1496 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



wears off, and on the whole is less serviceable than a surface finished with 

 wood filler, followed with linseed oil. 



The sink should be supported from the wall, rather than on legs, and 

 should be piped, if possible, through a partition wall rather than through 

 the floor. A sink should be set at a height convenient for the worker. 

 The usual height of thirty inches to the top of the rim is too low for most 

 persons. In a kitchen similar to the one shown in Fig. 70, the sink and 

 continuous shelving were made thirty-five inches from the floor. This 

 height has been found comfortable for workers five feet three inches or 

 more in height. A worktable covered with zinc will give satisfaction, 

 for it is nonabsorbent and is easily cleaned. 



A pass slide between kitchen and dining-room will promote step- 

 saving. Wherever there is direct communication between these two 

 rooms, either through a slide or through a single door, care should be 

 taken to keep the vista sightly. A double slide would doubtless help 

 to keep odors and noise away from the dining-room. 



The double china closet, with pass-slide arrangement between kitchen 

 and dining-room (Fig. 70), is a short cut for the serving, or pass, pantry; 

 one serves by reaching through the wall rather than by stepping through 

 a pantry. A serving, or butler's, pantry has the advantage of retiring 

 the kitchen from the living-rooms. As a deadener of odor and noise 

 it is often useful in a small house, where it prevents the kitchen from becom- 

 ing too intimate with the remainder of the plan. Nevertheless a pantry of 

 this description is not always needed; although modern plans are " butler's 

 pantried " to excess, a family may still be self-respecting without one 

 if the problem of efficient meal-serving is solved in some other way. 



A convenient food pantry with generous shelving furnishes storage 

 space for supplies that must be kept at a lower temperature than the 

 kitchen will allow. An ice box placed near the porch door may be filled 

 from the pantry or may be iced from the outside if the construction of 

 the ice box provides for it. 



On the same principle that a square kitchen is more convenient than 

 a long one, a square pantry of a given area is more satisfactory than a 

 long, narrow pantry of the same area. Narrow shelving that will accom- 

 modate but one row of supplies will encourage neatness and rapidity of 

 handling. 



The position of the kitchen stove or range greatly affects the comfort 

 of the workers. Whether this stove must connect with an adjacent 

 chimney or be provided with a separate stack of its own, under no cir- 

 cumstances should it be placed in a dark corner or pocket of the plan. 

 Where a new kitchen is to be built, a separate ventilating flue may be 

 provided in addition to the smoke flue. This ventilating flue, provided 



