Magnetic Spice Jars

A popular way of artfully storing your spices uses magnets to hold them to the side of a fridge, or any steel surface. The use of glass, hexagon-shaped jars is most popular. We've tried it out ourselves and tested which magnets will work best with different sized jars and found some quick, easy ways to do this craft!

Materials needed: Spice jars of your choice, neodymium magnets, packing tape. That's it!

Though this is a relatively simple craft to do, there is a lot of technical information with the magnets involved...we'll try to skip the boring, nerdy stuff for you!

First, you have to figure out the jar size you are going to use, as you'll need a different magnet for each size. You'll also need to decide if you want the magnet showing on the outside of the lid, or on the inside of the jar, hidden from view. We like the hidden look better, its more clean and artsy looking.

The problem with having the magnet inside the lid is that the steel lid will take away some of the magnetic strength from holding to the fridge. But there is a trick to maximize magnetic strength, which we will show you soon!

Let's say you have decided to go with the clean look, and put the magnets on the inside of the lid.

One thing to mention here, if you plan on using the magnet inside the lid, you need to take into consideration the corrosion of the magnets. The nickel plating can corrode over time is exposed to moisture. If the spice is hygroscopic (tends to attract and hold water, like salt or sugar) you might see rust over time. This is where the packing tape comes in.

As you see in the picture, we simply sandwiched the magnet between two pieces of packing tape and sealed it off. This can form somewhat of a waterproof barrier that's thin and inexpensive. We did this project years ago and the magnets are holding up perfectly inside of the packing tape.

If you decide the put the magnet on the outside of the lid, here are a few recommendations for the size magnet you'll need. If you are putting the magnets inside, skip to the next step.

If you are putting a magnet on the outside, you will need to secure the magnet to the jar in someway. Again, we used packing tape because we weren't too worried about the look, but if you want a nicer look, superglue will work fine. The packing tape does add some friction between the magnet and fridge door, which does help the jar from sliding around much.

We found that our product DX01 worked best on the outside of the lid. Of course, if you are using a larger jar, you might want a bigger magnet. A good rule here is to measure the smooth part of the lid where the magnet will sit. Whatever that diameter is should be the diameter of your magnet. A 1/16" thick magnet works well and has a low profile.

Remember we told you there was a good way to use the magnets inside of the lid? Well here it is! Use an array of smaller magnets instead of one large magnet! Through our testing, we found that you need a decently sized, strong magnet to hold the jar up through the lid (see picture in step 2). But we found that an array of magnets, like in the pictures, works the same as one larger magnet, but is cheaper and easier to handle.

Here is a summary of recommended magnet sizes for different jars:

For the small, 1.5oz jars, use four B442 magnets arranged in a 2x2 array. This works well for 2oz jars as well.

For the larger 4oz jars, use four B642 magnets in the same 2x2 array. This works well for the larger 3.75oz jars.

For 6oz jars, four B662 or B862 magnets worked well, again in a 2x2 array.

For the biggest, 9oz jars, use four B882 magnets in a 2x2 array.

The last step after you install the magnets is to simply fill the jars with spices and put them to any steel surface! We like the hexagon shaped jars so you can put them in nice looking arrays on the fridge.

Also note, some stainless steel refrigerators aren't magnetic. We went to our local home improvement store with a magnet and tried sticking them to a bunch of stainless steel fridge doors. Some stuck, some didn't. If you have a stainless steel fridge, make sure it's magnetic first!

If you are interested in seeing what magnets might work best for your jars, take a look at this video we made testing out different magnet sizes!

Thanks for reading! Hope this helps.