# Spicing up my married life



## Coleve (Oct 31, 2012)

How to spice up your married life

Its finished, I shouted proudly, what’s finished came her reply. Your spice rack, the one you made me make as soon as I stepped off the plane from Texas. Oh, that one, let’s see it then.
Now a little history lesson for those of the fraternity that are not familiar with the goings on in my household.

My good wife and myself live harmoniously, in that I do everything I’m told and in return I get fed, clothes washed and ironed and a 65-inch tv in my man cave. So, all things considered I don’t really mind being a kept man. Occasionally I get to choose something to record on Sky (Infinity) as a treat. And very occasionally I get to wear the trousers. 

Now you have some idea of domesticated bliss in most retired Scottish households.

Now while in Houston I had made a Spice rack for My son’s wife Clare and she seemed delighted with it. I made it from Poplar and it was my first time with this particular wood a delight to use. I just stained it teak to match the rest of the kitchen cabinets.

My biggest problem was lack of decent tools and machinery and as you can see my work bench leaves a lot to be desired, but a neighbour gave me a loan of his Dewalt Site saw which made life ever so much easier and I am very grateful to him.

At this point we were both standing in the kitchen examining my latest efforts. The new rack was now full of small jars with stuff in them and she was looking intently at them. 

All I could hear was hmmmmm and hmmmmm. Not a good sign I thought.

Let’s try it out she said. Perplexed I asked how do you try out a rack. That’s easy she returned. We will choose a spice and try to find it. No problem I came back with Easy Peesie. 

Ok you choose a spice first she asked. Ok I answered with a feeling that she was going fishing and I was the bottom dweller. 

Now at this point the only one I knew was Old Spice, an after shave I used to use with abandon in my early years, and I couldn’t see it on the rack. What’s wrong she enquired, cat got your tongue. No, I’m deciding on a difficult one, Truth be told not a clue, ok she said at last, let me choose one for you.

Well ok I said Find the Paprika. I approached the rack and started at the top gently lifting each jar to read the label. What are you doing she asked? I’m looking for the red stuff. Why are you lifting each one out she enquired? Because I can’t read the labels. Oh, is that so, came the reply. Why is that?
And there was the burn. In order to keep the jars in place I had installed a 25mm wide strip of wood across the front of every shelf. As the realisation of my blunder hit home, I now understood the hmmmmm’s. I had covered up all the labels, and my good wife decided to let me fumble my way to enlightenment.

Its obvious you have never cooked anything in your life, or you would have taken this into account. I have so cooked something once I replied and comments like that are grounds for divorce. Are they she said delightedly? I will let it pass this time I said, realising I would starve to death. 

So if you look at the last photo I carefully took my trim router and with 9mm straight bit I cut slots along all the retaining straps, and the labels are now visible, school boy error, not ideal but better than tearing it apart as it was all glued to death.

As far as the actual fitting went, I just cut 50mm off the actual cabinet shelves width so as to retain them and moved the bottom shelve up one notch to avoid the wider bottom rack shelve. I also added another European hinge to both doors, just in case.

So that’s it definitely no more spice in my life

Its my treat for the spice Rack. My favorite Sausage Rolls. She also does other Scottish Delicacies such as Forfar Bridies and steak and Mince pies, healthy eating I think not, but I cant help myself. As my uncle used to say,better to be fat and happy than thin and miserable, and boy he must have been really happy. 

Colin 
Scotland


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Interesting fix. Some very expensive government funded testing found that when reading, you deplend upon the irregularity of the top half of letters to decode the words. The bottom half isn't very useful in that regard. 

Placing the spice rack on the back side of the doors is a terrific idea. Out of sight when not needed, quickly available while preparing food. 

The shelving inside the cabinet must have been cut back to make room for the spice rack. How did you go about that? My cabinets have fixed shelves and I'm not sure how I would go about that.

An alternative to cutting the groove might have been to use some Lexan (clear plastic) for the retainer, but what you did was very nice.

I also enjoy working with Poplar, most often for face frames. Finding straight poplar at HD is possible, but only 1 in 20 pieces is straight enough to use.

Really glad you're back Colin. Although you're Scottish, you seem to have bit of Irish Blarney running in your veins.


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## twmv86 (Oct 14, 2018)

looks great. i must admit with the title i thought this thread might have different content


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Nice job, Now I am hungry for a sausage roll.Heehee
Herb


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

That’s a really neat idea with having the spice rack on the inside of the doors like that . Nice job


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## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

Cabinets look great. Nice touch with the "peek" cut for the labels. Colorful story telling as well. You sound a bit like me, not quite complete without my better half....


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Very nice, Colin. I once saw in-the-cabinet spice racks in a store. I thought that's a good idea. Yours are larger, custom fit and nicer.


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## rrrun (Jun 17, 2014)

The wisdom in this post may be lost on some, but as a survivor of 41 years of bliss (she tells me), I can see that you are a wise, wise man.

Oh, and you know your way around a router, too!


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

Nice work Colin,

My mother was from Wishaw, are you close to there. I miss her and her Scottish accent. In the photos from Texas I saw a Ford pick up truck that is familiar to me. The Gas Monkey Garage is a television show and I watched them build it. Did your son in law buy it or is he part of the garage ? If he bought it it must have been expensive !

Nice work on the racks. I like how they are on the inside of the cupboard doors. We use one shelf in one cupboard with a two tiered lazy Susan, but when I re-do our circa 1983 kitchen, I think I will incorporate this idea. Thanks for sharing.

Dan


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## coxhaus (Jul 18, 2011)

Do you have recipe for sausage rolls?


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Well written and well done. Always a pleasure to read your posts.


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## artman60 (Nov 22, 2015)

JFPNCM said:


> Well written and well done. Always a pleasure to read your posts.


+1! Dunno which I enjoy more, your telling, or your doing.


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## Coleve (Oct 31, 2012)

Hi
My son had the car built by Gas Monkey. It’s a Ford 150 which was completely stripped and rebuilt to his specification. It took about 6 months to build and although not featured as a build on the show it can be seen in various episodes as it is being built. He was invited many times during the build to see the progress and given a pass to go into the workshop as well as meeting everybody. The front of the glove compartment is signed by all the staff. I think the final costing was in excess of 50 grand.


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## Coleve (Oct 31, 2012)

Just a note to say thank you to all who took the time to read my post and the generous comments.

Retired carpentry can be a lonely occupation with little scope to share ones efforts, therefore being given the opportunity to share ones craft with like minded individuals on this forum makes it so worthwhile and extremely enjoyable

Thank you again, just off to examine a sausage roll 

Colin


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

A spice rack that's static on a wall really only needs a lip on the shelf, but as you've cleverly recognized, Colin, the dynamic situation of a cabinet door really needs a restraint to stop the containers from flipping off their shelves. If you had to make another(s), a brass or SS rod across might be an option. Acrylic rod is another possible.


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## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

Wow very nice


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## Grangur (Apr 27, 2018)

Really nice job, Colin, and an entertaining read too. It's got me thinking about making something similar. Many thanks.


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

I wish I could give TWO thumbs up on that!


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## Samandothers (Jan 24, 2019)

Very enjoyable read! Very nicely executed idea too. Those hinges must be fairly hefty to handle the large door and the weight of the spices and shelf! 

Thanks for taking time to document and share!


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