Tips on cleaning, storing, and organizing your cookbook collection

Many of our members have outsized cookbook collections. Mine is modest compared to some but I do have hundreds of books which means I have a lot of storage needs. While I aspire to an impeccably organized, highly logical, and beautiful system for housing my cookbooks, instead I have a mismatched bookshelves lining the walls of a spare bedroom, stacks of books on the floor, and even a laundry basket holding books that need to find their slot on the shelves. NYT’s Wirecutter has advice for folks like me, offering insights from cookbook store owners on how to take care of your collection.

EYB is delighted that many professional mentioned using Eat Your Books as part of a comprehensive storage solution, along with advice on where to keep the books (the kitchen, while convenient, isn’t the best due to high moisture and grease levels), and how to clean them. I am going to apply cookbook store owner Bonnie Slotnick’s advice to use a shaving brush to dust the books since I inherited a couple of shaving brushes from my grandfather.

Other helpful tips include ways to preserve cookbook covers, different methods for storing clippings or printed recipes, and suggestions for how to repair books. As to the last issue, Matt Sartwell of NYC’s Kitchen Arts & Letters says “If it’s something that’s a true collectible, it’s a really bad decision to use tape.”