118 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
February, 1906 
The Kitchen 
I].—The Walls, Wood and Paint 
By Sarah Adams Keller 
T IS a quality perhaps not peculiar to kitchen 
materials that the most expensive is always 
the best. A kitchen lined with tile is, of 
course, ideal, and a room so attractive as 
to have, in a sense, a splendor of its own. 
White tile is the best, because any dirt im- 
mediately shows up on it and may be removed at once. ‘The 
great kitchen at “Harbor Hill,” Mrs. Mackay’s superb 
place on Long Island, is a marvel of high grade kitchen finish- 
ing. The entire surface—walls and ceiling—covered with 
white tiles, on which one may be sure no spot of dust is 
permitted to remain longer than it may be seen. There is a 
white hood over the mammoth range; the tops of the tables 
are of white marble, and all zinc surfaces are enameled in 
white. The scope is so specialized that a separate room for 
pastry making has been provided. ‘The kitchen is used for 
cooking purposes only, ample recreation-rooms and dining- 
halls for the servants being provided elsewhere. The White 
House kitchens in Washington are also lined with tiles. There 
are two of these rooms, the larger being used for state ban- 
quets and the smaller for general family use. These kitchens 
are also supplied with every possible convenience, and are 
among the best equipped kitchens in America. 
If tiles are out of the question it remains to get the next 
best thing. Oil paint is the only available wall covering for 
a kitchen and should be finished with a coat of enamel. The 
kitchen walls will require washing quite as much, and almost 
as frequently, as the floor. White tiles make the finest possi- 
ble covering, not only because they show dirt, but because they 
can be easily cleaned. This requirement must be met with 
any other substitute, and this, to a considerable extent, is 
given in a very good way by oil paint finished with enamel. 
Some kitchen designers have recommended several successive 
coats of oil mixed with varnish, a method that is said to give 
excellent results and doubtless does so. It gives the walls a 
somewhat dark tone, while with paint a lighter shade may 
be used. Whatever color is selected it should not be chosen 
because it conceals dirt. No room accumulates dust and dirt 
as rapidly as the kitchen, partly because in the summer the 
windows are generally open all day, admitting clouds of out- 
side dust; partly because of the unavoidable dust from the 
range and partly because more or less dirt is produced in 
the cooking operations. “Che housekeeper who imagines her 
kitchen clean because she sees no dirt on her walls is a most 
sadly deluded person. If the walls are so dark as to show 
no dirt, one may be assured the dirt is there, and it is likely 
to remain there until it becomes so offensive that a complete 
renovation of the room is necessary. 
Wall paper is, therefore, the most unavailable of all ma- 
terials for kitchen walls. Its dust and dirt absorbent qualities 
are measureless. It is impossible to clean it in any way, save 
with a dust brush, which is entirely ineficient for the work 
demanded of it, and in most cases simply removes the dust 
from one part of the room to deposit it on another. Wall 
paper can not be washed, and even the waterproof papers 
fail before the tests the kitchen subjects them to. Wall paper 
covered with shellac may be washed down with a damp cloth 
from time to time, and the same may be said of oilcloth; but 
neither are effective substitutes for a readily washed covering 
of good sanitary character. 
There is an intimate relationship between the kitchen wood- 
work and the covering of the kitchen walls. That is to say, 
the same general rule of sanitary excellence must be insisted 
on. Fancy moldings with deeply curved surfaces, that har- 
bor dust, must be absolutely avoided. ‘The paint should be 
light in tone, white preferably, in order to show the dirt. 
Many housekeepers will doubtless exclaim against this in- 
sistence on light colorings for the kitchen, but both experience 
and sanitary laws are one on this point. The kitchen is a room 
of work, and of hard work, and every possible effort must be 
made to add to its cheeriness. Light colors are much more 
helpful to this end than dark. 
The material of the floor and the floor covering constitute 
another set of important kitchen problems concerning which 
there is a considerable variance of ideas. An impervious 
floor, one that can be freely washed down with water, is of 
course the most desirable, and in this tile cement and rubber 
tiling take the lead. Hardwood floors, while very clean at 
first and having every apparent element of sanitary excellence, 
are readily soiled and do not wear so well in the end as might 
be supposed. In most cases it will be found best to cover 
the floor partly with some easily removed material, such as 
oilcloth or linoleum. Experience has shown that small, 
close patterns wear better than larger ones. When the wear 
has begun to set in they may be painted on the back with two 
coats of paint, and relaid, face down, being then serviceable 
for much longer wear. Extra pieces before the sink, stove 
and table, which are moved around from place to place each 
week, will materially help the durability of such floor cover- 
ings. ‘Carriage sponges’’ will be found more suitable than 
cloths for washing them. 
Window shades are of course a part of the necessary equip- 
ment of every kitchen. Unless the room is naturally dark, 
dark shades will be found better, and more durable than light 
ones. Shades of a color that does not make clear the interior 
workings of the house at night are always to be preferred 
to semitransparent shades, and the servants who do not care 
to have the public inspect their work will especially value 
them. Curtains, light and pleasant to look upon, are greedy 
collectors of dust and are out of place in the kitchen; there 
are times, of course, when sash curtains have their use, owing 
chiefly to the location of the kitchen, but they should always 
be avoided whenever possible. 
Good window screens are imperative in most American 
kitchens. No one need be reminded of the affection of the 
flles for the kitchen and all that appertains to it, and while 
screens are not always effective, certainly do not always keep 
out every fly, they are the best help we have and must not be 
overlooked. Doors also should be carefully screened, and 
applied with a swing so they will close themselves if left open 
by a careless servant or indifferent grocer’s boy. 
If there are several windows in the kitchen, and the use 
of one or more of them can be spared for the purpose, auseful 
expedient is a screened external shelf. This should be placed 
on a side not reached by the sun, and will be found astonish- 
ingly helpful for cooling dishes and for similar purposes. 
