The Library of Work and Play: HousekeepingGilman, Elizabeth Hale
General
The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping
Gilman, Elizabeth Hale
Home economics
_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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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