Cookbooks, Collecting and Displaying

I love cookbooks. I probably have 200 or more (I'm honestly not sure). The older the better, but I also love to buy cookbooks of local cuisine on vacation. I bought a Turkish cooking magazine (in Turkish!) when I visited Istanbul several years ago; I still haven't translated it. It's tough to keep everything organized, to know where everything is and keep track of which one has that awesome recipe for _____.

Some of my older cookbooks are displayed in the dining room, with a small collection of vintage anodized aluminum pieces. The majority of the rest are on a baker's rack that's starting to show some signs of strain under all the weight.

This is an older photo; I've added to them.

A couple of years ago, I bought a battered piece of furniture for $25 -- a sturdy oak (?) bookcase with a couple of small doors. It had been used to house electronics at some point, and had doors that are gone now, but I saw it's potential. It's been sitting on the sunporch waiting for me to finish stripping off the old paint, sand it, and repaint. I love the design of my grandmother's recipe box, I want to use it as the inspiration for this bookcase.

Potential...

I am going to paint it warm white, and in the insets on the sides and on the drawers, use designs that look like this:

This is actually not Mamaw's box,
the condition of hers isn't this good.

Since my kitchen is yellow with accents of red and blue, that will be perfect!

Once it's all finished, I'll have another place for cookbooks and magazines, and can organize them better. That is high on my project list for 2014. Then I can start organizing all the loose recipes I have stashed all over the place, and start the process for another family cookbook. It's been 13 years since the last one; I think it's time.

Available at Amazon.