How do you store your cookbooks?

[mudbug]

[shroomgirl]

I just moved from a 4 bedroom 3 bath to a Bungalow with 1 BR 1 bath.....office moved at the same time...DOWNSIZING. Books and mags went flying.

I have an antique Armoire with glass doors and carved wood flowers on the sides that lives in the livingroom with only cookbooks....divided into baking, Julia and James, Time-Life (from my childhood, vegetarian, game/shrooms same same in my book, cajun/creole, ethnic and I do have that algerian as well as lithuanian etc book, that's pretty much how it's divided oh yeah the chocolate shelf overrunnth.
cookbooks being read in my BR, cookbooks used often on the one counter in the kitchen !! 1950's orginal kitchen...except fridge. READ NO COUNTER>
I'm not meticulous about my books, if you pick up one I've used you'll know it...it will possibly not have a binder, it will OPEN to recipes that are fav automatically, it will definately have dried samples of much used ones.....these are Joy of Cooking, Maida Heaters, Le Notre pastry, I'm sure a few odds and ends.....and I have my Mom's Settlement and Good Housekeeping from the 50's as well as prying Pillsbury "Best of the Bake-off collection" circa 1966 from her library.
I dated a guy for years that had the largest cookbook library in Mo. cookbooks were mine to borrow or recieve for the asking....the way to my heart is definately fueled by books.(wine/food doesn't hurt either....but information got me.)

[mudbug]

Shroomgirl,

Ugh, downsizing, that's got to be the toughest thing to do for a collector. The Friends of the Library are having their spring sale so my collection just grew by another non-existent shelf... LOL!

[Nick.Shu]

on a shelf.

[Miele]

I don't have half of what you all have, but I still have problems with organization. I keep my cookbooks in a nook/cranny thing in the kitchen. I have purchased specific La Cucina Italiana, Gourmet and Bon Appetit mags, and I have a subscription to Cooking Light that I am less enthisastic about these days. I've not heard of Saveur before, but I suspect I'll be spotting them in my house soon.

Questions for all you electronic media users - Are your computers in your kitchen? Do you print out your recipes when you decide to use them? Do you find, as I think it was Marmalade who said, you spend too much time searching? This is my biggest problem! Aside from figuring out what to do with the magazines.

And how on earth can you remember what recipe is in which book when you have 500 cookbooks??!!

[RegularJoe]

Originally Posted by Miele

...Questions for all you electronic media users - Are your computers in your kitchen?...

I do now! Well, not a permanent fixture, but I recently ran an Ethernet cable to the kitchen so I can take my laptop to the kitchen and have internet access to my office computer's database of recipes. Now, there is no more running back and forth to the office, or printing recipes just so I can have them in the kitchen. At times, it is also handy to access the internet directly from the kitchen.

Although my recipe database does have some complete recipes, most entries are cross-references to cookbooks (I'm too lazy to retype all those recipes), for example, the database entry for "Bagels" simply has a note that says "The Bread Baker's Apprentice, page 115". Then once I have tried a recipe and proven it is worth keeping, I will enter the complete formula in my database.

[Headless Chicken]

I don't have a large collection but it's steadily growing for each pay check I bring in
However, I keep them all in a cupboard and away from like 80% of the dust in my room. Its getting tight in there but within the next month or so, My tenants in the basement are moving so once they're cleared out and work done to the place, I'll be moving down there with a lot more space for my books. I'm thinking of either building a bookshelf or getting a metal rack for them or get plastic orginizer/moving bins (I save most of my mags and some artical clipouts too).

With the rack idea, the books will share it's space with my DVDs, which is growing faster then my book collection

I keep some of my recipes in digital formats so I'm also thinking of making a space for my laptop in the kitchen.

[travelchick]

Oh man, do I need more space too!

We have one small built in shelf which has been full for quite some time. Now, I'm actually storing some on the floor in a stack in FRONT of the shelf unit and I'm storing some at work on a shelf.

I'm not sure how many I have, I've lost count. LOL 300ish I would say.

My prize possession(s) are 2 editions of the Epicurean. We found them at a flea market in a huge lot of books the vendor had purchased from a family whose father had just died. The father was a big time book dealer and these books were from his personal "stash" from a storage unit. Books that never even saw his shop, he was just hording them! LOL

Oh boy, we bought SO many books from her that day!

[bunbun]

"in the freezer of course" along with the coffee, all my cash because we know how likely a theif is to look in there(don't tell any one) and the 25 gallons of milk i got outof the soon to expire bin. haha just kidding mine are usually on my counter where i can get them easiy. i wish i had an island to put them on or at least a bookshelf in the kitchen . some day some day.

[AmbrosiaFood]

Originally Posted by W.DeBord

I've ruined the bookshelfs in our home office from the weight. Their over flowing, I shouldn't guess how many books I have it borders on burden. I'd like to loose most of my cook books (NOT baking books), I just don't have the interest anymore...just a keep a couple favorites for home cooking. But the idea of getting pennys for them breaks my heart.

But my favorite baking books are all down in my art studio off the family room so every night I can easily grab a book while relaxing.

I've finally backed up my recipe file on the computor, wish I had done it years ago cause I suffered when I lost my whole mousse file. Still realizing I can't find some recipes again. That was a hard lesson.

This makes most people cringe but I cut up every magazine I get and only keep the recipes I truely want. Then I file them so I can find any recipe in a minute.

I want to scan my favorite recipes from my cookbooks onto my computer in the future. Now, only new recipes I find on the net, or from new books and magazines are on my computer.

I have to wait for the rest until I get the majority of my cookbooks out of storage in order to put them on the computer. Then, I will categorize the cookbooks by subject, and alphabetize them within the subject.

[stacey2685]

piled on my chair beside my desk... i'm just starting out, so i dont have many. They sure do help with homework, sure net is grat, but not the same as having a cook book right there on the desk
stace

[Mikeb]

I keep my cookbooks on the desk in my bedroom, whenever I'm bored or can't sleep I read them.

[alfredo]

my cookbooks are organized by what culture there from.For EX.italian cookbooks are sepret from chinese ones. i have one blank cook book that i write my own recipises in. i store them in my bedroom on a book shelf.

Alfredo

[redace1960]

those of you who have things stored on the computer, please remember that one good lightning storm can make everything go ffffft! found this out the hard way.
JOY lives in the kitchen on the breadbox with my not so blank notebook for writing down inspirations, and my daughters klutz press KIDS COOKING. all three are...used looking. leave it at that. the rest are what i'd call core reference, culled down over the years. they live in the dining room but still have the same 'patina' as the other three. i read all of these over and over. to flesh out an inspiration, i go to the library. since cooking isnt the only thing i study if i didnt limit myself i'd be living in a house made of books duct-taped together with a tarp thrown over.
one thing i have overdosed on are the old recipe booklets they gave out as promotion years ago. i own fire hazardous stacks of these. i dont know whats better- the recipes, the pictures, they way they capture their particular era or what but im addicted!

[Mannlicher]

I keep my books on a set of stacked shelves, in an alcove between the bedroom and kitchen. Good lighting, I can see them from my work space, and they are always easy to find. Most of my ideas come out of one of the 4 large binders that are full of my own recipies.