The kitchen is not just for cooking anymore. For most people, it's where the majority of their time is spent, sharing meals, doing family projects, and entertaining. And, as it turns out, it's the place where some are storing their book collections.
There are various routes to take in terms of placement, style, and type of book to display. For some, the kitchen shelves are reserved exclusively for cookbooks, a pragmatic choice. Others decide to display a plethora of books and magazines on various subjects.
In terms of where the books are kept in the kitchen, often times a few shelves in an island do the trick. Or a single row of cookbooks placed on a shelf above the sink, a scenario that turns the books into part of the decor, especially if arranged artfully. Others choose to put in floor-to-ceiling shelves to store the family collection of books in its entirety, a dramatic look and one that ensures the kitchen will be the focal point of activity in the space.
Putting your kitchen table next to a massive bookshelf seems to be a popular choice; there's something cozy about sharing a meal surrounded by books. All this said, I'm sure that there are some people that think that food and books do not mix.
So where do you stand? Would you store your books in the kitchen? Or should your reading place and cooking/eating place be separate entities?
FIRST ROW
1. Fabulicious Food by Ren Behan
2. Decor Pad
3. Designiz
4. Daily Home Design
5. Digs Digs.
SECOND ROW
1. Austin Modern Living
2. Apartment Therapy
3. The Kitchn
4. Peonies and Poloroids
5. Southern Living
(Images: As credited above)
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Marisa and Peter's Playfully Eclectic Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
A Work Week Menu Plan That You Can Do
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
I do like the idea of displaying your books in the kitchen but then again it depends on the where? Definitely not above the stoves I would be really sad to see those books get covered by the grease. Maybe a glass cover doors for the book shelves to solves the problems?
Oh boy! 2 and 5...love that coral whatsit in the window. Hit the link for #5...unbelievable kitchens!!!
1st row #5, I should say...
They need to be a bit seperate (unless they are cook books). I'd hate to see books destroyed by a 'plumbing incident' or spitting fat. But I think books go anywhere else, so a bit further away, like next to the table is a great idea.
I have about a foot and a half of space above my cabinets in my 300 sq foot apartment and it's perfect for more than half of my book collection - wall to wall books up there. The only downside is that out of sight out of mind, so I don't refer to/read them as often as if they were more accessible.
I'd like to put cookbooks for easy access in the kitchen, buuuuut I have heavy cookbooks and I'm pretty sure there aren't any nice wood shelves that can hold that much weight.
Whats up with that first pic? It's a blurry pic of books in a dinning room seen FROM a kitchen ... same sorta thing in pic #3 ( must admit those are my favorites anyways)
I do keep my cookbooks on a shelf in the kitchen. We're avid readers and have a ton of books, and they are on shelves throughout our house. I like seeing books in every room. :)
We used to have a set of bookshelves in our kitchen where I kept all of my cookbooks and gardening books, but you had to walk past it to get to the back door, and so it became a catchall.
I had to move the bookshelves out of the kitchen when we got a bigger table, and now the cookbooks are on the hutch in our dining room. It's not quite as convenient, but it's also not as messy looking.
I like the idea of it though. I'd have books in every room if all of my wall space wasn't taken up by windows and radiators.
I like the pic in number 2. I have a few books out, but mostly they are in a closed cabinet--not a fan of either dust or grease and while I don't cook with much grease where I live dust--in the arid west, dust is a problem.
if you are living somewhere small, you have to do what works. Normally though I only would have cooking books in the kitchen, unless the kitchen is some giant dinning-living-cooking room.
We ran out of space for bookcases, and so put a three-shelf one in the kitchen in the corner, away from the stove and counters. It's handy to have more surface area in there, but mostly it was fun going through and pulling out all the books from our collection with food words in the title. :)
Even I keep my cook books in kitchen,.: luv them there