From the time I started organizing the kitchen in my home, I struggled with how to store spices.  I needed to be able to find them easily and use them with a minimum of fuss.  I saw a magazine article of a woman with this beautiful collection of spices organized in standard-looking spice jars.  She talked about how much she loved having them all in the same beautiful containers.

So without giving it a lot of thought, I went out and bought a few spice jars that looked like hers and transferred a few of my spices into them to try out the idea.  These were about the same size and shape as the original containers, so transferring the spices into them was easy.

Unfortunately, that’s when the problems started.  The lids didn’t stay closed well, and I worried about spices staying fresh.  I also couldn’t come even close to fitting a measuring spoon into the jar.  I had to unscrew the lid to measure anything, and that inevitably resulted in spills because the spices tended to collect in the threads at the top of the jar.  If I had to pour spices into a measuring spoon, I wasted spices, again due to spills.

I also had problems storing spices in my pantry, which is deep.  Small things tend to get lost if they get too close to the back.  I decided to use two of the drawers in my kitchen island to store spices, so next I looked for jars that would fit.  After googling “best spice jars,” I  found these little beauties close to the top of the results.

Amazon sells the Libbey Vibe Mini Glass jars in a set of 12.  Each one holds 4.5 ounces.  They have high-quality stoppers that are airtight to preserve freshness.  A tablespoon can fit completely into the top of the jar, which makes measuring convenient and spill-free.

These are a little over 2 1/2 inches tall, so they fit perfectly in the drawers in my island.  I use an anti-slip drawer liner underneath the jars to keep them from sliding around.  Amazon also has chalkboard labels especially for these jars.  I just made labels with my Brother P-Touch label maker because it was functional enough and was something I already had.

I know that spices are best stored out of direct light, but since I store these in drawers, I don’t really worry about that.

I’m a huge Food Network fan, and I sometimes see celebrity chefs using the same jars.  That tells me I made a great choice.

Do you have a great system for organizing spices?  Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments section.

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