Here you go:

Most used , Vegetarian and Oriental:

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less used ones but some have so many memories :

bread cookbooks.(used a lot) and a pleasant place to use them and Momma's cookbooks, and other faves:

Moral of story, put them where it pleases you :) Caroline

Favorite cookbook purusing place:

Caroline, gotta love that BHG New Cook Book! I still have the one my older sister gave me when I moved out 24 years ago. I can't say that I cook from it, but I still reference the great charts and the wonderful illustrations that show you how to set a table properly.

Eliz

The BHG New Cook Book...My favorite! I have several copies of the 1968+/- version so I can give one to each of our kids, and, of course, I'm keeping my Grandma's, which is older, for myself...

But here is my cookbook shelf (still unpacking, so it looks a bit empty), but, like Caroline, I have to find room for the many, many less often used ones. My SIL has a huge walkin pantry with shelves and shelves for her cookbooks...I'm so jealous. I was just wishing I'd made the overhang on our island longer and tucked a bookshelf underneath.

Although it is not finished yet, they will be in my island bookshelf

I originally wanted a bookshelf for my cookbooks at the end of my island but the budget just wouldn't allow it. I found a freestanding bookshelf that fits nearly perfectly against the island. I'm painting it to match the cabinets. It also looks good against the refrigerator. I'm waiting till the countertops are installed to decide its final location.

My red Betty Crocker cookbook binder is over 30 years old and well-loved. I gave my son his own copy when he bought his first house.

Dianne

The rest are located in a cabinet (I have tons of books), these are the ones I go to most often.

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No pictures since install starts today. At the end of my row of cabinets I could only put in something that is 12 inch deep due to a window that is close to that corner. I chose a bookshelf with doors at the bottom. I am so excited about that bookshelf for my cookbooks!

Thank you for all those ideas! Mine are all in one place right now, but I like how you all have split them up according to usage -- that's what I need to do. Maybe I'll see if I can change one of the cabinets right across from range into open shelves -- I love the thought of being able to look at my favorites all day (though DH would rather have a door on them, even if a glass one -- does not like open shelves). And maybe the rest will go in the walk-in pantry, where the kids can also reach.

Mine are also located at the end of my island, but I put them behind glass doors to protect them, and also b/c I think it helps them look neater.

Gah! I can't quite see most of your cookbook titles! I want to snoop... Looks like there are a lot of BH&Gs, and a couple of Joy's (not as many as I expected), and Alku05 has a Tapas cookbook that I got right before the remodel and haven't had a chance to try yet. If you looked at mine, you'd see a couple of the standards, several Chinese and Japanese specialty books, and some gigantic Vegetarian books. I use the vegetarian books the most. I find those recipes most complicated and interesting. When I cook meat, it's a lot easier to wing it.

I don't have as many cookbooks as most of you. I have a side cabinet in my island - 12" wide, I think - that holds my table leaves. There's room for a shelf above; and that's where I put my cookbooks, in a double row. I don't have a clue yet how well it will work. The ones I use most are towards the front, and the ones that I don't like as much are in the back. Perhaps I'll have time to take and upload a picture later today.

I used to keep them all in the study, which is around a couple of corners and down a hall. It wasn't at all convenient. For a while, I was thinking about putting a mantle-style shelf near the kitchen pantry. The books would have their front covers facing out, rather than their spines. I'm lukewarm on that idea. As many of you have pointed out, the dust would do us no favors. I also think it would look cluttered, as the cookbooks are a variety of sizes.

I'm putting mine on the island a la countryfarm, alku, and julie7 -- it's important to have them easily accessible in the kitchen. I'm posting to comment on the well-used vs. pretty cookbooks. IMO the best cookbooks are filthy! They have grease spots, flour spots, viniagrette spots, dough spots, hollandaise spots, you name it...if you use them, they pick it up. My 1970s Joy, which must have a spot on every third page, will be quite visible, and that's fine with me.

I had a bookcase custom-built and installed to be the "backside" of my cooktop peninsula. The books face the breakfast table.

No idea why I'm bothering to post this picture, except to open self to ridicule for messy and sad, sad state of my forever-"before" kitchen. My books are over the refrigerator space. You may notice that something is missing. The space is too small for a modern refrigerator, so our LG (bought for our old house) sits where the kitchen table is supposed to go. Now, you may ask, why would anyone want to reno this kitchen? Original cabs, so kitschy? Hmmm. let me count the ways. :-)

Oh, and Caroline -- thanks for posting those yummy pics. Every time I see your lovely house (especially your kitchen and sun room), my old-house loving heart does a little pitter-patter. :-)

sara: you are a sweety, thank you.

I love seeing all the cookbooks too ! Everyone has such an eclectic style and great ideas for storage.

Blue: I had to laugh. Some of ours definitely qualify as the Velveteen Rabbit Cookbook award winners...they are very well loved. Our oldest Chinese Cookbook from the 70's has a big circular burn on the spine/cover. DH put it on the burner next to the wok and forgot and turned that burner on ...old electric stove in an apt in N.O. in 1971. Oh well everytime I look at it I remember. I have books that fall open to certain pages, too. I bet you do also. Glad you posted :) Caroline

Mine are in the cabinet above the fridge. They're easy to access because the cabinet doors come almost to the front end of the fridge. I have my most used ones right up in front, with the ones I rarely use in the back.

How fun to see all your pics and ideas! Love that custom bookcase made for peninsula, coolbeans. And, yes, my favorites are lovingly stained as well, especially the one of my mom's best recipes that I had made for my sister's wedding. That one is a simple, spiral-bound one that usually sits open in a drawer next to the range. (The round burn marks win the prize though, trailrunner!) Maybe I'll see about reconfiguring island drawers to make room for shelves for those oft-used ones.

I do, however, also love the less-frequently used beautiful ones, collected from memorable trips, etc. and maybe those belong in more of a display area up high (eg, above fridge, where I can't reach as easily!) And, alku, the glass doors do help minimize clutter -- I like that. Thanks, all.

The pages of my cookbooks with the favorite recipes all seem to stick together. Or they're a bit transluscent. :-)

Right where need them!

Also some art and other books,flanked by pantry.Still adding. Then I sit at the end of the island to read my recipes. What a luxury!

The many cookbooks I have are not in the kitchen. I rarely use a cookbook except for things I can not be sure will work, such as cookies and cake. Most of the recipes I think up or need are in a binder or on my laptop computer. Lots of ideas are spawned from looking through cookbooks or online in the CF or Recipezar. :)

I haven't taken pictures of any books in it, but this shelf set was put into the new kitchen just for the purpose of cookbooks. They're on the bottom shelf. The top shelf has a blue commemorative plate from the "family college"s 100th anniversary back in 1952, plus two collector glasses of my favorite comedian.

I put my old and grody cookbooks in the closed cabinets above the OTR MW. My 30 year old Betty Crocker cookbook, missing its cover, is held together with a rubber band up there.

DonnaR/CA

Here is a link that might be useful: Bookshelves in the kitchen (taken during remodel)

We have a hallway formed by one wall of our walk-in pantry, so we installed floor to ceiling bookshelves there. We're using them for cookbooks, magazines, games, display, baskets, you name it. Looks great & we're finally organized. I have upright magazine holders to store all our appliance manuals & small recipe booklets.

I keep mine in a cupboard by the stove. They are all so well worn and tattered that I don't feel they display too well. But the new one that I just bought is laying on the counter, sorta like an accent. That is, until it gets worn and tattered, then it can go to the cupboad.

I love getting recipes off the web, so I often print them and then keep them in a folder (in the cupboard, of course).

I have two on each end of my island. Both face the living room, so I wanted it to look less like kitchen cabinets and more like a bookshelf.

At the end of my island as well:

Mine are going in this week. You can see my bookcase all the way to the right.

(I have resized it but I'm not sure how this is going to turn out....my first picture post)

I love to cook, have taken a lot of gourmet cooking classes and dearly love my large and somewhat ratty collection of cookbooks. My dream with our recent total kitchen reno, was to create a place where they'd be behind closed doors due to their ratty/fragile nature, but still easily accessible. This was much harder than I'd expected, as I needed a fairly large space. Ideally, I wanted a narrow, tall cabinet in the kitchen to house them all in, but couldn't find the space for it. In the end, we added a 12" deep cabinet to the backside of our peninsula, under the eating area. It works for me because this is where I like to sit and plan my dinners. The pic below shows all the doors open so you can see the contents. It was taken as we were moving in; the floor is now clean and three bar stools sit in front of it. And, I ended up donating about one third of my collection, as I just couldn't justify taking up any more space with it.
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