Spice Stack Rack - (White)
|
List Price: Our Price: $34.95 You Save: $20.04 (36%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $33.95 (click here) Category: Kitchen See more product details |
|---|
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Spice Stack Rack - (White)
Customer Review: Best way to organize spices
Summary: 4 Stars
This has been the perfect solution to the disaster that was my spice cabinet. My spices were originally contained to one small cabinet, but finding a spice jar on demand was impossible. The containers in front blocked the view of the containers in the back. Because I could never find things, I kept buying new jars, and the older jars of the same stuff got shoved to the back where they would quietly languish in obscurity.
After taking inventory (throwing out the ancient stuff, counting the jars I had, and grouping duplicate bottles), I went online to look at spice storage solutions. I wanted something that would hold spice jars that I bought at the store, not something with custom containers that needed filling. I also wanted something that would hold the jars in a single-file arrangement so that I could view them and organize them easily--not in double-depth stacks where I couldn't see the ones in back and it would be awkward to reach around without knocking jars everywhere. The jars needed to be held in place. And finally, I didn't want one of those cluttery spice carousels that would take up valuable counter space--I wanted something that could go into the current spice cabinet, concealed and out of the way, yet accessible for short people like me who stand on tiptoes to see into the upper cabinets.
All of these criteria were met by this handy spice organizer. My spices are alphabetized! I can quickly see what I have and how many I have of it. The dozens of jars are concealed in my upper cabinet, yet when I need a spice, the Spice Stack drawers pull out and drop down so I can see my spices without standing on tiptoes.
The only downside I have encountered so far is the terrible plastic odor. It has been four months since I got the Spice Stack, and I had to leave the cabinet door open for almost two months before the sicky-sweet plastic smell had died down enough to close the cabinet door. There's probably a home remedy-type method to getting rid of the smell, like soaking the Spice Stack in vinegar or something? I just let it air out until the odor was bearable. My husband, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice the smell.
Customer Review: Great organization with few flaws
Summary: 4 Stars
I really, really like this spice rack. It's helped us immensely in the endeavor to organize our limited cabinet space, and the idea is great.
I only have two complaints, both of which I can easily overlook:
1) The rack can hold a wide variety of bottles, but if you want to be able to let the shelves tilt downwards on their own, it's best to have primarily all-plastic spice bottles. Many of ours are glass, and they seem a little too heavy to let the drawers sit in the open position. I thought I heard it starting to crack. Not a big deal, though, I just make sure to use both hands when opening the drawer and not let it rest.
2) This complaint is more a fault of the product than the last one. I like that they tried to give you places for bigger spice bottles, but I think they failed at it. The back row of each drawer has 4 slots instead of 5, which is kind of hard to see in the picture (there really needs to be a bigger picture). The problem is, there are very few spice jars which, if they're wide enough that they won't fit in the front row, are narrow enough to be able to close the drawer. Essentially, there's no reason to take away 3 spice jar slots all totaled. On the other hand, it's only three.
Still, it's strange that they advertise the ability to store up to 60 spices. I really want to know how they do that math. If you're talking normal spice jars, you can fit 27. If you're talking half-height, then double that. There's simply not enough room for 60 no matter how you cut it.
But even with all that, this is still the most creative way that I've seen to store spices in a cabinet. Great product!
Customer Review: Bought 2 - love 'em!
Summary: 5 Stars
First, these are great. They have five narrow spaces in the front and four wider spaces in the back of each drawer. They pull out and lever down conveniently. They fit nicely on our cabinet shelf and really helped to make our spices usable and tidy.
Now for the things that you should be aware of before purchase:
1) The plastic is not flimsy, but it is not sturdy either. The structure wobbles a bit when you use it -- so I pull out the drawers with care. I love this thing and don't want it to break!
2) The spaces are sized to fit your traditional round spice containers (tiny half sizes, full size, and larger sizes in the back), but they do not fit the extra large sizes that you can sometimes get in the grocery. These I put on another shelf. We have a few fancy new square glass bottles and rectangular spice tins that are roughly equivalent in size to the traditional containters. So that you know, these fit in the drawers, but they obviously don't fit the round shape.
3) In the description, I recalled that it said that the shelves could be labeled. No labels are provided. There is space for this, but you will have to cover a colorful, oddly shaped sticker that displays the product name on each shelf. I suspect that our organization scheme may change from time to time as our spice selection changes, and that labeling over the product name sticker will look hokey, so I am letting the label idea go.
Overall, this product was a bit more expensive than I would have wanted to pay for an organizer, but it works quite well.
Customer Review: Solid and strudy
Summary: 5 Stars
I almost didn't buy this product because of some of the negative reviews, but I am so glad that I did purchase it. It is a solid, sturdy product, and am surprised that several reviewers called it flimsy.
Before purchasing this, all of my spices were in a large plastic basket, where they were jumbled up and hard to find. This spice stack makes it possible to access your spices quickly and easily. All of my spices have fit into it, even though I have a rather motley collection of jars from various brands.
It also comes with a pre-printed sheet of labels and one blank sheet of labels that you can add to outside of the drawers. I ended up alphabetizing my spices, so I'm not sure that I'll use these stickers, but it's a nice feature.
Also, a few reviewers complained that when you tip each drawer down (as shown in the photo for the product), the stack is wobbly, but I have not experienced this at all. Each of the three drawers tips downwards so you can find your spices, and even though my drawers are almost all filled, they are very stable. What is really nice is that the drawers pull out so far that you don't even need to tip them down; I can easily access the spice jars in the back rows just by pulling out the drawers.
This handy product has made our pantry so much tidier, and it's great! Highly recommended!
Customer Review: Very nice for organization - a little pricy for what you get
Summary: 4 Stars
Well, after going through reviews on multiple spice organization tools, I received this and couldn't wait to clean up my spice cupboard (it's over the sink and I frequently have to dodge falling spice jars).
First problem was that it didn't fit in my cupboard due to the exhaust fan. I was a little disappointed (thought I measured), however, it fit perfectly in a cupboard still with great access to the stove and lower so you can view the spices easier. I was thrilled to put everything in the rack and find out I don't have any spices left in the cupboard, minus four mainly because they are very large jars or economy bags - I didn't expect it anyways. I gained back so much space! Additionally, I was shocked to find out that it does accommodate larger and wider jars. The picture is quite accurate.
My husband however is a little disturbed by the plastic "hinges" and thinks that it may break easily if left pulled out too long. I don't think this will be an issue (why would i leave it hanging there?), but I will add a comment to the review if this is the case. We did test it briefly and it held, but it's not built to hold lots of weight either. It is a "cheap"-er product, but the hefty price was worth avoiding the duck and dodge of falling spices while trying to find the right one - at least for me.