15 Smart Ways To Reuse A Spice Rack Around Your Home For Extra Storage

Maybe your culinary experiments have made your spice collection outgrow your current spice rack. If that's the case, don't toss it quite yet. Whether you have one meant to be hung on a wall, a spinning one meant for countertops, or a small, simple one tucked into a cabinet, there are a multitude of ways to upcycle and reuse a spice rack around your home. All it takes is a little bit of creative thinking.

When looking for a rack to flip into a DIY, you'll want to make sure it's sturdy. However, if you found a great contender but it's a little worse for wear, there are some easy ways you can fix it. For example, if you found a vintage one at the thrift store with loose spindles, fix it with a bit of wood glue. If you have a spinning rack that wobbles a little at the base, flip it over and tighten its screw. If you plan to paint during your DIY, clean any grime or grease from the rack with soap and water so the finish goes on smoothly. More than anything, have fun! Putting something destined for the trash to use around your home is creative, fun, and thrifty. Let's check out some possibilities.

We're always looking for ways to get rid of annoying wires, and TikTok user @yep.vanessa saw a solution in an IKEA BEKVAM spice rack. Power strips are particularly unsightly, but often necessary around televisions to power the TV and other components. She realized that a power strip fits inside the spice rack perfectly, hiding the chaos while keeping the outlets easily accessible. These spice racks can be easily painted to blend in or match your decor, and even if you're buying it new, you'll spend less than $10 on this project.

If you have an unused countertop spice rack lying around, why not turn it into DIY craft supply storage? TikTok user @kaynicjournals cleaned out the jars for a spice rack and then used them to hold small crafting and art supplies. Fill the jars with items like clips, buttons, fasteners, sewing needles, or other small items to make crafting supplies easy to find. Label the jar lids for even easier access!

Similar to the tip above, jewelry-makers can also repurpose a caddy as a bead organizer. Sort your beads by color, material, type, or size using the empty jars from the rack. If any jars are missing, you can often easily find replacements that fit. Just make sure they're the right size and shape. These 3 oz. spice jars from Amazon typically work well with most countertop spice racks.

This upcycle is perfect for plant parents: turn a shelf rack into a water propagation stand. You can grow hydrangeas, coleus, and lots of other plants in water. The best part? You don't need the original jars, so this DIY is perfect for a rack that is missing some. Instead, gather narrow containers that can house your small clippings. Small vases, jars, and even shot glasses would work. Fill them with water, insert your plant cuttings, and display them on your new propagation shelf!

If you're struggling to find your favorite bottles of nail polish, then this hack is for you! All you need is a wooden, shelf-style hanging spice rack. For this DIY, @bluecollarprints painted the rack to match their decor, adding decals and other items to elevate the look. Then, they simply attached the spice rack to the wall, filled it with bottles of nail polish, and ended up with an organizing solution that also puts the colorful bottles on display.

Not every spice rack upcycle needs to be an aesthetic one! In this case, you can use a simple wire spice rack (which you'd usually add to the inside of a cabinet door) to create convenient hanging tool storage. Simply attach the spice rack to a fence, wall, or other vertical surface and hook the handles of your tools through it for easy, inexpensive storage for hammers, pliers, pruners, or nearly any other hand tool.

Small bathrooms can be a storage challenge, but TikTok user @mimamiry put an IKEA BEKVÄM spice rack to work to create a solution. For this easy DIY, simply buy or reuse a BEKVÄM spice rack. Paint it to match your bathroom, then hang it upside down on your bathroom wall. This turns the bottom of the rack into a convenient shelf to hold small items, and you can add hooks to the upper part to hang hand towels or other bathroom essentials.

TikTok user @whitneyleighmorris put a hanging wooden spice rack to work as a decor piece in her kitchen. She found a spice rack in a style she liked, cleaned it up, painted it, and hung it in the kitchen to display small plates and bowls, a small flower arrangement, and a few commonly-used spices. You could use this in any area of the home. Display family photos or small works of art in a living room or show off framed kids' artwork and treasures they've gathered in a family room.

If you (or your kids) are the artsy types, why not turn a spinning countertop spice rack into an art caddy? Simply clean out the jars and fill them with crayons, short colored pencils, paint brushes, chalk pastels, or any other drawing supplies you use often. This makes it easy to see your drawing supplies and find the exact color you're looking for. You could even secure a cup or other container to the top to hold larger items.

For another crafty way to use spinning spice racks, look no further than your collection of craft paints. Standard 2 oz. bottles fit perfectly into the openings of these spice racks. And the great thing is that if you've thrifted one or have an old one lying around that's missing the jars, it's perfect for this project. Simply place the bottles of paint into the holes where the jars would usually go, and enjoy finding your paints with ease.

Book displays are always fun, and you can make an adorable, convenient DIY book display shelf from an IKEA spice rack. Paint or decorate it to fit the space, securely attach to the wall, and display children's books, beloved art books, or even your current reads in style. This makes it really easy to change which books you're displaying. You can also add other reading essentials, such as bookmarks, portable booklights, or page flags for easy annotating. 

Cutting boards are essential in the kitchen, but they can also take up valuable space in cabinets or on countertops. Why not put a spice rack to work storing your cutting boards? Simply attach a rack to the inside of a cabinet door or on the side of your kitchen cabinets. Store the cutting boards standing upright in the rack, and they'll always be easy to grab when you need one. Wooden or wire racks are ideal for this project.

Tiered spice racks are designed to save space and make spices easy to find in your kitchen cabinets. But you can use them for so much more. If you have an extensive makeup collection, why not put one to work in your bathroom or dressing area to organize your lipsticks, lip balms, and other makeup? This idea will save you from having to try to sort through items in a drawer or bag, making it faster and easier to look your best. 

If you or someone you know has a collection of beloved action figures, Funko pops, or other figurines, keep your eye out for a spice rack. All you have to do is paint or refinish the rack to fit your decor, hang it securely, and arrange your figurines or action figures on the shelves. This would work well for displaying any small collectibles.

A hanging wooden spice rack with shelves is an ideal solution for organizing office supplies like tape, stamp pads, glue, sticky notes, or other essentials. TikTok user @plantwitchlauri found a spice rack with two shelves, added some twine to the back to hang it with, repainted it, and hung it over her desk to keep her space more organized. This would also work great in a kids' homework area, a kitchen workspace, or in a craft room.