4 o 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



January, 1908 



In the kitchen every- 

 thing must be "handy" as 

 well as have its specially ap- 

 pointed place. The cook 

 can not leave her dishes to 

 go far, and is constantly in 

 need of different utensils 

 and spices and articles of 

 food. The cupboards and 

 dressers should be arranged 

 to contain, in the most utili- 

 tarian and economical man- 

 ner, everything which can 

 not go in adjacent closets. 

 These should merely be for 

 such articles as are too 

 large for the kitchen or 

 only occasionally required. 



The cupboards are most 

 serviceably made two feet 

 four inches deep, to a 

 height of three feet four 

 inches, and then above about 

 twelve inches in the clear. 

 The lower and deeper com- 

 partments should have solid 

 wooden doors and be ar- 

 ranged to take all such pots 

 and pans and kettles as are 

 unsightly. Some of them 

 should also be made so as to 



take the large supply barrels for sugar and flour. The door 

 and a bottom shelf are made in one, the shelf resting and 

 running on wheels, when the door is opened. The barrel 

 standing on the bottom of the cupboard is thus swung out 

 into the room for use. The lower compartments being 

 deeper than the upper ones creates a shelf at a convenient 

 height and a little over a foot deep. This may naturally 

 constantly be utilized as a minor table. 



The upper portion of the lower compartments should have 

 narrow drawers for the knives and forks and spoons of the 

 kitchen table, as well as the many small utensils used in bak- 

 ing or in molding or forming various courses of food. 



The upper dressers may either stand directly on top of the 

 lower wooden cases or come about a foot above, resting on 

 brackets, and thus in the latter case leaving a deep table 

 top about two and one-half feet. All the upper doors should 

 be glass, and preferably made to slide past each other on 

 brass tracks. If they are hinged they prove often in the 

 way, by their projection into the room when open. The 

 shelving should be seven-eighths of an inch thick and on mov- 

 able pegs, so that it may be adjusted to the varying height of 

 what it is to carry. The bottoms of the shelves should have 

 hooks for cups, the tops should have grooves about an inch 

 from the wall in order to hold plates upright without danger 

 of their sliding and breaking. If there is no servants' hall, 

 all the kitchen china and crockery will be kept here, apart 

 from that in use at the master's table. Glass shelves are, of 

 course, ideal, but a most expensive luxury. 



The sink is naturally one of the most important fittings 



Chairs of the " Mission" Type Are the Most Serviceable for the Kitchen 



of the kitchen. A good-sized one is about two feet broad by 

 three feet long by seven inches deep, with grooved drain- 

 boards on each end made of ash and each thirty inches long. 

 Often a separate vegetable sink is added. This need naturally 

 not be over eighteen inches or two feet long. A sink made 

 of the yellow or Colonial ware will be found less expensive 

 than the white porcelain and equally good. The wall 

 directly back of the sink must, of course, if of plaster, be pro- 

 tected from the constant splashing by either tiles or marble 

 or slate, running up the wall a foot and a half. The sink 

 must be where there is good light and generally some distance 

 from the range. Near the sink should be the towel rack. 



The kitchen table is best placed in the middle of the floor, 

 and should have a top that can constantly be scoured spot- 

 lessly clean. The space underneath is valuable either for 

 drawers or cupboards. 



What chairs or other furniture there is should be of 

 straight, simple lines — of the cheaper "Mission" types, with 

 caned or rush seats. They are well worth the slight differ- 

 ence in price between them and the ugly turned stock pat- 

 terns of kitchen chairs with legs kept from straddling by 

 copper wire. 



The artificial lighting of the kitchen can best be done by a 

 reflector of the simplest character, placed in the center of 

 the ceiling over the table, and with a quantity of bulbs meet- 

 ing the demands of the size of the room. Three bulbs will 

 in most cases be found sufficient. In addition, there should 

 be a single side bracket, with practically no arm, above and 

 to one side of the sink. 



