It's a conundrum all cookbook lovers face eventually - the best location for storing cookbooks is not always the most attractive or most convenient. So what should you do? Tasting Table looked at the problem and came up with fourteen different ways to display cookbooks. They titled their post as "innovative" ways to show off your cookbook collection, but I think calling many of these innovative is a stretch.

Some of the suggestions verge on boring: on open shelving (duh), on a ladder rack, or in an island endcap. However, there are some interesting recommendations. They suggest using a rolling bar car to keep books at hand but easily moved out of the way. A small library cart may be a sturdier option along the same lines for what can be a heavy load. I also like the idea of the acrylic magazine display rack. This would be great for the books you really want to show off, but is not practical for storing significant numbers of books. Similarly, the full length wall rack offers an attractive way to showcase your most precious volumes. It has the added bonus of making use of spare inches that might otherwise go to a filler panel.

Some of the ideas are impractical. The plate rack - at least as shown in the accompanying photo - doesn't allow you to view the spine of the book. This would mean you would either have to memorize which book was where, or pull out each one to view them. Putting books in the shelf above an over-the-stove microwave is great - that is, if you want them to get greasy and grimy. Placing books in a windowsill will mean that the covers get faded that much faster. Again, not the best way to store books. What do you think of these cookbook storage/display ideas?