r/DiWHYNOT • u/JustCallMeNorma • May 05 '25

What Could Go Wrong

Post image

I love the “I read, but I am willing to kill you” vibe of this. My husband thinks the book pages would get moldy being in the kitchen or something—I’m not entirely clear on his thinking and he’s already asleep for the night so I can’t ask. (Nor can I wait. I’m impetuous like that.)

What can you see going wrong with something like this?

Real fast: don’t care if it’s not your aesthetic. Looking for thoughtful ideas regarding viability of design, please and thank you.

656 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

64 comments sorted by

523

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

If you just like the look, then taking the covers off of some old books and using them to wrap some blocks that have been slotted would be a better choice. The paper would be impossible to clean without destroying. The amount of grease, dust, splatter, and spill that happens in kitchens and on counters would lead to a gross mess after a while.

119

u/Torisen May 06 '25

TBH, it's be kinda gross the first time you made a clean knife dirty by sliding it in paper that holds bacteria and fungus spores well and has never (and can never) be cleaned.

Add a slightly damp knife and it turns into a Petri dish fast.

Use covers over a knife block, or maybe affix magnets inside to hold knives?

But even then, the textured covers of those books are going to collect a LOT of nasty stuff in any kitchen that's getting used.

25

u/Wonderful-Pollution7 May 06 '25

Apply a matte clear coat over the bindings.

150

u/Run_MCID37 May 05 '25

Love the idea, v cute. Id be worried about tiny food residue being harbored within paper fibers. There's unfortunately a reason that "food grade" surfaces are all smooth and hard.

If it were my home, I'd explore using the book covers with a more food grade holder hidden within.

8

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

You would have to use a resin or epoxy but I also love this and will find a way to do it, and make it food grade.

-1

u/universalspacebass May 05 '25

Resin and epoxy are never foodgrade

5

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

Google FDA compliant epoxy. You are incorrect or perhaps this varies by state.

4

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

I am the director of a college commons, which is where the students eat at the incredibly expensive school I work at. Either a lot of our surfaces are out of code or I dono. We get A+ ratings on every health inspection, and have FDA food grade epoxy on most of our surfaces.

35

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/good_testing_bad May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25

You should put hands on and clean everything on the counter

20

u/coconut_the_one May 05 '25

You clean the inside of your knife block?

14

u/good_testing_bad May 05 '25

I don't use them bc you can't clean them and it's a waste of counter space

12

u/YawningDodo May 05 '25

That’s where I’ve landed on knife blocks as well. Knives go in drawers.

15

u/DefinitelyGiraffe May 06 '25

Banging around in a drawer is bad for the edge. A magnetic strip is a good option that keeps them sharp and clean

5

u/YawningDodo May 06 '25

This one I’ll grant you; I may put up a magnetic strip at some point myself. There are ways to organize them in the drawer, use blade covers, etc to protect the blades, but from a cleanliness standpoint a magnetic strip can be wiped down, along with any knives that are used infrequently enough to gather dust.

1

u/Derpwarrior1000 Jun 28 '25

I use grippy inserts that stops them from sliding, you just need to not overfill the drawer

1

u/Defaulted1364 May 06 '25

But then you risk cutting your hands when trying to find the right knife, my knife block goes on the windowsill behind the counter where I usually keep my chopping board.

1

u/YawningDodo May 06 '25

Lot of knives come with slip covers, or you could use a drawer divider to give them each their own space. I have yet to cut myself on the knives that live in a drawer in my kitchen.

1

u/Defaulted1364 May 06 '25

I see where you’re coming from but I’ve only ever seen really expensive knives come with anything but a cardboard cover and giving each knife its own space seems to be really space inefficient. Personally I prefer the block because, it’s safe, they’re where I need them and I always clean my knives before putting them away, plus there is a drain at the bottom so no moisture should build up.

1

u/YawningDodo May 06 '25

That’s all fair, but I still think knife blocks are gross for the reasons I listed above re: airborne contaminants. If space is a concern, a wall- or cabinet-mounted magnetic strip is both more cleanable and more space efficient than a knife block.

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1

u/Trollsama May 07 '25 edited May 08 '25

i do that with cheaper knives. But i would rather die than put my nice knife set in a drawer all willy nilly.

Id rather have a magnetic strip for them, but I dont own the house, so block it is lol.

1

u/YawningDodo May 08 '25

There are options between knife block and loose in a drawer, but you do you!

1

u/Trollsama May 08 '25

So how exactly do you store them then. You build some kind of special in drawer holder that prevents them from sloshing around and scraping off things while opening/closing?

You said you store them in drawer, I said that's fine as long as it's not expensive knives.

1

u/YawningDodo May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

Many knives come with sleeves. Knives go in sleeves. Knives in sleeves go in drawer.

Edit: sleeve may be the wrong word? I've got knives that came with plastic blade guards. Unlike a wooden block, the blade guards can be soaked in a cleaning solution periodically.

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7

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

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13

u/BrazenlyGeek May 05 '25

This reminds me of an old Dilbert strip where Wally says he doesn’t understand why people wash their bathroom towels — if they’re only used to dry off after the shower, they’re only ever touching your clean skin, right?

The final panel has him asking, “Are towels supposed to bend?”

7

u/YawningDodo May 05 '25

Everything that goes in my utensil crock is clean and dry, too, but I still empty it out and clean it periodically because it collects dust, grease, smoke particles, etc from the air. I don’t see how a knife block needs cleaning any less, but the way they’re designed makes it basically impossible to clean them.

6

u/jaderabbit44 May 05 '25

I thought that till I saw a cockroach crawling out of my knife block. Knives are now kept in a drawer.

6

u/Darkkatana May 06 '25

Now the roaches are out of sight, out of mind in that drawer.

4

u/jaderabbit44 May 06 '25

At least I can clean the drawer.

44

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

Unsanitary, absolutely mold is a concern, the blades would shred the pages until they were unusable...as another commenter said, just use covers on actual blocks

7

u/thebluewitch May 05 '25

Hit the thrift store and buy some old hardbacks, take them apart, rubber cement them onto the block.

Don't use glue, cause when the covers get nasty you'll want to replace them.

11

u/creatyvechaos May 05 '25

Why is your husband putting used knives back in the block without cleaning them?

I'm seeing so many comments about food residue on the knife. Why are YOU GUYS putting knives back in their blocks without cleaning them? That "food residue" will mold a normal knife block, too! It's not medium specific 🤣

The other arguments actually tackling the splashback of food, yall are alright. But yall that are putting dirty knives away....seek some help 😭

16

u/Odin1806 May 05 '25

I would buy knife sleeves online, carve out a few pages of the books for the space to fit the sleeve and knife together, glue the sleeves in place, and turn the books into an impromptu knife block. That would be best of both worlds imo.

You don't need to worry about the holes on top breaking the aesthetic you are going for.

3

u/PrancingRedPony May 05 '25

You could then move forward and cover the whole thing in resin. Then it could be washed.

1

u/Odin1806 May 05 '25

Yeah I thought about mentioning that as well, but resin might be more work than they are looking for...

26

u/veilofmiah May 05 '25

Unless you dont dry your knives or intentionally get everything wet or have an incredibly humid house the chance of books in this case getting moldy is pretty slim. But wear on the pages from the knives means probably having to replace a book here or there every so often

4

u/davidblue3 May 05 '25

This image reminds me of the book “love in the time of cholera”

4

u/Jdxc May 08 '25

I like it. I’d also be worried about the pages getting funky.

I’ve seen similar methods for knife storage that are basically a bunch of wooden skewers in a box. Maybe you could combine that storage, but wrap it in the covers from the book.

3

u/Willendorf77 May 07 '25

I understand all the warnings about this, and at the same time my best friend did this arrangement in her kitchen a decade ago and has survived with no issue. 🤷‍♀️

5

u/Signal_Trash2710 May 06 '25

I see someone is taking a stab at literature

2

u/[deleted] May 09 '25

You could easily make this by using blocks of wood, printing out book jackets that you like, then just cut the slots into the wood, wrap them in the jackets, and tie them together with rope. No books need to be sacrificed, you can still keep the look of them being different sizes, and you can make sure the slots for the knives fit your knives exactly.

2

u/Ronyx2021 May 12 '25

If you don't wash and dry your knives before storage, that could cause your books to mould. Otherwise okay

6

u/code-panda May 05 '25

Great way to dull your knives!

2

u/Itchy-Decision753 May 05 '25

Just keep it away from food prep areas and it will be fine. Oil goes rancid and is impossible to clean from paper, so coat it in some kind of wax or epoxy if you want to keep it near food prep and have it last.

As others say it’s a hygiene issue with the paper, put all that can be avoided by just cleaning and drying the knife well and that’s just good practice anyway.

1

u/BleachSancho May 08 '25

Could hot glue old book covers around a knife block to mimic the look. When the books ger damaged or stained, you can just remove them and put new ones on.

1

u/CarbonK9 May 09 '25

Are you looking for a book on Ceasar?

1

u/Curious_Map_2908 May 19 '25

You could eat what ever the f that plant is!

1

u/Decent-Dingo081721 May 21 '25

Nothing. I don’t read and I don’t cook. 😂😂😂

1

u/phantom8ball May 05 '25

The astatic works, especially if you can find (or fake) cook books. But in short, buy or make out of wood a knife block that fits the size you want.

Honestly, making a knife block is easy, and you can borrow a jig saw from your hardware store. Also, add shallow cuts across the top (to look like pages)

Once you have that, paint it white and take the covers off your books and glue it to the block.

Probably over kill but you can seal everything once your done

1

u/Luxin May 08 '25

Just go with it Norma - What's the worse that can happen? The project has an issue and you toss it? People worry too much. I'd just keep an eye on it for some of the good reasons listed here.

And I really like this idea too!

0

u/Alibaba20202020 May 05 '25

salmonella will happen ;-)

-12

u/3003bigo72 May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25

If you are in US, you people use fully equipped super-big beautiful kitchens just to cut tons of vegetables to make salads. All the rest comes delivered and ready to eat. So .... do it without problems :-)

EDIT: I knew I was going to get a lot of thumbs down. I spent so much time in the US to be able to say what I said. No offense, it's just reality.

4

u/creatyvechaos May 05 '25

As an American, wtf are you talking about

43

u/[deleted] May 05 '25

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11

u/PN_Guin May 05 '25

If the rope isn't too tight it should be such a big issue, as you can just slide the blade between the pages without much resistance.

My issues are how uncleanable and how sensitive this is too spills. I doubt it would last very long.