I saw a magnetic spice rack on the Internet and oh, I wanted one.  But, it was very expensive and I just couldn’t justify the cost (close to $200 with shipping AND it only had space for about 24 spices).  But the idea was in my head.  You know, tiny kitchen, space at a premium, an entire shelf full of spices. 

I kept thinking about how anytime I needed a particular spice I had to dig through the shelf and take everything off of it to find what I was looking for. Then I realized I had the PERFECT space next to the refrigerator behind the back door!  It was like the spice rack was calling to me.  So, I sprang into action.

Actually I sat down at my computer and starting searching for the tin boxes I had seen online. After looking at lots and lots and lots and lots of tin boxes that weren’t the right ones, I finally found them – at Specialty Bottle Company.  Yeah, that’s right, Specialty BOTTLE. And boy did I hit pay dirt.  I love this company.  They are awesome to deal with and they have tons of incredible products including TIN BOXES!!! 

So, I got a bunch of their wonderful boxes at a very reasonable price – the 4 ounce size with the clear top, which hold an entire *normal* size jar of spice (but not those ginormous ones you get at Costco). So the next thing I needed was a piece of metal to stick them to. I bought a piece of stainless steel at Home Depot – bring a magnet when you do this, because you want to make sure it’s the kind of stainless steel that a magnet will stick to (this is an important step, because it’s no fun to put a box of spice on the wall and have it fall off – I’m a funny girl, aren’t I).  This should cost less than $20.  I got a piece that was bigger than I needed so I had room for expansion (someday I want to get magnetic hooks to hang things like cookie cutters – wouldn’t that be nifty!).

I hung the metal on the wall using those plastic wall anchor thingies.  Okay that’s just a lie. Not the wall anchor thingy part. The part about “I” hung the metal on the wall.  I actually just directed the action, my sweet hubby drilled the holes and did the hanging part.  I probably could’ve done it, though.  Okay, that was another lie – good thing I’m not Pinocchio,huh.

I bought magnetic sheets on eBay – the kind with sticky on one side (like those magnets you can get for your business cards, only these were 8-1/2″ x 11″ sheets).  I cut them to fit the bottom of my tins and then just stuck ’em on. I did get some stronger magnets later on for some larger tins with heavier stuff, but that’s another story.

Finally, I bought some printable labels (really little ones, about 1-1/2″ x 1/2″ – base it on the tin size you get). Now at first I printed off all these fancy labels, but as time went on I just started writing on them instead.  And now I have a beautiful spice rack and an entire shelf to fill with stuff.  The only thing I would do differently is to get the tins without the clear tops, because I think the spices would keep better in those (no exposure to light). And I will change them out eventually – may even switch to round boxes.  There’s a link on the home page to Specialty Bottle.

By the way, my spice rack ended up costing about $50 – and I have some leftovers! Here’s the finished product:

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