Sunday, August 3, 2014

Spicy Shelf - and a Giveaway!

Hi, chickens! I've got a review and a giveaway for you today! A few weeks ago I was contacted by the folks who represent Spicy Shelf and asked if I'd like to do a review. I wasn't going to, but didn't respond right away, either. I'm glad I didn't write back with a no because it became clear soon thereafter that this would be a good thing to have.

I've recently been trying to learn to cook more things than maybe the two or three I know at the side of my extremely capable mother. As I don't have the skills she does sometimes I feel frenzied when she says things like "Now add this before this happens" and I feel all "Gah!" because a poke on the spice shelf as it used to stand was no easy task. Things were crammed in, they'd fall over, you'd invariably find three jars of cloves and two of cumin though they are both things that you'd swear have never been used, and where is the stinkin' minced onion? After some naughty words and quite vocal exclamations as to how this was the least efficient cabinet ever(!!!!) I told my mother "We are trying this thing out!" So I responded and said "Oh, my, yes please!"

Here's a bit of a before of one side of the cabinet (because sometimes I'm dumb and forgot to take one of the other side, but trust me it was in worse shape):


This doesn't look terrible, but when you try to work with it it's not user friendly. The lazy susan is supposed to hold commonly used things, but that's not always the case (because my dad will cook things and nothing ends up where it's supposed to because it's easier to find an empty spot than to finagle things into place on a crammed piece of plastic that spins). That wooden box holds a multitude of spices for things my dad "would like to try," which is why there are multiple jars of the aforementioned cloves and cumin (it's easier to buy new than to dig through this cabinet over the stove).

As my mother emptied her cabinets, I put together the Spicy Shelf. At first I thought it was going to be an Ikea adventure and that we'd need to find a child to help us with assembly, but it was really very easy and the directions quite clear on how to turn all these bits into something usable.


The shelves can be adjusted to be wide or narrow, and there are legs of two different heights that you can attach. This is quite a short cabinet, so we made them as wide as possible and squeezed them in side by side. After putting the rarities towards the back (and tossing some things that were from the Stone Age) the cabinet looked so much roomier and more open. We have a round that goes under the shelf, and then one on the shelf itself.


The things on the top right are the new jars of spices. The others are on and under the shelf. My mother took the lazy susan out this evening as she felt she didn't need it anymore since everything else was so  organized and out of the way. It's hard to tell from this photo but there is so much more room on those shelves now.

This is the other side:


The things not used often are out of the way but still accessible, and everything else is easier to grab as you're not trying to sort through a bunch of stuff that you don't even know why you have in the first place. I asked my mother all week "Do you like it? Is it better? Are you glad we did it? Do you like it?" And she does. There's no fear of things toppling, of having to drag chairs over to climb up and poke around, and no wasted time while you pick up every jar but the one you're looking for.

As I said, these cabinets are quite short, but if you have taller cabinets wherein you try to organize things (be it vitamins, medication, and so on) you can see how these shelves can really help to maximize your space:


I'll be honest--at first I thought "Why not just stack things along the back edge without the shelf?" But stacking a bunch of teeny spice jars, one on top of the other, is not fun and not very accessible, and also quite likely to tip when you knock into them.


I should have taken a better before shot, but trust me this is a major improvement. It may not look like the pretty ads, but it really is such a noticeable improvement when you're actually using it.

But wait, there's more!!

Spicy Shelf has generously offered one of my readers one set of two shelves. To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post telling me what you'd use them for. Please note that this is open only to readers in the continental US. I'll leave comments open until 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, August 11, 2014. I'll pick a winner the next dayish.

If you'd like to order some of these for yourself (if I had a dedicated sewing room I know I would use these for my little jars of buttons and bag hardware that reside in a shoe box right now, as well as my thread) I've got a discount you can use. When you check out enter the promo code SPICE5 (that's a five, not an 's' at the end) to receive $5.00 off your order.

See you soon!

I was not financially compensated for this post. I received the product at no charge in exchange for an honest review. The opinions are completely my own based on my own experience. For my complete disclosure policy, click here.

16 comments:

  1. Picking up every spice but the one you are looking for.... I am quite familiar with that! I have about 3 times as many spices as you do, all crowded and stacked in a single cabinet. (Although the fact that there are only 3 jars in that cabinet that are thus far unused makes me happy). It's a veeeerrry annoying situation. I hadn't thought of wrap-around single-depth shelves like this. I like it!

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  2. I would love to use them to organize my cabinets, most especially my baking supplies and spices. They are all such a mess that I don't want to cook at all. I would love something like this. cdahlgren at live dot com.

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  3. Oh my gosh -- that looks brilliant! My spices are in a corner cabinet that has a crazy shape. Things are always jumbled and in a disastrous situation. This could be the answer I was looking for!

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  4. How neat!! I would use them in my quilt room on one of my bookcases!

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  5. I might try them. I have all my spices in baskets with labels on top. I tried the magnet thing, that didn't work for me. One thing that did help with all the other stuff was baskets with label, like one for flour, one for drinks, one for pasta, etc.

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  6. I would absolutely love to use these for my spices! I have a whole shelf full of them and it takes me 5 minutes just to find the spice I need! These are such a great organizational tool, wish I would've thought of it first! lol

    Shannon F
    shannybakes(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  7. I would love my cupboard to look like yours with the new shelves, how great that is!

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  8. Bethany I would use the shelves for spices in the kitchen or button jars in my sewing room. Thanks for the review of these. I hadn't heard of them before.

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  9. Wow, what a great organizing tool. My spice shelves are always a mess and whatever I need has always hidden itself in the back. I really think they are alive and shift around every time I close the cupboard. I would love to win!

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  10. Looks pretty neat. I actually just reorganized my spice cabinet, but I don't have those little shelves. They would work nicely for the small spice jars. Looks great in yours.

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  11. OMG! I've been wracking my brain for months trying to figure out how to make our new kitchen cabinets hold our spices and meds in an accessible way! Holy guacamole! These will be great!

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  12. I have to take everything out of my shelves every time I need a spice, so I end up leaving them on the counter - not pretty! I would use them for our spices!

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  13. This is an awesome idea. I've tried so many things to make my spices easier to find. Right now I have some in a drawer (I really need the drawer space) this would really solve my problem. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. What a great idea! Why can't I think of things like that? My spices and such fill two shelves! Thanks for showing us these. And yes, I would loe to win!

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  15. I would organize my spice cupboard. I have to take every thing out most of the time to find what I want. This would be an awesome help in that area.

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