Dry ingredient dispensers?

[puntloos]

Hey, what kind of storage/dispensers have you designed(built?) into your kitchen are you using for often-used stuff with long shelf life? And importantly: does it actually work as well as you imagined?

 

Would love to hear ideas in particular about bulkier stuff like pasta, rice, flour, peas? E.g.

 

 

(ideally a little more elegant, but you get the idea)

Is the time spent filling these worth it? I hear waitrose is rolling out bulk stuff so I imagine you go there with a large 'bucket' and go home?

 

But also spice racks - are there any that actually make your life easier? I currently just have two shelves (a-m and n-z) to rummage through, which works fairly well, but I can be convinced some setups could be more efficient.. 

 

Maybe this works really well:

 

Or maybe it just looks cute but suddenly you can only store a tiny amount of bottles or you keep on spilling, or it doesn't fit all sizes or..

 

 

[jack]

46 minutes ago, puntloos said:

Or maybe it just looks cute but suddenly you can only store a tiny amount of bottles or you keep on spilling, or it doesn't fit all sizes or..

 

Personally, I prefer a shallow drawer that you can lay the spices down in so you can see the labels.

[mafaldina]

I just have them in a couple of drawers and until recently laid flat like Jack, the new(ish) Sainsburys jars are shallow enough to sit upright, you can get many more in (I write what it is on lid) and reuse them to fill with my home ground spices so gradually converting to those.

[ryder72]

Always recommend bulk items in deep drawers in larder cupboards at waist/chest height for easy access. Containers for these could be clear glass jars, easily avialable.

 

Spices either in wide drawers or on wall unit shelves but never under worktop in slim pullout units. Too much of a pain getting to them

 

[jack]

49 minutes ago, mafaldina said:

I just have them in a couple of drawers and until recently laid flat like Jack, the new(ish) Sainsburys jars are shallow enough to sit upright, you can get many more in (I write what it is on lid) and reuse them to fill with my home ground spices so gradually converting to those.

 

Ha. As it happens, we don't have our spices laid out in a shallow drawer as I suggest - we have them upright like yours, to fit more in.

[oldkettle]

We use one of those door racks https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chrome-Spice-Holder-Kitchen-Cupboard/dp/B00G42GHEG/ for spices and find it quite convenient. Would need a separate one for wider jars. 

[puntloos]

Frankly my current view is effectively eye height and just an open shelf. Clearly any 'clever system' itself needs space, so perhaps a set of thin shelves might help improve floorspace.

I wonder how much shelf height is optimal. With many layers of pots, having an overview (looking both on top of, and past the first layer of things on a shelf) is helpful, so cramming shelves too close together will inhibit that view..

 

Unless perhaps one could design a certain staggered layout..

[mafaldina]

All depends how many herbs and spices one has and uses regularly, I have 2 60cm drawers full plus the unground spices in sealed plastic containers in a dark cupboard. We use a lot of herbs and spices, they need to be in the dark and then they will keep for a couple of months ground or longer whole, they go off quickly with light.I buy unground once or twice a year when I can get to Brick lane and raid the Asian supermarket, most of the herbs I use fresh in summer (in the poly tunnel, they go from April to November, parsley, chives, sage, thyme go all year and dry the others for winter use.

 

[daiking]

Meh,