Noel Richter and his cabinet maker Cameron Luff designed and installed bilateral pilaster spice racks flanking the range. Despite my limited culinary experience, my concern would be with the effect of heat on acceleration of degradation of spices kept in the warmest place in the kitchen. Is there any evidence that heat affects the quality of spices in containers exposed to prolonged heat? DL
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The usual advice is to not store spices "over" the range. Whether there's any scientific evidence as to how close to the range you can reasonably get, I don't know -- probably not. Any effects would be due to both heat and humidity, I suspect.
spice storage near heat source
I wonder how much heat in generated beside the oven compared to above. DL
I think it depends on how close "beside" is, what's cooking (lots of boiling -- making steam?), how well the fan works, etc.
And of course there's the question of whether this is a complete spice rack, or just for those spices frequently used (which will turn over quickly, before they can deteriorate).
This is how it should be done: http://www.flickr.com/photos/waitingisfullness/4402706266/
spice storage near heat source
The photos depict the location on either side of the oven... Can it get hotter than that? DL
Heat is not good...
Depends on the spices, but for the most part heat, and sometimes even light, can degrade the quality of spices. Depends on the spice, essential oils within, etc.
Having them adjacent to a cooktop is not a great place. Heat, moisture vapor, and even going so far as safety (in terms of reaching over lit burners) should you want to go that far.
We keep some in the fridge, some in the freezer, and the majority in a couple of drawers like the one below. When we used to live in the midwest we were pretty good acquaintances with the Penzey's. We still buy most of our spices mail-order from their kids.
I do know a couple of people that have "show" or "decorator" spice racks out over the range, but their "real cooking spices" are kept elsewhere.