I have a dilemma. One that has now been bugging me for weeks. It’s not that serious…it doesn’t keep me up at night (yet), but it’s something I need to make a decision on within the next few months.
How the heck do I organize my cookbooks/food books?
You see, my cookbooks and other various food-related books are currently sitting precariously on shelves (along with all my other books), sometimes in rows in front of other rows, in no particular order. That was before I ran out of bookshelf space. Then the books started becoming 3-foot stacks on the floor, getting tucked under coffee tables and finally, just left in their shopping bags (yeah, I know, I have a bit of a problem).
Now that we’re making plans to move into our new home, Paul has decided to build me a large bookshelf along one wall of the basement (I can’t wait!)…but that brings me to my current problem – how do I organize my food books?
My other books, fiction and non-fiction, are easy – alphabetically by author. Naturally, my first thought was to organize my food books this way too. And then my thought process started meandering careening towards, and then past, the point of any sane person.
I think I should organize my books by author…but what if I want to browse pasta recipes? Shouldn’t my cookbooks be organized by subject matter, like bookstores do it? Okay, maybe I’ll organize by subject matter…but some books are pretty generic…what about those? And shouldn’t all my Nigella books be together?
Should my cookbooks, food reference books and food writing books be mixed together?
Maybe I’ll just organize them by colour…that would look pretty. Tina [my co-worker] said she organizes her cookbooks by height…is that even possible? I guess it’s okay if I only had 5 cookbooks, but I have close to 150…, no, I don’t think height would work.
Maybe I should arrange them chronologically by when I bought them. Wait, what? That’s just crazy – I can’t remember when I bought all these books. Maybe I should rank them in order of how often I use them. Haha. No, that won’t give them any order at all. Why does this line of thinking remind me of the movie High Fidelity?
It was at this point that I gave up and went to have a brownie. Brownies make everything better.
We’re probably not moving until early summer and I probably won’t be organizing my books until August, which means I still have lots of time to figure this out. So I’m asking you, dear friends:
How do you organize your cookbooks/food books?
Haha, what a great dilemma to have! I really enjoyed all the photos of your books because I am also a book lover. I think ordered by author is the way to go, since all Nigella really should be together. I think that alphabetically will leave them still “random”ish; all the better to enjoy them. I like the feeling of being able to browse my own shelves.
Oh, hey, maybe you would like The Kitchen Reader–it’s a food-realted book club for bloggers. Check it out!
Oops, I see my error–you are already a member! Please delete this comment and the previous one. Sigh; sorry. I think I need a nap! 🙂
Sarah – LOL! I’m not deleting those extra comments because they’re adorable! 😀 Yes, I just joined The Kitchen Reader this month so I have yet to do my first book review, but very soon! Thanks for the advice on the books!
I have the same problem! I’m still moving my cookbooks from my previous home to my new one and I don’t even have bookshelves yet. So far, I’ve organized them as “favourites,” “baking,” “quick-and-easy meal ideas,” and the “one day I’ll try this” sections.
Sylvia – Oooh, categories! I’m very tempted by this – I love browsing the bookstores and that’s how they generally do it. Get some bookshelves! 😀
I organize mine so that they fit snugly on the shelf. 🙂 I have “Great Food Fast,” like you do – satisfying, with limited ingreds, which is always cookbook criteria for me. Let me know which others are good!
I agree that this is such a wonderful dilemma to face! What happy bookshelves they will be. I think a combo of categories works best: if you have a collection from an author then those together, similar food types (everyday, italian, cooking with booze etc), even by meal type?
Good luck!!
I ended up going through my cookbooks about 3-4 times over the last couple of years and passing along the ones that I discovered I wasn’t using as much. Thankfully I have a few friends who covet them as much as I do.
I have a reference shelf (or two…) in the basement and I keep a three shelf bookcase in the dining room for the books I use frequently. It only holds cookbooks. Nothing else.
I might have a few cookbooks…
I still organize mine by author.
I’ve never really thought about organizing my cookbooks in a more sensible way before! Mine are currently divided into two bookshelves, and I guess the only thing I care about is making sure the ones that I use the most are easily accessible! And the ones that I like to just browse through for inspiration are in my living room next to a comfy chair for easier reading 🙂
I order my cookbooks alphabetically. Nothing special, but it works!
Organize? Pshh… just hide them all in a closet in a giant pile.
I have cookbooks all over the house. I keep in the kitchen my fav. In the basement I have a shelve with my french cookbooks. And the other cookbooks are by subject like vegetarian, desserts, ethnic, BBQ etc. Easier to find a book when I am searching for a certain subject.
My collection isn’t quite as big as yours, but I have a big bookshelf built into the end of my cabinets which is a great start, and a separate cupboard/shelf in the kitchen with more…i tend to organize by colour because it looks pretty 🙂
I recently organized my cookbook collection and came up with a (sort of) system. They’re organized into categories: vintage, all purpose cookbooks/”bibles” (like Joy of Cooking and Mastering the Art of French Cooking), those focusing on a specific cuisine (e.g., Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern), books from places I’ve travelled, books by restaruant chefs (e.g., Le Pigeon) and finally books by celebrity chefs (e.g., Michael Smith). It may not be the most comprehensive way of doing things, but it works for my collection!
I thought we had a lot of cookbooks! My partner and I have yours, mine, and ours shelves – two each, with the ones we like best on the set of shelves closest to the kitchen. But, now we’re getting into a dilemma ourselves. He’s buying a lot of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, whereas I’m buying a lot of the latest ones across cuisines. We’re starting to run out of room.
If I had as many as you do, I think I’d organize it by cuisine.
I organize mine by author, then by type baking etc., then by when I buy them (ie empty space) and finally in a pile on the floor.
Here’s another option, by colour?
Good luck with the decision.
I don’t really have a lot of cookbook so mine basically go from smallest to largest. If I was you I would start with seasonal cookbooks on a separate shelf.
Hm, I don’t have enough cookbooks to organize, but if I did, I’d organize by category or by color. http://cdn.freshome.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/color-bookshelf.jpg
Please post a picture up when you’re done organizing! I’ve love to see it!