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- Verified Buyer
Having purchased various spice racks through the years, of various types (rotating, chrome looking, etc.), this is BY FAR the best set yet. Why:1) This set comes with a gazillion of black spice label stickers with spice names legibly printed in white (some with spice names I never used before - like Biryani seasoning, which now I will have to try!). This set also comes with a generous amount of blank black stickers and a white marker, so you can have labels for spices that there aren't pre-printed names for. For example of how complete the pre-printed spice names are, I use Japanese 7 spice which is also known as Shichimi Togarashi, and the set actually has a pre-printed label for Shichimi Togarashi! There was also a pre-printed label for Garam Masala and for Nutritional Yeast. There are labels for different sorts of Paprika, etc. In other words, there are waaaaaaay more labels than bottles. I used some of the blank labels to make a label for Shawarma and for 'Everything-But-The-Bagel' seasonings. The white marker provided actually wrote easily and was fine-tipped and the white ink was thick enough that it shows from a distance and the look great sitting next to bottles with pre-printed stickers, so that is an example of the thoughtfulness that the manufacturer's showed in putting together this set.2) Because there are soooo many pre-printed spice name stickers, to make it easy for the customer, the manufacturer even included a spice name cheat-sheet, so that it's easy to find the pre-printed sticker you want in the 10 PAGES of pre-printed spice name stickers (and to know if what you want simply isn't there so you have to use one of the provided blank stickers instead). The cheat-sheet tells you which of the 10 pages you'll find the sticker you want on (and each of the 10 pages clearly has the page number in the bottom right hand corner, so it doesn't matter if you get the pages out of order). Again, thoughtfully done.3) The spice name sticker material itself is a thoughtful choice too! -Which I know is hard to imagine, but here is why: The spice name stickers are kind of like the re-usable stickers we had as kids, where you can stick them on metal and then pull them off and restick them somewhere else again. Brilliant! That way you can reposition the spice name sticker or even change the spice name sticker altogether to a different spice name. Absolutely thoughtful. Well done! Bravo!4) The bottle lids make sense too. The bottle lids are two pieces - a plastic shield under a twist-on cap. Detail: There is a removable plastic 'shield' type lid that has the typical small sprinkle size holes on one side and a pour hole on the other side, and that plastic shield fits snugly over the jar. Then OVER the plastic shield is an entirely separate twist on/off metal (yes metal) lid. I was wondering at first about ?why metal? and then intuited that by having metal lids those reusable stickers can be most easily peeled off and replaced with other spice label stickers :) Hopefully the lids won't rust or anything like that over time, but out the gate I'd say I love the metal lids because it makes those great replaceable spice name stickers possible, so I'm all for it (if I see rust in a year ask me again! - but right now, I'm THRILLED). I think having a twist lid over the plastic shield will both keep things fresher, and just as important, solve the problem I've had with other spice sets having one-piece lids with 'hinged' covers over the spice sprinkle holes (that after awhile the one-piece covers don't flip securely back into place). Since this set has a metal screw-on lid, the fit should be tight for as long as I have the set.5) Functionality: I have the 4 tier version of the spice rack, and I assumed the rack would be tippy/wobbly if the spice rack wasn't at least resting against a wall. To my touch, it is not tippy or wobbly even when not resting against/supported by a wall. I don't know how it would do in an earthquake as a standalone spice rack, but normal use so far hasn't made it move or sway or anything like that, so I might use it as a visual divider between two areas on a large island and not even put it against a wall at all. I haven't used the hanging system but the set came with all sorts of stuff for that, but I haven't tried any of the hanging system. There is plenty of room to slide the bottles on and off the rack, and even some extra room side to side. They didn't cut corners on the size, the rack size is comfortably generous for the bottles provided. 7 bottles fit on each tier. The bottles are square (as opposed to round) so they don't roll around. (For curiosity sake I tested a few 2+/- ounce spice bottles I have just to see if they'd fit, and some did, but there's not much point to using any other spice bottle with the rack since it's more attractive and functional to solely use the bottles that came with the rack.) The bottles that come with the set are NOT 4 ounce bottles, they are 2 ounce bottles. Detail: If you try to pour spice from a 3 ounce bottle into a bottle from the set, then the 3 ounce bottle contents won't all pour in (so clearly the bottles that come with the set are not 4 ounce). Spice from a 2 ounce bottle fits just fine into the bottles that came with the set. That's why I say these are 2 ounces, not 4 ounces. The spice funnel that came with the set works great - just make sure it's thoroughly dry after washing and before using, and funnel your hottest spices last if (like me) you're too lazy to wash and wait for the funnel to dry between spices. Again, it was thoughtful of the manufacturer to supply a funnel. If you have a second/third funnel you might wish to sue it also so you can avoid mixing 'unlike' spices inadvertently and save time.6) Aesthetic: The overall appearance is nice, in a simple, unassuming way. The rack itself is black and fairly unobtrusive once the bottles are on it. The black labels with white writing look good against the silver-colored metal lids and glass bottles and black rack. Love the white writing marker, looks very cool. I didn't try to mimic the pre-printed writing, I just printed kind of artsy and even added a few swooshes/doodles. I've had glitzier carousels, etc. (still use a stainless carousel next to this black rack), but the functionality of this one will likely be my favorite due to the sticker flexibility. Since the black is so unassuming, it looks fine next to the stainless steel carousel.7) Durability: Too soon to tell. I'm guessing it will be durable, looking forward to many years of happy use :)Hope this is helpful info :)6-17-22 update: Still loving it! FYI the labels have not smeared/faded with use, still very pleased with purchase!
