An Ideal Kitchen: Miss Parloa's Kitchen Companion / A Guide for All Who Would Be Good Housekeepers

by Maria Parloa

THE PANTRY.

And now the pantry. It should be about 12 × 8 feet. The window should have a wire screen, and inside folding blinds will be found a great convenience,—indeed, they are a necessity. A large, strong table, containing two drawers, should be placed at this window. There should be hooks at the ends of the table, from which to suspend the pastry-board, the board on which cold meats are cut, and that on which bread and cake are cut. In one drawer the rolling-pin, knives, pastry and cake cutters, and a few other utensils may be kept; and in the other drawer, spices, flavoring extracts, etc.

At one end of the room the wall should be covered with hooks on which to hang saucepans. At the same end, about a foot from the floor, there should be a broad shelf on which to keep heavy pots and kettles, turned upside down to keep out dust. Two feet above this shelf there should be a narrow one for the covers of the utensils just mentioned. By following this plan one can keep all these articles together and always in sight, and no time need be lost in searching for any of them.

There will be space in this end of the room for small shelves for the glass jars in which to keep materials used frequently, such as tapioca, barley, rice, baking-powder, soda, cream-of-tartar, ginger, split peas, etc. Here, also, may be kept small pasteboard boxes containing herbs.

In the window-frame put brass hooks, on which to hang the egg-beater, spoons, graded measuring-cups, a whisk, etc.

At the lower end of the pantry have a strong rack, a few inches from the floor, on which to place flour-barrels. This plan insures the circulation of air under the barrels, keeping their contents sweet. About a foot above the barrels have a wall closet, with shelves about twenty inches wide. This should be supplied with a lock, as it is designed for keeping cooked food and such groceries as raisins, currants, and citron, in glass jars, besides fresh fruit. The door or doors should be made partly of wire.

Extending the length of one side of the room have a tier of shelves, beginning about a foot from the floor and running as high as the top of the wall closet. Tin cans of meal and sugar, stone jars of salt, and jugs of molasses and vinegar may be kept on the lower shelves; and mixing-bowls, mixing-pans, stone-china measuring-cups, etc.,—indeed, all utensils for which no other place has been provided,—may be kept on the upper shelves.

In some place near the door of the pantry have a hook or a roller for a towel, in order to avoid taking steps across the kitchen whenever the hands require wiping.

Now, if a kitchen and pantry be built or reconstructed on this plan, the cooking can be done with comfort, and the washing of dishes will not seem so burdensome as it does in the ordinary kitchen. Even if one find it impracticable to follow all or many of the suggestions made, pains ought to be taken—whatever the plan of the kitchen be—to concentrate the work, obtain good light, good ventilation, and ample table-room; and all measures which are calculated to insure cleanliness and to make the kitchen an attractive place should be adopted. There must be a closet near by for brooms, brushes, dusters, etc.; and there should be a cold room near the kitchen, in which to keep most of the perishable stores. In case there be no room of this kind, it will be well to keep the refrigerator in the pantry.