DIY Kitchen Ideas: Test Tube Spices

Test tube spices are becoming a popular DIY kitchen project, thanks to television shows and home decorating magazines. Some cooks prefer to use them instead of the traditional spice rack, strictly because of the style they bring to the kitchen. If you’re tired of a regular spice rack, and want to mix it up a bit, then you’ll enjoy assembling your own test tube spices. You can store herbs, seasonings, salts and your special blends in the rack according to your cooking habits, and seal the test tubes with corks.

Find Test Tubes

This may be easier than you think. Try posting a wanted ad on www.craigslist.com under the “free” ads section of the website. Do the same on www.freecycle.org. Some people buy test tubes and never get around to using them, or have leftovers that they don’t want to throw out. They would rather give them to you, if they know you need them. Be patient, as it may take a couple of weeks before you get any responses. However, if you don’t get a response, you’ll have to buy your own at your local pharmacy or online at a chemical supplies store.

Organize Spices

Determine how you plan to organize your spices before you fill the test tubes. There are many ways to organize them. You may prefer to arrange all the spices you need for a meal. For example, you could dedicate one spice rack to making curry, and only include spices on it to cook curry. Another option is to group like spices together, such as all your seasoning blends, season salts, gourmet salts and herbs. You could care less about organization, and opt to go with a color theme. For example, you may only include spices with natural, earth tones to match your kitchen décor, or spices with bold colors. Be creative with your planning and keep in mind that you can display multiple spice racks around your kitchen.

Disadvantages

There are some disadvantages to using test tube spices. A major one is that you can’t stick a spoon in it to measure your spices. Test tube spices must be refilled a lot more often than traditional spice holders. The cork on the test tube does not provide an effective seal like a screw top spice bottle. This could be wasteful if you don’t monitor the freshness of your spices, or use them often. They’re also very fragile, and can break easier than other options for spice holders. Finally, you can’t stick a label on them as you would other spice jars without it taking away from the attractiveness of the test tube spice. The labels won’t stick well to the test tubes, either. With that said, some cooks are satisfied with using test tube spices and the aesthetics seem to outweigh these disadvantages to them.

Test tube spices look gorgeous in wooden or wire racks, both of which you can make as a DIY kitchen project. They also make gifts for the other cooks in your life.