Our DIY Under the Cabinet Cook Book Holder

 

Last week, I wrote a post called Simple Ways to Store Your Cookbooks.

I shared that post because I knew I would be showing you how we created a DIY Cook Book Holder for our kitchen.

Cook Book holder

 

Before I show you my new Cook Book Holder, let’s take a quick look back at what this part of my kitchen looked like about 5 short months ago.

kitchen 030

WOW!  We’ve come a long way baby!  Smile

Notice the soffit above our cabinets.  We tore out the soffit and moved our cabinet boxes up to the ceiling.

DIY kitchen shelves

We also tore out our old pantry to the left of our oven, and created new cabinet space and a new, bigger pantry.

Kitchen Pantry

 

 

This is what our finished kitchen looked like the day before Christmas…

DIY kitchen makeover

 

Much better! 

Since we moved our cabinets up to the ceiling, we created some space under our cabinets for additional storage. 

I thought this would be a great place to store my cook books and spices.

under cabinet shelves

 

So I told Cy what I was kind of thinking about doing, and while I was in Utah at the SNAP! Conference, he made me a new shelf for my cook books.

Here is a video he shot of the process while I was gone…

 

 

 

 

I love this new storage space!

cook book holder

 

 

And I cannot wait to make another one like it on the other side of the microwave for my spices!

cook book holder

 

So if you are thinking about remodeling your kitchen, maybe you could move your existing cabinets up higher to create some under cabinet shelving as well.

cook book holder

 

If you would like to view the before and after pictures of our kitchen makeover again, just click on the picture below.

kitchen makeover

 

Do you have under cabinet shelving in your kitchen?

Do you have a space you would like to add some under cabinet shelving?

See you tonight for my “Best DIY Projects of April” linky Party!

24 Comments

  1. what a wonderful little shelf! I’ve been thinking about something similar to hide the ugly cut edges that a previous renovator left behind, Those curved edges are adorable! Thanks for the inspiration :-)

    1. I do not have a lot of cook books, but I do have more in my pantry. :) I just put the ones I use more often on my new shelf.
      I’m not a huge cook…shhhhhh….don’t tell anyone. :)

      1. LOL! So that’s where they are all hiding. And I’m sure you are a great cook! Truth be told, most of the cookbooks belong to my husband. He is the adventurous one!

  2. Your cookbook self looks great and now you have got my wheels turning. Your husband did a good job being responsible for filming the job in addition to doing it.

    1. I know! Aren’t they precious?! He is definitely developing a “blogger’s mentality” after putting up with me and my blog for the past three years. I don’t know what I would do without Cy!

  3. That is just the sweetest little shelf! And your kitchen transformation is truly astonishing! You would never know it was even the same house…which I guess was kinda the idea, right? LOL! It is all absolutely gorgeous! :-)
    Vanessa

  4. Awwwwww, what a great guy!!! He made you a “menu holder.” A menu holder? Every night for dinner, you pull out a new menu??? No cooking??? I’m just playin’ with ya! I have to have music in my kitchen and a have a little Bose radio/CD/clock in my kitchen. It was atop the refrigerator in my “old” kitchen, but now the fridge is built in. I have some pieces of wood trim that I kept from the new cabinetry that didn’t work and had to be remade, thinking I could use them somewhere. I think I want a “menu holder” too for my radio in my kitchen. Can you send Cy over?

  5. Hi Traci! Love your blog and your beautiful kitchen! I was thinking of doing something similar in my own kitchen. However, my husband thinks that if we remove the soffit and raise the cabinets then they will be too high for me to reach. Do you have this problem? I figure the overall look will be worth it and I can store items that we rarely use in those cabinets! What are your thoughts on the cabinets being too high after raising them?

  6. That looks wonderful, and yet so simple! I really like the way that you’ve reused your existing cabinets and added more storage space at the same time.

    I do have a question – the curved sides, is that just to ease the transition between the upper cabinets and the new cookbook shelf? Since the cookbook shelf doesn’t sit out as far as the upper cabinets?

  7. Wow. You guys amaze and delight me every time i read your blog. So talented with all your projects. And i am so jealous. Wish I had your skills. Beautiful kitchen!!

  8. Girl – THAT CY ROCKS!!!! Can I borrow his handy self??? LOL!!!! ;) I could put him to work around here too. My sweet adorable wonderful loving hubby is just not quite the handy man, but he makes up for that in so many more wonderful ways. I AM BLESSED with a good Christian man though.

    Great job CY!!!! I knew Traci was gonna love it!!!

    Marilyn C.

  9. Looks awesome!! This might be a really weird question, but can you tell me which store/location he got the 1/2 inch plywood? We’re doing diy board and batten in the nursery this weekend and went to N-ville Rd Lowes to have a 1/2 in plywood board cut into pieces (to save money from buying planks) and they don’t carry 1/2 in plywood! He informed me that all the stores carry different things. My hubby has been searching online so we’re not running all over Lex trying to find the correct boards. My friend recommended Home Depot because she said they have a better selection of wood but we haven’t gotten over there yet. We’re planning on going out tonight or tomorrow night to pick it up and when I saw this post it’s exactly the type of wood we’re looking for! Any help would be appreciated!! (Can’t wait to see your spice rack!!)

  10. I just LOVE EVERYTHING about your kitchen, The open shelving, cabinets to the ceiling, pantry, everything. You lucky women. ENJOY!!!

  11. We did this exact thing in our kitchen (only 20 years ago!) and have way too many cookbooks but the idea is the same! Good job!

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