Kitchen Jar Organization
When I lived in Japan I found glass jars with red plastic lids and I thought they would be perfect for storing my dry goods. I didn't have much storage space in my tiny Japanese kitchen so I had bought an inexpensive wire shelving unit to hold the jars and some other kitchen goods. I love that the jars are square which maximizes shelf space and they also look cute with the ribbed design on the glass and the bright, cheery tops. Although I had to spend a few dollars at a home store for the tall ones with the pasta and some bigger ones for flour and sugar, I found the small and medium sized jars for only about dollar at the Seria Hyaku-en Store in Toyota City (Hyaku-en store in Japan ≈ Dollar store in US). 
Back home in the US when I redid the kitchen I chose to have glass fronts for all of my upper cabinets. I love it because I always know where to find things, but I have to try to keep things organized and looking nice. My red lidded Japanese jars are perfect for this and they are a perfect combination of practical storage while also looking nice on my shelves. Jars full of delicious ingredients just make me happy and I like being to be able to easily see what's inside. It inspires me to cook.
Unfortunately, the number of things that I would like to store in my Japanese jars has exceeded my supply. What is a girl to do?!? I have searched high and low online and in stores to find something similar but with no luck. When I was back in Japan in December I actually went to the Hyaku-en store and bought three more of the medium sized ones to bring back home with me. In case you were wondering, they made it home safely in my luggage with my socks stuffed inside.
So imagine my surprise when I was at HomeGoods earlier this week and I saw some glass jars that were remarkably close to my Japanese ones. They are the same size as my small Japanese ones and have the same exact ribbed pattern on the glass. The lid is metal instead of plastic and doesn't have the indented design on it but all in all they are a fairly close match. I immediately bought up all five that they had. They were $2.99 each, so triple my Hyaku-en price, but well worth it. When I got home I used some red glossy spray paint that I had to paint the lids.
It's a pretty close match, don't you think? My spray paint is a little dark compared to the Japanese lids so I think that I'll try to find something that matches a little better, but otherwise I am pretty happy. My search is still not over though, because I would like to get some more large ones as well. If anyone happens to see some cute glass storage jars with red plastic lids, please let me know! I would be forever grateful and send you chocolate.
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 12:32PM | Posted by Lisa | 2 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (2)
As soon as I saw these, I thought of you...
They're available on groupon for the next 5 days... though now that I look at it, they are about 2x the price of the HomeGoods jars, which makes them 6x the price of the Japanese ones :(
You are so sweet to think of me! That is so kind. Those jars are really fantastic but a little pricier than I would like to pay. I have to say that every time I go back to Japan for work I bring back several jars when I come home. I just can't beat the $1 price! I even got my husband to bring back jars when he went to Japan for work. :)