Allow the cold weld to cure for 24 hours after you're done with this task. |
| Step 8 | After your epoxy has dried, you can then place your magnetic tins to a surface that is steel based in nature. You can first put up a steel frame against a wall before getting started, so that you can neatly stack up your magnetic tins in order of preference. |
| Step 9 | Label your spices and herbs using a label maker, and have it neatly stamped down upon the tin's transparent top. That way you can easily identify which spice/herb it is, without any hassles or confusion. |
That's all it takes to put up your spice rack in easy step-by-step plans on how to get it up and running. You can eliminate the option of piling these into your kitchen cabinet, losing all sense of order in the process. Be sure to always keep your tins clean and free from moisture, and frequently check on spices and herbs to discard what needs to be done with, and have them replaced at your convenience.
