Re electricity, you probably need it just for code, anyway. Your corner with small table sounds less spacious than the top picture above. Given that, I'd recommend against the sconces on the uprights. They could really be in the way if you just want to get a book off the far shelf and were easing around someone having tea. Additionally, the direct light isn't good for your books. LED is probably a lot better in that regard, but I think a lamp on top or a slender torchere, or built in lighting would be better.

I always have too many books to put a lot of other stuff on shelves. I have had a telephone in a bookcase, where the jack was already there. Perhaps you'd like an outlet for a charger base, or a full on charging station.

The holiday decor makes sense. How nice if you can hide the cord! That might be a reason to put the outlet up high. Otherwise, I'd say either counter/waist level, or low.

florantha-

Here are a couple of pics of our EIK (no DR) with the halfwall bookshelf. The side towards the table holds cookbooks, dictionary, field guides, etc., on the opposite side of the bookshelf is a stainless steel table. The back of the bookcase is done in scraps of the beadboard we used on the ceiling, our contractor made it so that the edge of the bookshelf is just a hair under the table, they fit together very snugly.

Power is at both ends on the stainless table side, it comes up thru the floor and runs along the beadboard. The outlets are just below the steel table.

These pics aren't exactly your vision, it's only a half wall, but we do have decorative stuff on top, and it varies widely by season. The back of the bookcase is painted a contrasting color (a deep purple that I alchemied with some stuff I had lying around), but it's hard to see, we have so much stuff crammed in there that sadly the purple doesn't show as much as I had hoped.

Happy planning

sandyponder

Thanks for postings.

Buehl, hadn't thought about electrical code. Need to reread the fine print--thanks for reminder.

If we can find a certain lost box? bag? in construction storage, it contains a nutty garage sale vintage small chandelier that we can hang it over the table and I'll know for sure if it works in that position, but I doubt I can read by it for any length of time. I'm thinking about a small swing arm reading lamp mounted to the bookshelf to push and pull from the book case to the table for recipe and magazine reading...OR for Plan B,...a table lamp to sit on the table. But anyway, knowing me, I won't be happy in the long run if that corner doesn't have outlets at top and bottom of bookshelf and perhaps in middle of also. I had Silllights in plan at top of bookshelf at one point, but now am thinking that perhaps it would be easier and cheaper to just mount outlets on the back of the bookshelf wall.

SandyPonder,
I think it's great that you have field guides mixed in with your cookbooks. What a "working kitchen" concept! And an honest reflection of real family. Your bookshelf is about quarter or a fifth of what I'm contemplating. My collection of cookbooks will fill half of the 6-foot wide, 6.5 feet tall unit we're going to build.

Off topic SandyPonder: Where do you keep your binoculars? We have a scenic view on opposite side of house from kitchen, where the dining room has an Atrium Door to deck and lake; the bird guides are in bookshelf in that room but it's the binoculars that I have to deal with all the time--they jump off the shelf and hang out in crazy places. Add to that our need to enforce a consistent camera storage spot. DH and I are members of the Wood Duck Society so it's especially the woodies in the yard that are a mania. Anyway, it's great to find kindred spirits on a computer forum.

Florantha,

I am planning a bookcase almost exactly the same dimensions as yours (30" wide by 84-90" high depending on what looks eye sweet at the time.)

I have built zillions of bookshelves in my day, and if you use full 1" or 1 1/8" dimensional lumber for shelves up to about 30", you can usually avoid having to have a vertical in the middle. Having the shelf without an extra vertical in the middle looks better, IMO, unless you are going to having a second unit next to it. (And anybody who already has that many cookbooks may need another case soon, what with the way books breed when you're not paying attention......)

A couple of things to think about: do you want adjustable height shelves? These allow for later adjustment when your collection grows, but they are not as sturdy as shelves that are fixed from the start. It's possible to have some of each, too.

I also advise having at least some different height shelves, in order to maximise the books you can store. A case in which all the shelves are the same height is boring to look at, IMO. In general cases look best with wider spacing on the bottom, gradually moving to shorter heights above. But you can have a couple of tallish shelves underneath a single shelf that's even taller at about waist or windowsill height, followed by the rest of the shelves being shorter. Sometimes it looks better (in case of taller shelves X2 or 3, below the tallest shelf) to have the bottom shelves a few inches deeper, then have the case step-back a couple of inches, sort of like hutch, at the level of the floor of the tallest shelf and from there in upwards.

Be sure to have the bottom shelf several inches off the floor (I usually do about 6">; floors are not good places for books. It can also look good to have doors over the lower couple of shelves in a hutch-style step-back case. This is great storage and good for those messy-looking papers.

If you paint the shelves, you'll need to let them cure for at least a couple of weeks, preferably a month, before loading the books. Book edges have a fatal affinity for un-cured paint (even after it seems dry, it is not cured). They may stick, tear, and discolor if stored on or even near, fresh paint. Even after a month, I always lay down a liner of that polypropylene stuff that they use to cover dust jackets on library books. (You can order it from library supply houses like DEMCO.)

For strength I usually have a cleat nailed along the back of the case underneath the shelf. Along the sides, another cleat can be nailed, as long as it kind of fades away before reaching the front, sort of like a very narrow corbell. But your cabinet maker may have ideas, too. The key thing is to not skimp on the thickness of the shelf boards. Properly sized boards will stay true and level, no matter how many copies of Gourmet and Mark Bittman you plunk down on them.

When you have a plan (shelf height and widths) get some large newsprint paper and draw it, full scale and stick it up and see how you like it.

As for lighting, it's hard to tell what will work for you. I plan to have a reading chair by my shelves in a corner of my kitchen near a french window. I'll probably have a floor lamp, because my chair is meant for reading, not just decor. Keep in mind that sunlight is hard on books, as is the light from CFL bulbs. I don't know about LEDs, though. I plan to put UV resistent covers on my favorite cookbooks as they will get sun during the winter, alas.

To my mind a reading nook by a window is a kitchen essential, (more essential to me than a window by the sink, for which I am getting prodded on my current layout critique thread). But then I think a reading nook is essential in every room. My dining room is a dining room by grace of a table in the middle of a library, with a sideboard thrown in for effect.

I think if you're a book lover/fiend then rooms without books look nekkid, in ways that mystify non-book people. Face it, it's a disease, for which there is no easy cure.

Oh, yeah: books and steam and grease are not happy companions so make sure your venting is good.

There are also some books devoted to pictures of (whate else?) bookshelves, perhaps your library has some. I can hunt about and get some titles if that will help.
Nancy

Nancy/nk40h,
I appreciate your posting. It touches on a lot of important considerations. I esp. appreciate your baldly saying that we bookaholics have a disease. Perhaps confronting the fact will help me put this part of the kitchen into some kind of perspective. When I first began planning, I had decided to put cookbooks into drawers, but that idea didn't last long.

Unlike your project, this book nook/table nook is NOT intended to sub for reading stations elsewhere in the house. The corner is dark and I don't intend to put any comfy chairs here, just utilitarian ones, perhaps antiques. You may have noted other postings by me about the necessity of having lots of light, perhaps a factor of my age. The postings above have helped me resolve to demand a number of outlets so that I can light things as the room usage evolves. The nook is just big enough for a person or two to sit and eat informally with a newspaper spread out and a dog at their feet, but it's also a work station. Bill processing, organizing financial statements (which multiply as you age), consulting reference books, reading email, planning a dinner party--these are things I assume I'll do here. Won't have water and food prep residue as the peninsula does and I can leave things spread out for a while without disturbing other kitchen activities. I have fantasies about sitting here with a grandchild and some cookie dough, but this may never be a reality. Meanwhile, the dog will eat anything within his nose range, so already I am trying not to leave food there--no cookie jars, etc. need apply.

Your idea of a dummy shelf for evaluation is good, but I've done one better. I found two tall beat-up particle board teak-faced freestanding bookshelves at ReUse Center which I used during construction to hold kitchen items in temp. storage. Now I've moved them into the projected bookshelf area and am living with them to test the concept. I'm finding that it's fun to rearrange the display stuff in them, to keep from having things grow stale. The most-used cookbooks keep jumping off the shelf and so I'm going to have to work out a very accessible place for them to live so they get put away regularly. Have to decide on a major organizational issue--will the books be arranged by topic (uses more space--the Italian section, the historical cookbooks section, etc.) or by height (maximizes the shelving space by allowing a shelf of little paperbacks and a shelf of coffee table-sized books). I'm tending toward the former, since part of the reason for the bookshelf is to bring together stuff that has been flung apart too long.

Although we really liked the idea of having glass doors and had some drawings made up for them, we've decided that for flexibility's sake we need to have open shelves and as I said previously, in two columns to fight shelf sag. I neglected to mention that we have made the decision to use 2.5-inch x 24-inch strips of red and ivory marble mosaic as a design element in the kitchen--it will be a short backsplash throughout the countertop area. A nutty find in a tile closeout, suitable for a red freak who has been feeling red-deprived lately. I have lots of it, so we're talking about embedding a marble band or two below the top molding of the bookshelf also. If this works out, it will be fabulous. If it doesn't, it will be a tribute to my manias. I recently found some (more) Old Sheffield silverplate large pieces which would like to show themselves off, so the "look" will be modern pale oak shelving + the shine of Regency silver + mahogany-red marble + lotsa books. Not at all nekked. Overdressed perhaps.

Looking forward to more about your bookish kitchen. TTFN. --F.

Well, I think you've answer your own question, that you want to have lots of outlets at different heights. There you go! As long as you have room on your service, you can put a whole circuit just to the shelves.

I think the chandelier you already have, if it goes, is a great idea for general light, with a supplemental reading light for perusing your cookbooks. Might I suggest something like a recharable lamp? That way you wouldn't be tripping over cords.

[Picking a bone: It is NOT a disease! It's NOT! It's NOT!! It's good for the mind! It's how one learns stuff!! It's how we conserve knowledge!!!!! (My friends won't go in a bookstore with me. I'll admit the addiction, but not all addictions are diseases.)]

Plllog, yes, I have my own idea as to how the wall should be wired. But I'm not the one with the drill and such in my hands, DH is the designated hitter and he claims now that I never told him there would be any outlets on that wall. What happened to that promise I KNOW he made when I was working up the bookcase plan and, before that, the wiring plan, when I said, "And now about the bookcase wall..." and he said "That's a spot that is so easy. You can have anything you want any time you ask for it so we won't worry about it right now"? One more day in the life of a DIY spouse.

And, now that I think of it, wouldn't a line of plugmold or something like that be useful on the inside front of the shelf unit on the underside of the top? Cords could be run down the inside front of the center mullion or down the back of the inside pieces, if we choose to make a lip for camouflage! I could run twinkle lights everywhere! Put in a radio and change the position in a couple years! mount a reading light anywhere I can pound a wall hanger! Even put one of those awful animated Christmas or Halloween gizmos there to wave and talk or whatever! And I could have one very visible plug right at the bottom of the shelf unit to serve a future not yet named use, perhaps a sewing machine plug or a fly tier's clamp-on light for the table!

florantha-

I think plugmold would be great inside a bookcase, and if you have a basement or crawl space, you can bring the power up thru the floor. (Bringing power thru the floor also makes said power easy to move. Ask me how I know.)

WRT our binocs, we keep them in the LR, right by the picture window. One of these days I'm going to finish painting the window trim, and then I'll put up the vintage brass hooks that I've been carting around for, oh, at least 10 years. The vision is that the binocs will hang on the trim between the fixed and operable windows. Someday.

Here's a pic, you can see the binocs on the windowsill, which we made deeper just for them.

The bookcase sounds great, and nk4oh, that was a very helpful post, I appreciate the time you took to document your process (printed and filed for future use).

sandyponder

Here is a pic with the binocs:

Here is why we need them (blue heron taking off from the rocks):

Sandyponder,

The view from your house is amazing! This looks like a house I would love to sit at the window with a cup of tea & your binoculars. The atmosphere is so homey - I can almost smell the bread & cookies baking! Are you in New England?

I wish I could find some oak built in bookcases with lighted
cabinets and shelves... But I can't. I did however
find your old post and a few more images of built ins
and one with a cute little reading nook.

~boxerpups

Here is a link that might be useful: Florantha's old post