But where a housekeeper has abundant means, and where she can, by a reasonable effort, secure proper attention to the care of utensils, it greatly contributes to the ease and success of housekeeping to have a full supply of them. And there is much economy, both of time and comfort, in securing such a supply. Where there are a few utensils, and these are to be used for a great variety of purposes, there is a loss of time in stopping to clean articles used for one thing, when wanted for another; there is a loss of time in running about to look for them; and there is a loss of patience in finding them out of the way at just the wrong time, so that good success is often thus entirely prevented.
Moreover, many processes of cooking and housekeeping are performed with much more success, when the cook is well provided with suitable utensils; while the use of the same article for various kinds of dishes, or for different modes of cooking, often destroys the delicate flavor of food, and makes all dishes taste very much alike. This is the case often, in steam and canal boats, where every article on the table seems to have imbibed one and the same flavor.
In pointing out the various conveniences to be used in housekeeping, reference will be had to those chiefly who have means to purchase everything they deem useful, and also who can obtain such domestics, that proper care will be taken of whatever is provided.
In the Domestic Economy at p. 319, is a list embracing a full supply of all those articles which some of the best housekeepers in our country deem useful and desirable, for the various processes of housekeeping, in a family of medium size, and of abundant means; where everything is done for comfort, and nothing for show.
Kitchen Furniture.
The kitchen floor should be covered with an oil cloth. Carpets, or bits of carpet, are not so good, because of the grease and filth that must accumulate in them, and the labor of sweeping, shaking, and cleansing them. Nothing is cleansed so easily as an oil cloth, and it is much better than a painted floor, because it can be removed to be painted.
If the cook is troubled with cold feet in winter, small bits of carpeting can be laid where she sits and stands the most. Otherwise they had better be kept out of the kitchen.
Directions for preparing a kitchen oil cloth will be found page 317 of the Domestic Economy.
There should always be a clock in the kitchen, as indispensable to success in cooking, and regularity of meals.
Two tables, a large one for cooking, and a small one for meals, should be provided.