Spicin' Things Up

Space in our kitchen is tight. Like...super tight. That counter space you see below? That's it. There's about 4 more inches to the right beyond this picture, and that be the end o' the counter. While we can't create more counter space, my bf and I decided to try and free up a bit of cupboard space. And we've learned pretty fast that walls are the key to freeing up space, even if it takes some creativity. Here is our prep area/stove before:

And here is our teeny tiny little skinny minnie cupboard to the left of the microwave. Few things fit in there, but spices are one of them. However, with so many jars and canisters in there, it was next to impossible to get what you needed without unloading the entire thing. Because let's face it--the thing you want is always in the back.

On our last trip to Ikea, I hunted all over for that little wooden spice rack I had seen in the past. It was just unfinished wood, and I remembered it being Cheapie-McCheaperson. But after some serious searching, we couldn't find the little guy. We grabbed a bunch of other items while on the pilgrimage, including some picture shelves for a little setup in the living area. But after some planning, I decided I only wanted to use 2 of the 3 since the upper spot was going to be occupied by another item (soon to come!). That left us with a little Ribba shelf all by his lonesome.

And then, the lightbulb flicked on. This little guy would make a perfect spice rack! While it didn't have any ends to keep items from scooting off sideways, it was a nice shallow depth with a lip in the front. And it just so happened it was about 1 inch narrower than our little baby stove/cooktop/oven. Here she blows:

After some very basic planning, I gathered some tools to get 'er done. It took me a pathetically long time to figure out what the picture in the nonverbal Ikea directions were referring to with these little disks, but then I finally figured out it was two little white circle stickers to place over your screws to hide the color and blend everything with the back of the shelf (labeled below as the official "sticky screw cover thingies).

I simply centered the shelf over the stove above the little "splatter zone" we've created since moving in (wouldn't want to dirty up our nice white spice rack!), leveled it out (shelves are super easy to level since they're...well, shelves for your level to sit upon), and screwed my two screws in lickity split. I even did the whole thing all by my lonesome.

Then I grabbed my little sticky screw cover thingies...

...and placed them over the screw heads.

Easy peasy. Not perfect but they'll do the job considering this is very temporary and will be stocked with spice jars.

It freed up some space in the spice "closet..."

And looks pretty cute over our stove.  Not bad for a 5 minute project considering so many -hey-this-will-be-easy "simple projects" turn into nightmares that are anything but simple.

As my sister's boyfriend would say: "Approve!"

How about you guys? Installed any spice racks lately? Hacked something from Ikea to use as something else? Have a teeny tiny cabinet that can't even fit a dinner plate inside? Do tell!