Contribution from the States Relations Service
A. C. TRUE, Director
A carpenter without his bench loses much time in getting the right tools and in putting them away. A chemist cannot do systematic laboratory work without a well-arranged desk. A kitchen cabinet is just as important to the housekeeper as the bench to the workman or the laboratory desk to the chemist. With it the housekeeper can sit comfortably down with her whole kitchen workshop within easy reach. It saves walking to and fro to gather up this thing and that, to prepare the food. Every kitchen should have a stool of the right height to enable the worker to sit at her work at the cabinet. The cabinet must be made of good wood, well seasoned. This is the most important consideration. Poorly seasoned wood warps and swells and is a constant annoyance in opening and closing drawers and doors.
A convenient sized cabinet is 6 feet 3 inches high to the top of the closet, 31 inches high to the top of the table. It is 21 inches deep and 48 inches wide. The part of the cabinet below the table should contain flour bin, large drawer, rack, and dough or pastry board. The bin is fastened to the frame with loose-pin hinges. By removing the pins the entire bin can be removed, cleaned, and replaced. The bin can be lined with tin to make it moist, insect, and mouse proof. The dough board should be made of wood that is tasteless and odorless and should be fitted well in the opening just below the table. A batten is tongued and grooved on each side of the board to prevent it from warping. The roomy board can be used for small utensils. The open space below the drawer can be occupied by the kitchen stool or the home-made fireless cooker when they are not in use.
A time and labor saver.
Pie pans, lids, and covers have a most convenient place in the rack below the drawer. A drop table 21 inches wide and 19 inches long increases the table surface. This table is supported by inexpensive folding brackets.
The upper part of the cabinet consists of a closed compartment, three drawers, three open shelves, knife rack, and a row of screw hooks for hanging utensils. The closed compartment is for package goods and large utensils. The drawers are for kitchen linen and other things needed in daily use. The lower shelf is 5 inches in depth, while the upper shelves are 71⁄2 inches. On these shelves are kept coffee, tea, sugar, and spice jars. Three inches below the lower shelf there is a strip 11⁄2 inches wide which holds the screw hooks. The knife rack is made by sawing slashes 1 inch deep in a piece of material 2 inches wide.
Fig. 1.—Kitchen cabinet.