6 Smart Ways to Store All of Your Oil and Vinegar Bottles, According to Pro Organizers
Like most home cooks, I like to keep my bottles of oil and vinegar within arm’s reach of my stovetop, so it’s easy to prepare a pan or whip up a last-minute salad dressing. While it’s tempting to leave them right by the stove, I know that heat can easily, well, spoil the oil. Where should they go?
To get my collection of bottles under control, I spoke to pro organizers. Turns out, they had lots creative suggestions for keeping oil and vinegar (and more!) neatly organized. Let’s take a look at their smart ideas!
1. Put them on a turntable.
Ben Soreff, an organizer with House to Home Organizing, likes convenient turntables for oils — but he steers clear of normal lazy Susans, because these tall bottles are prone to fall over without some kind of lip. “We use a plastic, tall-sided turntable to contain oils in a corner cabinet,” he says. Choose one with dividers for even more organizational help.
2. Stack them in a corner.
This convenient, tiered bamboo countertop organizer makes use of empty corner space. Use it to store (and display!) your go-to oil bottles, spices, and seasonings. Just remember, olive oil should be ideally stored in a cool, dry, dark area, away from heat and light, so choose a corner that’s not in direct sunlight. The best temperature for storing oil is 57 degrees, although room temperature, or 70 degrees, will be OK too.
3. Store them on the side of your fridge.
Have space on the side of your fridge? A multitasking, magnetic organizer easily maximizes unused vertical space and can corral tall and narrow oil and vinegar bottles. If your jumbo-sized bottles won’t fit, consider decanting yours into smaller vessels. Just don’t forget to add labels with an expiration date, so you can keep tabs on freshness.
4. Use smaller plastic squirt bottles.
Sandy Magura, owner of Foundation Organizing, decants her oils into plastic squirt bottles: “[The stream] comes out nicely when you’re using oil to flavor or cook, and you aren’t dealing with a huge bottle.” This is an especially good tip if you buy olive oil in a big jug and tend to go through it quickly. Just make sure you’re buying squeeze bottles that are clearly marked as food-safe.
5. Decant them and store them on a tray.
If you’re into decanting, Toula Adu, owner of Bizzy Bee Organizing, suggests transferring oils and vinegar into pretty glass dispensers. (Remember to label them!) Once the oils are in their respective bottles, keep them in a storage bin in a convenient cabinet or on a narrow tray that makes the countertop collection look more purposeful.
6. Mount them on a cabinet door.
Sometimes finding shelf real estate can be a real challenge. If you have a pantry or cabinet doors, try mounting a wire organizer to the door for extra storage. This sort of set-up is especially useful for tall, slender bottles.
How do you store your oil bottles? Tell us your ideas in the comments below.