Clever DIYers Upcycle Old Wood Pallets Into A Must-Have Kitchen Storage System

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For most homeowners and renters, kitchen storage comes at a premium. For those with a bit of creative ingenuity, however, there are a number of more budget-friendly ways to get around this problem. Some of them involve using old pallet wood, which is a cheap, eco-friendly building material that you can get by asking local stores or checking online listing sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. One particularly stunning thing you can do with this type of wood is to turn it into an oversized storage rack that you can mount on your wall.

The idea for this project comes from Porthosmedia on TikTok, who has a short video detailing the process they followed for completing the DIY. Disassembling their pallets and sanding them down was the first major step. Assembling a frame for the spice rack from the thicker boards came next. From there, the DIYers turned their pallet's thinner boards into both shelves and support beams for the back of the installation. To finish things off, they used a combination of watered-down paint and sandpaper to give the rack a weathered, vintage-style look. The finished result in their video is both practical and gorgeous.

Spices and teas are just a few of the items that you could store with this kitchen installation. The shelves could also be handy for oils and vinegars, cooking utensils, baking supplies, and packaged snacks. You'll need to be mindful of where you're hanging the fixture, however, because some of these items need to stay out of direct sunlight. The rack should pair nicely with all sorts of other extra kitchen storage ideas that free up space.

To make this DIY spice or tea rack, you'll first need to get your pallet wood ready to work with. Remove screws and nails, and use a belt sander and/or a palm sander to get rid of splinters and smooth out the surfaces of your boards. You'll use the thicker pallet boards to create a box frame for the rack, with butt joints and wood screws in the corners. The size of the frame is up to you — your project doesn't necessarily have to be as big or include as many shelves as the one in Porthosmedia's video.

@porthosmedia

We built a huge spice rack from recycled pallet wood. #pallet #palletproject #upcycling #palletwood #spicestorage

♬ original sound – Porthos Media

The shelves, which you can cut from your thinner pallet boards, should be attached to the inside of the frame with pocket screws. Use a pocket hole jig (like this Kreg jig from Home Depot) to get the angles right when you pre-drill. Screw more of your thinner boards to the back of the box frame around the level of your shelves to stabilize them. You can attach one-inch-thick wood scraps to the front of the shelves as well to give them a decorative lip, or buy furring strips for this purpose instead. Brad nails will be your best bet when working with these pieces — they're less likely to split the wood than traditional wood screws.

Painting or staining your rack is the final step in preparing it. You might want to consider some of the best kitchen color scheme ideas before picking a particular look. You could also attach metal screw hooks to the back beams of the rack — these small hardware pieces could become a smart measuring cup storage solution.