IX | The Kitchen
( a. ) Furnishings
KITCHENS have shrunk in size since the days of our grandmothers, not so much because we know more than our grandmothers as because conditions of living have changed. Kitchens are no longer used to store winter supplies which must be kept from the cold, nor are they now used for laundry and dairy work, spinning and sociability. A house in which there are many workers, in which there is bountiful providing and constant hospitality, still needs a large kitchen; on the contrary, an apartment in which the dining room will barely permit six at table may well have a kitchen in which everything is within hand's reach.
Many of us have no opportunity to choose whether our kitchens shall be large or small. In building a new house, however, the opportunity sometimes presents itself, and some of the things to consider in making the choice are the number of people who are to work in the kitchen, the size and elaborateness of the meals to be prepared there, whether there is to be also a pantry and a store room, whether the laundry work is done in the kitchen and whether the servant or servants have any other place to sit. In regard to these two latter considerations, it may be safely said that a small kitchen and a small laundry are almost invariably better than a large room for both purposes; and that a tiny kitchen and a tiny servants' sitting room are better both for health and comfort than a combination. If it is possible, the kitchen should be used only for cooking, and should contain only such things as are needed for that work.
As a kitchen is a place where especial cleanliness is necessary, soap and water should be no enemy to its contents. Probably a room lined with glazed tiles is the best kitchen, but as yet these are rare.
Walls and Woodwork.—Hard-finish plaster painted some light colour and given a final coating of enamel paint is a satisfactory but somewhat expensive finish for kitchen walls.
There are several kinds of wall covering of the nature of oilcloth which look rather like tiles and may be wiped with water. They are not so good as a finish which becomes part of the substance of the wall.
Oil and varnish rubbed into plaster walls make them light yellow in colour, protect them from being discoloured with steam, and produce a surface which may be frequently washed. A coating of oil followed by a coating of shellac has much the same result.
Old, rough walls are better covered with a light-coloured, very inexpensive paper. If this is coated with shellac the walls may be wiped with a damp mop. Otherwise the paper should be changed frequently. This is the reason it should be inexpensive. It is well always to get a little more kitchen paper than is needed, that when necessity arises badly soiled pieces may be stripped from the walls and new ones fitted into their places.
I once had a whitewashed kitchen and liked it, but it might have looked odd had it opened on a fire-escape instead of the wood-pile.
Two things are chiefly desirable in the finish of kitchen walls and woodwork; it ought not to be hurt by soap and water and it ought to be light coloured. The room is frequently filled with smoke or steam which contains some greasiness; this can only be removed from the walls and ceiling by washing them. People have been known to paint kitchens a dark colour with the idea that they showed dirt less. Dirt should show. Then there is a better chance that it will be removed. Light colours are needed in the kitchen also to prevent dark corners, and to increase the light from the windows. Much sun is a disadvantage to a kitchen; much light is a great advantage. A yellow kitchen cheers my soul, but many housewives like blue or green better. If you do your own work, by all means have the kitchen the light colour most becoming to you, and get your frocks to match; it's a great help.
Floors.—The kitchen floor is a greater problem than kitchen walls. Even tiles have one disadvantage, they are cold to stand on. There are a variety of substances resembling mosaic or tiling in appearance which are put down somewhat like cement or concrete. They are without cracks and easily mopped, but have the same disadvantage of being hard and cold.
A hardwood floor such as one might have in other rooms is easily spotted and injured with the things which are rather likely to be spilled or set upon it. This is true also of a painted floor, with the added objection that heels and chair-legs quickly mar painted wood.
Linoleum is easily cared for and with reasonable usage lasts well. Oilcloth is less expensive than linoleum but is in no way so good. Neither of these floor coverings, nor paint, should be washed with very hot water or with any strong or gritty cleaning substance, nor should they be scrubbed with a stiff brush. Such treatment breaks and spoils glossy surfaces. Wash them with a cloth wrung out of mild luke-warm suds. Wipe them dry, otherwise they will be streaked.
When linoleum begins to show wear a coat of spar-varnish or carriage varnish will restore it satisfactorily. These varnishes are not injured by water, and they dry quickly. A floor varnished at night in dry weather may be walked on as much as necessity requires the next day. It is better in such a case to lay down papers to walk on, and move them often to prevent sticking.
Sheets of newspaper or brown paper should be laid all over a floor before linoleum is put down, otherwise it is almost impossible to get it off the floor when it is worn out.
I wish to copy here a suggestion for finishing a kitchen floor, for which I would gladly acknowledge my indebtedness, but I have merely the paragraph signed G. D. which has been cut from some paper.
Plain, boiled linseed oil is a good finish for the kitchen floor. It should be put on when the floor is new or clean of other finish, and applied as needed afterward. Such a floor will have a pleasing, light-brown colour, will not show marks or scratches, and, kept well oiled, will not spot with grease. Heat the oil and apply at night, rubbing it in well. In the morning wipe with cold water, and the floor is ready for use. Wash it with warm water dashed with a little kerosene.
G. D.
Just a plain floor is a convenient kitchen floor on all days except on those when it must be scrubbed. Such scrubbing is hard, dirty work and takes a good deal of time. And I know of no alleviation; one must down on one's knees and go at it with a scrubbing brush or it will look all the time as if it needed scrubbing.
Rugs.—Rugs are needed in the kitchen wherever much continued standing is done, as in front of the sink and the range or beside the table. They prevent linoleum or oilcloth from becoming worn in one or two spots, they are sometimes needed for warmth, and they are always needed to spare the feet and back of the person who does the kitchen work. It makes as much difference whether one stands for hours on a soft thing or a hard one, as it does whether one sleeps for hours on a board or a mattress. It is as well if kitchen rugs are of so little value that they may frequently be thrown away without regret. A good doormat too shabby to put before the front door is a treasure to lay before the washtubs.
The sink.—If the kitchen sink is under or beside a window, the pots and pans will more surely be clean, and the dish washer will not have the irritation of working in her own light. Sinks are apt to be set too low. For comfort and for health the rim should be about even with the dish washer's waist. It is convenient to have draining boards on both sides of the sink, but by no means always possible.
Whatever material the sink is made of it will need careful cleaning once every day with scouring soap or soap-powder and a scrubbing brush. This is not only good for the sink but for the waste pipes, especially if a pan of hot soapy water is prepared for the scouring and emptied down the pipes when the sink is finished. This will do much toward keeping the pipes from becoming grease clogged. Porcelain or enamelled sinks are, of course, more easily kept clean than iron or tin ones.
Tables.—In a kitchen where there is no sink, the substitute should be a steady table placed as far from the stove as possible. If a definite place is appointed for dish washing even to the choice between two ends of a table, the appliances needed can be hung within reach, and one will naturally pile soiled dishes in that place and go there to wash them without taking thought about it.
Besides this table another will be needed on which cake and bread can be made, or food can be set without fear of contact with soiled dishes or dishwater. This table is equally necessary in kitchens where there is a sink. Sometimes in small kitchens its place is taken by the shelf of a dresser, the tops of the tubs or a board which, when not in use, folds down beside the wall or the dresser. The point is to have some place other than the draining boards where food can be prepared.
You will read in magazines that it is lovely to have kitchen tables covered with white oilcloth. Unfortunately the statement is not always followed by its complement, namely, that such a covering must be protected from being scorched and cut by means of pot boards, asbestos mats or folded newspapers. Several practical cooks and housekeepers have told me that there is nothing so good in the kitchen as a zinc-covered table. It is not pretty but one need never spare it any usage, and at rest times its ugliness may be covered with a cloth. Spots on zinc which will not yield to soap and water can sometimes be removed with vinegar.
Plain wooden tables are hard to keep in satisfactory order. They are easily scorched, easily stained, and they require daily scrubbing.
A pretty kitchen is a pride and delight, but the serviceableness and practicability of its furnishings must be the first consideration in selecting them. Things which have to be constantly remembered and guarded take too much thought and strength to be in place in a workshop. A kitchen should be bright, orderly and noticeably clean, but I think the less it looks like a sitting room the better. Wherever it is possible, maids should have some other place to sit.
Chairs.—For much of the kitchen work a woman needs the reach, muscular leverage and alertness which she gets from standing. There are, however, some things such as preparing fruit and vegetables, stoning raisins and beating eggs which she can do as well sitting down. If the kitchen is as it should be, a workshop, stools are the best seats with which to furnish it. They may be scrubbed, they take up little room, and they afford an opportunity to rest, without an accompanying temptation to loiter. "Sittin' back" is in some places an equivalent phrase for "inactive." It picturesquely explains why people work more alertly sitting on stools than in chairs.
If the kitchen is also the maids' sitting room, it must have comfortable chairs in it. But they should be made of scrubable materials, and cushions should be covered with wash fabrics. Rocking chairs are the worst possible kind for a kitchen, they are especially irritating to the ankles and temper of the cook.
Shelves.—Shelves are necessary for kitchen comfort. They are for dishes, crockery, utensils which can not be hung up and for stores if one has no store closet. As it is easier to have things stand one deep on shelves, more narrow shelves will be needed than wide ones. Some people get along with a few shelves for the sake of having them shut in with glass doors; others have many shelves like open book-cases and keep the pans, dishes, cups and bowls turned upside down. Stores have to be kept in tightly closed receptacles in either case. Most utensils are the better for being kept on open shelves or hung on hooks in the light and air. That is a rare pot closet which is quite agreeable either to eye or nose.
Shelves painted white, or covered with white oilcloth or white paper, are neat and pleasant to look at. Painted ones are probably the least care, they have only to be occasionally washed and few things injure them. Plain wooden shelves ought always to be covered, as they are easily stained and become darkened with dust.
A special shelf or a special place on some shelf is needed for receipt books.
Hooks.—Each utensil which is to be hung up should have its own hook. If two or three are hung on the same hook, it is difficult to take down the undermost article. Rows of hooks should be so arranged that the hooks alternate instead of coming directly under each other. Pots and kettles which are hung up should be turned bottom outward as this protects the insides from dust. The lids of pots and kettles may be easily hung up on a string stretched tightly across the inside of a closet door, or against the wall between two hooks. The handles rest on the string and hold the lids up.
Either a roller for a hand towel or a hook on which one can be hung is a necessary fixture in the kitchen, for a cook needs to wash her hands many times a day.
Curtains.—Shades are necessary to modify the light and to draw at night, but the case seems to be against curtains in the kitchen, even against sash curtains. There should be nothing at the windows to intercept light and free currents of air, and nothing in the room anywhere which catches dust and smoke as curtains do.
Light Fixtures.—Light fixtures are better overhead. An additional side light by the sink, or near both sink and range when possible is a valuable convenience.
Clock.—A good clock should be part of the kitchen furniture for the sake of punctuality. An alarm attachment which can be turned off before it has run completely down is a help to a cook's over-burdened memory. If it is set for the time when the eggs will be boiled, or the bread or a cake must be looked at, or the meat will be roasted, there will then be one less thing to remember and absence from the kitchen will not so invariably cause disaster.
An Ornament.—If you or the cook would like an ornament in the kitchen, the delightful thing to have is a copy of a Delia Robbia terra-cotta. Bright coloured and washable, like the rest of the kitchen! You will laugh perhaps at the idea of carrying the matter of brightness and cleanliness so far, but do you not know how dingy and depressing the kitchens of otherwise clean and lovely houses often are? It is because things which might be cheerful coloured are dull coloured, and because many things are half soiled for the reason that they cannot be easily washed. Sometimes too, it is because nobody cares whether the kitchen is pleasant or not.
( b. ) Utensils
The number and size of kitchen utensils depend upon the space in which they must be kept and the number of persons in the household. Their quality and, to some extent, their number depend on what we are able to pay for them.
If the space for keeping utensils is small, their number must be kept down to the minimum. Even with ample space, it is well now and then to weed out superfluous or inadequate utensils, for each adds a straw's weight to the work of the kitchen. It is only a straw, but you know what happened to the camel.
One woman who entertains a large family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and at other times has a household of two with an intermittent maid, buys each year at the five and ten cent store the large utensils and serving dishes needed for the Thanksgiving dinner. She keeps them until after the Christmas dinner, then gives them away and returns to her usual outfit of small things. Perhaps you ask, why not use the big ones all the time instead of having two sizes? Because they take more time, more food, and in the case of the serving dishes, make a poor appearance. A household which constantly changes in number needs two sizes, one small and one large, of each thing in frequent use. Of certain things there should be two or three in any kitchen; such are, bowls, mixing spoons, platters, paring knives, saucepans and double boilers. It is well to get such things of different kinds and of graduated sizes because they are for various uses.
Materials.—The kitchen is prettier if all the utensils are of the same colour and in general of the same material. Expense and practical usefulness, however, must be considered before good looks. If the kitchen is blue, do not buy a bowl with a pink band round it, a cake turner with a red handle and a brown agate pot, when you can perfectly well get them in suitable colours. On the contrary, if the brown pot is a more convenient shape and size than a blue or white one, get the brown one; if a thick iron frying pan cooks food better than a white agate one, take the iron one.
Enamelled utensils are neat, pretty, seldom acted upon by chemicals in the food and are cared for more easily than those of any other material. They are expensive, but last well if they are not abused.
Tin articles are light to handle and cheap, but soon become discoloured and require a good deal of scouring to keep them in fair condition.
Iron utensils are heavy, hard to keep clean and rarely necessary.
Pots and pans are now frequently made of aluminum. It is a luxury to lift them and they are pretty, but they are also costly and easily injured.
Copper utensils have become rare; their chief recommendation is beauty. A College kitchen in Oxford glowing with rows and rows of copper platters and dish covers and pots and kettles remains in my memory as a glory and a splendour. But, my stars! what generations of scourers have toiled to see their crooked images appear in those red-gold surfaces!
Copper articles have a disadvantage beyond requiring much care. If used for food they should be tin lined and the lining kept in good condition, for sometimes chemicals in food form a poisonous combination with the copper. Our ancestors did not have to worry about copper pots. When they were poisoned, they drowned a witch or went on a pilgrimage, and recovered or not according to their constitutions.
Wooden conveniences for the kitchen, such as rolling pins and pastry boards are also gradually giving place to those made of other materials, for the reason that they are less cleanly and less cool than articles made of glass or metal.
Selection.—The cook's personal preferences should be considered whenever kitchen utensils are bought. Many housewives consult their cooks before purchasing new articles. I know one who sends the cook to the shop to do the purchasing. That such thoughtfulness and care are not always exercised is evidenced by the fact that some excellent cooks own a number of cooking utensils themselves because they do not find them in the kitchens in which they work, and can seldom persuade their mistresses to buy them.
The most satisfactory way to get a kitchen outfit is to buy a few things at a time. They will in this way be more carefully selected, the expense will not fall heavily on one week or on one month or even on one year, and there will be things new and old. To have all new things is only a little less inconvenient than to have all old things.
To give a list of appliances most necessary for the kitchen is to make every one who reads it wish to improve it. That may be a good reason for giving it. Be that as it may, here is such a list:
A teakettle
A dishpan
A frying pan
A coffee pot
A tea pot
A broiler
A colander
A meat chopper
A pail
A pastry board
A rolling pin
3 mixing bowls
A meat pan
A pudding dish
A bread board
A bread knife
2 and 3 qt. saucepans
2 and 3 qt. double boilers
A cake tin
3 tins for layer cake
3 bread tins
A cake turner
A can opener
A lemon squeezer
A corkscrew
A fine-wire strainer
A potato masher
An egg beater
A nutmeg grater
A graduated quart measure
A graduated pint measure
A few spoons of different sizes
A few plates, cups and saucers
A cake box
A bread box
Tin boxes or
Glass jars for flour, meal, sugar, coffee, etc.
A scrubbing brush
A sink strainer
A soap shaker
A holder for scouring soap
A whisk for dish washing
A pin cushion which can be hung up
A memorandum pad which can be hung up
3 pie plates
2 jelly moulds
An apple corer
A few knives and forks
A large wooden spoon
A large agate spoon
A knife for potatoes
A large tray
A salt box
A pepper box
A flour dredger
1 doz. dish towels
6 scrub cloths
2 pudding cloths
6 cloths for pots and pans
Scissors
Does it seem a very long list? You would not cook one day in a kitchen fitted with these things without thinking of something else you would like to have. This is an austere list. It contains none of the luxuries which one's heart desires, such as tongs for hulling strawberries.
Care.—Pots and pans require thorough washing and wiping. Wash them with a brush, good hot soapsuds, and occasional applications of a scouring soap. Wipe them with squares of cheese cloth or old flour and sugar bags washed and hemmed for the purpose. These cloths are better than finer or heavier ones for they take up water quickly and are no great loss if they are darkened by tin or iron utensils. The dishcloth is the poorest thing with which to wipe pots and pans, for it cannot possibly be free from soap and grease.
Scouring soap is not intended for direct application. A brush or cloth should first be rubbed on the soap, then on the article to be scoured.
Only utensils made of iron may be scraped. Such treatment quickly defaces and wears out other substances. Scraping may be entirely avoided if every utensil is filled with water as soon as it is no longer needed in cooking. Very greasy things should be filled with warm water and kept warm. If a pot has been burned put a tablespoonful of washing-soda into it and fill it with water. Set it away for a day or a night, or for both, and at the end of the time no scraping will be necessary to get it clean. This must not be done if the pot is made of aluminum, in that case, soak the pot without soda.
Stains may usually be removed from aluminum pots with silver-soap. Whitening such pots with acids is not a very wise thing to do. The better way is to reserve them for delicate uses, they will then not become seriously discoloured.
Do not wash articles made of wood in water in which other things have been washed, for wood absorbs grease. Nor is it well to scour them with a brush or a soap coarse enough to roughen their surfaces.
Iron pots and pans cannot be scrubbed too vigorously. Scrub the frying pan until the inside feels like wet, black satin; it is then truly clean. Both powdered pumice-stone and salt are good for scouring iron or tin articles which are smoked or stained.
Unless precautions are taken, food fried or baked in new pans will stick to them, and will not brown. A new iron frying pan should be scrubbed hard with soap and sand or ashes, and should then have water boiled in it. New cake and bread tins should be scoured, greased and baked.
If you find that the kettle is becoming encrusted with lime from the water, boil vinegar in it. This quickly removes the encrustation if it has not been allowed to grow thick before the attempt is made.
A careful housewife does not wash coffee pots and tea pots in dish water. She empties them, rinses them, scours them a little if they need it, rinses them again, scalds them and finally wipes them dry.
The care of some kitchen contrivances begins before they are bought. That is, when buying such articles as potato mashers, egg beaters and their like, notice whether they have intricacies which will be hard to keep clean. Do not be dazzled by the marvellous mashing or beating performed by a demonstrator, but take the thing in your own hand and see whether it is smooth and simple, and whether there is a way in which it can be easily washed.
It can be said of kitchen dish washing even more emphatically than of pantry dish washing, that going into it up to one's neck is no virtue; better keep out of it as much as possible. To make the work easy, to divest it of disgust, and even to find satisfaction in doing it, are evidences of skill and cleverness.
If one does not take the satisfaction in making things clean previously referred to, or if one has not pleasant thoughts to think while washing pots, then one may pass the time like a rhythmic black mammie and croon and croon a tune which has no end.