Sunday, April 14, 2013

My new spice rack

As I said last week, my new kitchen is considerably smaller than my old one.  My husband and I both have a large collection of spices, and nowhere to put them.  So we started looking around...lots of handy little spice racks available... if you have 15 jars or less.  But we have well over 30 jars of spices, and no wall space or doors to hang anything on.

However, I did have an old basket rack that had been nailed to the wall of my old house (though probably started life as an over-the-door unit):


I decided that it would work if I could somehow hang it off the side of my fridge... but how to secure it and make it sturdy and not damage the fridge?

So I some saran wrap and folded it in 4 the long way, and ran that behind each basket/shelf, and secured the ends with fancy leopard duct tape - to look purrty (you can see a little of it in the picture above).  Now, even if I bumped into the rack and it moved, no spice jars would be able to fall out the back.

I went to the hardware store and got two zinc corner braces - sturdy metal bent almost at a 90-degree angle with a hole drilled in one each end.  Something like this:

Everbilt 6 in. Zinc Plated Corner Brace


They were less than $4 each, very sturdy, and 'good enough'... the only problem with them is that they are designed to provide support by being put UNDER something, so while the outside does make a neat right angle, their inside angle does not.  But it would do.
The plan was to put these hanging over the top edge of the fridge on the side opposite where I wanted the rack hung, and use thing rope or fishing line or something to connect the two.

I finally decided on using fishing line rated for 40lbs, figuring that really ought to be enough weight!  The fishing line is clear, and won't look ugly, and thin enough to keep a low profile.  I used some more of the leopard duct tape to wrap the brace.  This made it look prettier, but also gave it more 'grip' so it wouldn't move around on the fridge, and also kept the metal from scratching the fridge.

My finished work -

Close up of the brace on the opposite side of the fridge:            The empty rack hanging in place:


And filled with spices.....

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