Having a cookbook holder might seem like an extraneous kitchen tool, but it is an excellent way to take care of your cookbook collection and make cooking a little bit easier.  How many cookbooks do you have that have pages that look like you pulled it out of the pool?  Wavy and screwed up pages are a thing of the past with cookbook holders!

A cookbook stand is designed to hold up your cookbook and keep your recipe’s page open, all while keeping the kitchen splatter off of the book.  Without a holder cookbooks can become pretty nasty, especially when you’re pounding out burgers or chicken nearby!

The most quality cookbook holders will have a clear plastic sheet that sits in front of the pages so you can keep your recipe right in the “danger zone” without worrying about ruining the book.  It will also protect the book from the stove’s heat which can ignite a cookbook, or at least melt the binding of the book and make the pages fall out (I’m very guilty of that!).

There are under cabinet cookbook holders that fold up into the cabinet and out of the way.  When you need to use it just fold it out and place your recipe there and it’ll be right at eye level.  These work best when you have deep cabinets, but can function with just about any cabinet setup.

Most counter top cookbook holders will break down and fold up so they can be easily stored when you aren’t using them.  These holders do a great job of holding large cookbooks upright so they are much easier to read (think “Joy Of Cooking” and other huge cookbooks).

You’ll be surprised by how much use you get out of your cookbook holder.  Once you use one, you won’t know how you ever lived without it.  It keeps the kitchen and your cookbooks much cleaner, which improves their lifespan.

Around this page you’ll see a small selection of the most popular cookbook holders that Amazon.com has to offer. Shopping with them is great because they will ship everything you need together to your house at a great price. To see all of the cookbook stands that Amazon has to offer, click here.

Picking out a recipe stand might seem like a pretty straightforward affair, but there are many different types and styles that will work best for some and not so well for others.  In this post, I want to share my thoughts on what works best for different kitchens and cooking styles.

With lots of different recipe book holder choices on the market it’s easy to buy one for yourself or one as a gift that isn’t going to get nearly as much use as you would like.  The first thing that you have to take into consideration is the design and style of the kitchen and its decor.  There are bamboo, wrought iron, acrylic, stainless steel, and other wooden and metal types.  This means that there’s one that will fit every kitchen, and dozens that won’t at all!  Take a close look at the kitchen’s decor and the materials of the accessories and small appliances that are in it.  If the food processor, paper towel holder, and coffee grinder are all stainless, then a stainless cookbook holder would probably suit the kitchen.  If there is a “country feel” to the kitchen then a wrought iron or wooden one will work best.  If you get a recipe stand that really fits the theme of the kitchen, it will become an integral part of the kitchen and cooking.
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A good friend of mine just got the Clear Solutions Jumbo Cookbook Holder and I decided to write up a review for you guys (and gals).  I use an under counter cookbook holder, personally, but this thing is sweet and is what I’d use if I was going to go retro, erm, on the counter!

Jumbo is definitely right when it comes to describing this cookbook holder, but don’t let that scare you into not buying it.  The entire thing breaks down flat so it’s extremely easy to store in a cabinet.  The acrylic plastic “splash guard” is very easy to clean, and just needs to be rinsed or wiped off if it catches some food goo.  It holds very large cookbooks as well as recipes that have been printed from the computer, all with ease.

So, how does it work?  It certainly wasn’t rocket science to come up with the groove design at the bottom that allows the backing to move forward or backward, but it’s still a great design.  There’s a plastic backing that fits into the slots and you adjust it to how thick or thin your book is.  The splash guard is on a hinge that presses in towards the cookbook, keeping it in place.  With it being on a hinge you can easily pull it forward to change pages of your cookbook.

All in all, I really like the Clear Solutions Jumbo Cookbook Holder.  If I was to move to an on the counter cookbook holder, this one would definitely be my choice! Check this cookbook holder out on Amazon.com by clicking here.
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My under cabinet cookbook holder has completely changed my kitchen and my cooking style.  There was a point where I was so tired of ruining my cookbooks, or having to run completely across the kitchen to check a recipe, that I stopped using cookbooks altogether.  Fortunately, my wife bought me an under the cabinet cookbook holder and that changed everything!

Now, I don’t know whether you have one or not, so I’m going to write this assuming that you do, but will add some options at the end for you to purchase one.  I kid you not, these things will completely change your cooking style and habits!

Installing under cabinet cookbook holders is very easy.  It’s just a few screws that go into the bottom of your cabinet and you’re ready to start cooking.  Before you install, make sure that your cabinet is deep enough to fit the holder in while it’s folded up.  If it’s not, you may want to find a smaller model since you can’t really use it without some heavy modification.
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When shopping for cookbook holders there are a few other things that you have to look into, rather than whether or not it can hold onto your cookbook.  There are a few different designs that have different benefits, and to understand the right one for your kitchen we’ll take a look at some of those in this article.

The most common type is the cookbook holder stand.  This holder only serves the purpose of holding your cookbook upright and on the page that you want.  Cookbook stands (or recipe stands, as they’re called in the UK) work best when you have an area or counter in your kitchen that you can designate for them.  This means that you need a separate area, that’s away from the action, to put your recipes.  These stands don’t have a plastic cover on them to keep sauce and foodstuffs from landing on your pages.

To prevent sauce and goo from messing up your cookbooks you can use acrylic cookbook holders.  These have a very similar design to the cookbook stands, but have an acrylic plastic cover that goes over the front of the cookbook.  This works as a “shield” that will prevent your immersion blender from flinging your soup all over the cookbook.
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