THE KITCHEN
There is no room in the house which requires such careful furnishing as the kitchen, and much time may be saved there if the right thing is in the right place, for just as truly as “the means to do ill deeds make ill deeds done,” do the means to do things well tend toward their being done.
To house-builders I would urge that it pays to have a white enamelled sink, and to insist that no sand-soap or scouring soap be used on it, as this removes the finish and makes it less easy to keep it spotless. See that a package of one of the cleaning powders is placed near the sink, convenient for use the first time the maid looks about for materials, and over the sink on small hooks have hung two or three different shaped sink brushes. An enamelled soap-dish should be fastened above the sink, and on the left of it a grooved, slightly slanting draining board for washed dishes; hanging under this on a large hook should be the enamelled dishpan and back of it a wire drainer, both hanging free from the wall.
Any kitchen can have a chair-rail put around it, and this four-inch wide board should be arranged with small hooks placed at a distance of ten or twelve inches apart, and on these should hang the enamelled spoons, strainers, egg-beater, small jugs, and the saucepans, the bottoms of these being always in evidence and not out of sight in cupboards. The Europeans have always had their cooking utensils displayed as a part of the kitchen furnishing, and when this is done there is less temptation to neglect their absolute cleanliness.
One of the comforts of my kitchen is a holder for saucepan covers; I was about to invent such a holder when I found that the wire ones made to display half a dozen handsome plates were perfectly suitable. One of these hangs beside the stove and the covers are conveniently at hand when required.
A cupboard built in the kitchen, sixteen inches deep and six feet across, will hold all the casseroles, baking-pans, tins for spices, etc., which the usual family requires. Mine was built with this conviction, and if it becomes overcrowded, I know it has things in it which do not belong there, and a few moments given to overseeing its rearrangement always leave it with all the space required.
The table shown in the illustration is becoming well-known in American kitchens; the deep drawers for flour, etc., are a convenience not easy to estimate, but the fact that two sizes of pastry boards slide snugly into their places under the top is its best feature.
A ball of string in a holder hung up with small scissors attached, a neat calendar, a washable tablet for orders, a burnt-match holder, a match-box holder fastened near the stove, a small mirror on a door or in an inconspicuous corner, and a wall clock are things which I advise the young housekeeper to see securely placed in her kitchen before the pictures are hung in the drawing-room.
A plate-rack is not only always quaint and decorative, but is most useful and labour-saving. A pestle and mortar should be among the utensils of every kitchen, as well as a vegetable mill, and a small hard-wood board, used exclusively for the cutting of fruit, vegetables, etc., which are to be sliced, saves many a cut finger, as the plate usually used is not the proper shape or texture for such a slippery process.
A piece of thick glass measuring about 7×9 inches, and bound about the edges with heavy gummed paper or linen, is useful to lay upon the open pages of the cook-book, and serves the double purpose of holding it open at the required page and of protecting it from floured or buttered fingers.
A plentiful supply of the small earthenware dishes, called casseroles, marmites, ramekins, and gratin dishes, is especially useful in the Vegetarian’s kitchen.
Those building homes should see that the place on which the stove is to stand is covered with suitable tiling, and this should extend for two feet or more around the stove. The floor itself is best covered with linoleum, and if a colour scheme is carried out in this room, as it may well be in these days of many-coloured enamelled ware, it can be accented by the linoleum chosen and the kitchen thus made as beautiful for its purpose as any room in the house.
I have not partaken of a fellow creature for fifteen years.—Bernard Shaw.