Tiered, Flat or Jar Set? Picking the Best Spice Rack Drawer

A drawer is the best place in the kitchen for spices that you reach for every day. Jars lie close to the stove, out of the light, and you read every label from above instead of moving three bottles to find the cumin. The catch is that a bare drawer turns into a jumble in a week. A good insert holds each jar at an angle, in rows, so the labels face up and nothing rolls when the drawer opens.

This guide is the drawer-only companion to our main best spice rack guide, and it does not repeat that guide’s picks. Here are seven ways to turn a drawer into a spice drawer: steel and bamboo tiered inserts, expandable trays, a trim-to-fit wooden insert, a set that comes with its own jars, and a flat foam liner for shallow drawers. For each, we give the drawer size it needs and how many jars it holds, as the maker states.

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Quick verdict: which spice drawer insert to buy

Below, five standouts side by side, then all seven reviewed in full. Measure your drawer’s inside width, depth and height before you read on.

Five spice drawer inserts compared

One pick for each kind of drawer, with the size and capacity each maker states. All seven are reviewed below.

Product images from Amazon. Sizes and capacities are as stated by each maker or listing; check the listing before you buy.

Our picks for the best spice rack drawer inserts

Each of these sits loose in a drawer; none needs screws. What sets them apart is how they fit: fixed sizes, trays that slide wider, a wood insert you cut down, or a liner you cut to length. Jar capacity assumes standard spice jars, and a tray that holds 32 small jars may hold fewer of the tall bottles many brands of ground chile and Mexican oregano come in.

How to choose a spice drawer insert

Measure three ways. Measure the inside width and depth of the drawer, then the usable height: from the drawer floor to whatever sits above it when the drawer closes. A tiered tray plus a standing jar needs about 3 inches, as SpaceAid states for its bamboo tray. Shallower than that, use a flat liner like the YouCopia.

Fixed, expandable or cut to fit. A fixed tray like the LYNK is sturdiest but has to match your drawer. Expandable trays (SpaceAid bamboo, mDesign, Copco) slide to the width you need. The Rev-A-Shelf insert is cut down with a saw for a built-in fit.

Your jars. Jar counts assume standard small spice jars. Tall bottles of chile powder or big bags of Mexican oregano and cumin seed take more room. If your collection is a mix, the flat liner holds any shape, or a jar-included set like SpaceAid’s puts everything in one size.

Material. Steel resists warping and stains. Bamboo and maple look warmer and want a damp cloth, not soaking. Plastic is lightest; mDesign says to keep its tray out of the dishwasher.

Drawer location. Keep the spice drawer near the stove for convenience, but not directly above the oven vent or beside the dishwasher, where heat and steam reach the jars.

How we picked these seven spice drawer inserts

We looked only at products made to sit inside a drawer: tiered trays, expandable trays, a trim-to-fit insert, a set with jars and a liner. We left out every product already in our main spice rack, cabinet spice rack and drawer organizer guides. Each pick comes from an identifiable maker and was in stock on Amazon in the United States when we wrote this; specifications come from the maker’s listing, and where a maker gives no detail we say “not stated”. We passed over the many unbranded acrylic trays sold only on Amazon, and prefilled racks whose spice lists we could not check for ingredients. We searched the US Consumer Product Safety Commission recall database for each brand and found no recalls of these organizers. We have not used these products ourselves.

Spice drawer questions, answered

What is the best spice rack for a drawer?

For most drawers, a four-tier tray like the LYNK PROFESSIONAL steel organizer: it holds about 32 jars, will not warp, and is only 1.5 inches high. For odd-width drawers, an expandable bamboo tray such as SpaceAid’s.

How deep does a spice drawer need to be?

For a tiered tray with standard jars standing on it, about 3 inches of clear height, which is what SpaceAid states for its bamboo tray. Measure from the drawer floor to the underside of whatever is above. For shallower drawers, lay bottles flat on a liner.

Is a spice drawer better than a spice rack?

For a cook who uses spices daily near the stove, a drawer keeps jars out of the light and lets you read every label from above. A cabinet or wall rack suits small kitchens without a free drawer. See our best spice rack cabinet guide for in-cabinet options.

Should I buy a set with jars?

If your spices are in mixed bottles and you want a tidy drawer, yes: a set like SpaceAid’s 28-jar kit makes every row the same. If you buy spices in their own jars and use them up quickly, a tray alone is simpler. Our best spice jars guide covers jars on their own.

Setting up your spice drawer

Start with the LYNK steel tray if it fits your drawer, the SpaceAid bamboo tray if it does not, and the YouCopia liner if the drawer is shallow. Group spices the way you cook: chiles together, then cumin, oregano and the warm spices, so a pot of beans or a mole needs only one look. For racks that stand on a counter, hang on a wall or sit in a cabinet, see our main best spice rack guide, and for the rest of your drawers, our best drawer organizer picks.

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