DIY Magnetic Spice Rack

 I got tired of my plain, old, dumpy lazy susan spice rack taking up space on my kitchen counter, so I decided to make a wall mounted magnetic spice rack.

for more pictures and DIY fun, go here: angelpeach838.wordpress.com

Step 1: Buy Materials

 1. Sheet of steel (purchased at Lowes). There are many different sizes available, choose the one that best fits your need.

2. Toggle bolts (purchased at Lowes). The spice rack needs to be anchored to the wall if you're putting it into drywall. Mine we're 3/8".

3. Super Glue. I used E-6000 (purchased at Walmart?). The only thing I did not like about this was the drying time. At LEAST 16 hours. It was also stringy and had a tendency to get everywhere, although it did not become tacky right away, so that was good.

4. Neodymium magnets (purchased from eBay). I used 1/4" x 1/16". Next time I would go larger in diameter because I ended up having to use two magnets in order to make a full jar stick to the steel.

5. Spice Jars (purchased online). This is totally up to you. Personally, 4oz is PLENTY big enough. I probably would've gone for 2oz jars, but I couldn't find the shape I was really going for in 2oz (hex shape).

Tools: 
Large drill bit, drill, screwdriver.

Comments

[peterlonz]

Obviously this works quite well, well done.

I have to say I am surprised that a couple of relatively small magnets can reliably hold up a glass jar filled with dry goods.
I don't see anywhere where you specify the magnet type, where to buy, of how to buy ones that are strong enough.
Can you please provide a bit more info.

Peter O

[angelpeach838]

 They're in the first 'buy materials' step :)

But they're neodymium magnets and I got mine from eBay very cheaply :)
This website was very helpful and lists the pull force for many different sizes of magnets.
KJmagnetics.com
Good luck! :)

[gecko_girl3]

KJmagnetics.com is an amazing site. The rare earth magnets are VERY strong. By the looks of it the two used per spice jar should actually hold approximately 5 pounds, so those jars aren't going anywhere unless you want them to.

Great instructable too!!

[IamTheMomo]

It is very attractive and handy, but you have two things going against you. The two enemies of herbs and spices are light and heat - both of which yours are now exposed to. I suggest you put your magnet board on the inside of a cabinet door several feet from the stove. I buy in bulk from Penzeys, and store extas in the freeze in order to keep only very small amounts exposed to the dim light in my spice cabinet.

[sdennis6]

What if I just glued the magnets onto our standard plastic McCormick spice bottles? I feel like this would work but I thought maybe I'm missing something really obvious as to why it wouldn't.

[MEMJIM]

the top'o tha' lid reads like it would be the title of a 'Country Music ' song.

[berglin]

thats pretty funny

[siafulinux]

lol, nice!

[berglin]

These are absolutely brilliant! I prefer the wood spice racks but I also respect creativity and the DIY spirit. I may post pictures of my DIY tool storage, involves laundry detergent bottles and peanut butter jars.

[Spice rack]

Talking about efficiency and space saving. This spice rack sure does make our spices more organize and accessible. Rating 5/5! great post!

[spydyr]

I like your idea. Do you think it would work on the underside of the cabinets? Thats quite a bit of unused space in a kicthen. Maybe putting the magnets on the lids and have them suspened?

[edsobo]

 Lemonie posted a comment on my Instructable pointing me to this comment.

It can be done. :)

[oakback]

 In addition to angelpeach's concerns, you also have to deal with the screws/anchors poking through the bottom shelf of the cabinet.

[angelpeach838]

 My husband actually wanted to do that in the first place, but we decided against it for two reasons. 
1) We were afraid with them hanging down that it would be easier to knock them off, but with a smaller jar this might not be as much of an issue.
2) I wasn't sure of the sturdiness of our cabinets if that makes sense. We had to put quite a hole in the drywall to anchor everything in place, and I really didn't want to do that to our cabinets.

[edsobo]

Given that I am clumsy as all get-out and my wife has nicknamed me Destructor, I was concerned about knocking them off of the new rack, as well.  I think that the magnets we used are plenty strong enough to handle it, though, with the possible exception of the Cyclops.  That was the prototype model.

[spydyr]

I believe industrial epoxy or contact cement would hold it securely in place. I may be wrong too.

[ganglion]

 Nice project. I've been meaning to make a spice rack for ages so might try this one. 

[angelpeach838]

 I would love to see what you come up with!

[Yandle]

Awesome instructable, and I'd like to thank you for linking the container website.. that just opens a world of possibilities  :)

[angelpeach838]

 You're welcome! 

[nanosec12]

I like this project.  I would also like to note that you can paint the sheet of steel to match your wall, essentially hiding it.  If you do decide to paint the steel, make sure the magnets you use are strong enough to hold the jars through the paint, should not be a real issue though.

[angelpeach838]

 Very good idea!

[mjdavidson1]

I really like this spice rack. Another option instead of using a sheet of steel is using Magnetic paint. The paint itself is not magnetic but contains metal properties that magnets stick to. The nice thing about this paint is it can be painted with your standard wall paint to match the existing wall color. The only difference is it has a slightly different texture than the rest of the wall.

[impulse94]

Instead of drilling, you can get special adhesive/velcro strips that would hold that much weight.  Then you could easily change the position if it doesn't work out the first time.

[angelpeach838]

 I've seen those and I've seen them used to hang up semi-large pictures, but seeing how this was mostly my idea and doing, I didn't want to take the chance of having them come crashing down in the middle of the night or something. My husband would never let me do another home improvement project solo again! lol. And since my jars were kind of big-ish, I just wanted to make sure.

[snotty]

Sticky-backed Velcro is a beautiful thing in terms of function. Especially the industrial grade stuff. It will hold a strong shear force if you use enough of it so it's good for walls. For use under a cabinet, you'd have to make sure the downward force was not loaded on one small area of Velcro but rather shared over a large area.

[Mrschainsaw]

Where did u get the jars??  Buy or re-purpose your old ones?  Thanks!! 

[angelpeach838]

 I ordered them from sks-bottle.com. When you google "small glass jars" you'll get a ton of hits. SKS was fairly cheap, had the black lids I wanted, and it only took three days to receive them. Customer service also replied quickly via email.

[Mrschainsaw]

 That really helps!!  Thanks!!