Especially behind a Prepara Chef's Centre Cookbook Holder. This nifty little device will soon become indispensible in your kitchen. Now, some (including I) would look at a book holder specifically for the kitchen as a frivolity. So, in the name of research, I've been cooking up a storm, using the Chef's Centre to hold my recipe books and papers. The verdict? Once you have used one of these, you'll never tolerate a flat, spattered book in the kitchen again.
The Chef's Centre features a clear plastic, spring-loaded panel at the front, behind which you place your recipe. The genius here is that the rear of the book holder is adjustable: you can display anything from a single recipe paper to The Cook's Companion in the space, and know that it will be perfectly presented for your reading pleasure. Furthermore, the holder is mounted on a "lazy susan": the base stays still, but the entire holder section spins 360 degrees. I don't have much call for that particular function, being in possession of the world's teeniest kitchen, but for the lucky chef with an island bench or similar, the spin function would be tremendous.As if this wasn't enough, the Chef's Centre also contains a pull-out panel which has conversion charts printed on it! I have recently taken to scribbling all over my "American" cookbooks with conversions for pounds and ounces (including fluid ones), and those pesky tablespoons of butter, to save myself from having to refer to another cookbook for the conversions every time I go to cook. With this fab little panel, you no longer need deface your books, nor waste time looking for conversion references.
Put this one on your Christmas list: something you might not buy yourself, but which someone would just love to give you. No spatters, no scribbles, no muss, no fuss. Prepara to be converted.
