A Smart Spin for the Container-Challenged

I consider myself a very organized person. In the cabinets above my kitchen countertops, I’ve organized my dishes by size and have all my bowls on one long shelf above my meal plates. My coffee mugs and glasses are organized by size and shape in another cabinet, while my pots and pans sit in a storage facility by my oven. My silverware is organized by utensil neatly in a drawer. My food pantries are separated into breakfast foods, pastas, canned foods, and sauces. My failure lies in making sense of my food storage containers.

I am living in Tupperware hell. After pulling my plastic food containers out of the dishwasher, I place them in a 2-shelf cabinet next to my kitchen sink. There my beloved plastic handy-dandy food containers sit, littered among the newly unused bread machine and old toaster oven. When I need to store leftovers, I dig through the clutter it seems that I can’t locate the right lid for the right container when I need it!

I woke up one day in an organizing mood. I decided to start with the cabinet next to the kitchen sink.

Common consensus among home organizing experts seems to be to group similar items together, and to stock these items in an orderly fashion in a central location, within easy reach when needed. I already had my food containers where I wanted them. Now, it was simply a matter of determining which lids fit which containers. I went through and dutifully matched the lid in my hand to the containers in the cabinet. I disposed of the homeless lids and containers. This way, I weeded out the useless containers and was stuck with only the good and complete ones. This lasted for about two weeks.

Next, I tried nesting smaller food containers in progressively bigger containers like the Russian nested dolls, with the lids placed conveniently on the top shelf, the various rounds and squares on the bottom shelf of the cabinet. This was very inconvenient, as I would need to dig though the nested containers and flip through all the lids to find a particular container. Thus, it became a hassle to retrieve what I wanted.

One evening, in between flipping to HGTV and Food Network, an infomercial advertised one particular item that caught my eye. The Smart-Spin Food Storage System appeared to be that miracle cure to my kitchen organizing woes. The design principles behind the product appeared so simple that it initially aroused my skepticism. Furthering my distrust was the fact that it was an ‘As Seen on TV’ item. My experience with ‘As Seen on TV’ products wasn’t very promising. I had tried Kaboom, to very disappointing results, as well as the Tap Light. My curiosity was piqued, but not my will to purchase the product.

The Smart Spin Food Storage System organizes food containers using a compact design that doesn’t take up very much room. It is about the size of a coffee maker, occupying 1 cubic feet of space. It consists of four slots, three of which store different sized containers and one slot solely dedicated to store the lids. Smart Spin is made from plastic, but is durable and quite handy. The carousel rack spins and slides easily, providing ready access to the food container you need. Internet and television ads claim that anyone can “find a container with a blindfold on”! I went on the website to get testimonials. User reviews have been quite favorable.

Retailing for around $19.95 on TV Products 4 Less and available as a bid-item on the Overstock Auctions website, the Smart Spin Food Storage System comes with the spinning carousel rack and 24 clear containers with lids that fit all container sizes. The containers come in an 8-oz, 16-oz, and 24-oz variety. The gadget is easy to assemble.

Using this device, I can reclaim valuable cabinet space for other kitchen gadgets, keeping all my food containers in a single space. I’ve decided this shall be the tool that gets me finally organized the way I’ve always wanted.

I went to my local As Seen on TV retail store and tested the device. While still having reservations based on previous experience, I nevertheless took the plunge and plunked down my $20 before the opportunity to change my mind could present itself. I took home the device, set it up on the kitchen counter by the toaster, and fell in love. It is so easy to set up, and I am no longer bothered by cheap plastic. I am now container-clutter free and loving every minute of it.

While I’m not advocating that this is the cure for all container-challenged people, it is the right solution for me, and soon I shall be off to purchase the Smart Spin at my neighborhood retail store for my equally container-challenged sister.

About the Author

Johann Erickson is the owner of Online Discount Mart and TV Products 4 Less. Please include an active link to our site if you'd like to reprint this article.