Storage Jars

Choosing a storage jar size

Capacities run from 200ml to 2,550ml, so you can choose a little pot for salt and spices, or a deep jar for pasta, rice or porridge oats. The jars stand from 5cm to 34cm tall. Round jars measure from 5cm to 23cm across, while those measured by length and width run from 9.5cm to 35.5cm long and from 7.5cm to 20.5cm wide. A couple come with a spoon for scooping sugar or coffee. Before ordering a tall jar, measure the gap between your worktop and the wall cupboards, leaving room to lift the lid.

What is stoneware, and why it suits a storage jar

Stoneware is clay fired at a high temperature until it becomes dense, hard and heavy, so a stoneware jar sits steady on a busy worktop. It is opaque, too, which keeps light off coffee and loose tea. Most of our storage jars are stoneware, and a couple are dolomite, another type of ceramic. Stoneware takes paint and glaze well, which suits the hand-painted and reactive-glaze designs in the range. A reactive glaze shifts in tone as it fires, and hand-painting varies slightly from piece to piece, so expect small differences between jars of the same design.

Beyond stoneware: a few glass and wooden storage jars

Glass lets you check how much rice or pasta is left without lifting the lid, and we stock a few clear glass storage jars, one or two of them recycled glass. A couple of jars are mango wood, and a few stoneware designs pair the clay with acacia wood, which warms up a white or grey kitchen. One or two pieces are marble or metal, for a different texture on an open shelf.

Storage jar lids and how snugly they close

Almost every jar in the range has a lid of its own. More than half list silicone among their materials, and on a few designs the product details describe it as a band, rim or seal for a tighter or softer close. We do not sell any of our storage jars as airtight, and one or two designs with an uneven, handcrafted look note that a tight close cannot be guaranteed. For coffee beans, or anything you store for weeks, choose a jar with a silicone seal and keep it out of direct sun.

Food safety and washing your storage jars

We list almost every jar as food safe, so dry food can go straight in. Some are dishwasher safe and some are not; the care rows on each product page say which, and those marked no are best washed by hand in warm, soapy water. Dry a jar fully before you refill it, as damp sugar or flour soon clumps. Most of our storage jars are not microwave safe, and most are not oven safe, so warm food in a suitable dish instead. Anything in wood prefers a wipe with a damp cloth to a long soak.

Christmas storage jars for the festive kitchen

Christmas designs make up a good part of our storage jar range, mostly in stoneware, with one or two in glass or metal. Set a jar out on the worktop through December with wrapped chocolates or cinnamon sticks inside, then pack it away with the decorations in January. Filled with homemade biscuits, a Christmas jar also makes a thoughtful gift to take to a host.

Grouping canisters by the kettle

A row of canisters looks tidiest when the sizes step up: a small jar for sugar, a middle one for tea bags or coffee and a tall one for pasta. A couple of designs come in more than one size, so you can pair a larger and a smaller version, and one or two are sold as a set of three. If you mix designs, keep to one material or one colour so the group still looks planned. Stoneware jars sit comfortably beside a wooden chopping board, a teapot and a stack of mugs.