October, 1915 
35 
A good kitchen for a larger family. Size, type and location of sink are excellent. Note light over sink. There is the proper relation of 
table, sink and counters one to the other and to pantry. The floor is covered with inlaid linoleum and the walls painted 
WHAT EVERY KITCHEN NEEDS 
Planning for its Requirements Before Building — Efficient Arrangement for Stove, Sink, 
Table and Cabinets—Economy of Space that Saves Work 
CECIL F. BAKER 
W ITHIN the past fifty years the kitchen has developed 
from a general family utility room to a culinary labora¬ 
tory, and it must be studied with this newer conception in mind. 
Whether the home to be designed is a five-room cottage requir¬ 
ing no servant, or a forty-room mansion re¬ 
quiring a dozen or more servants, the funda¬ 
mental problem is the same. It is not enough 
in planning a house simply to mark out a 
room of a given size and to designate it as 
“kitchen,” hoping to put in the equipment 
after the house is up, and to have the result 
of a good working laboratory. The details 
required by the work to be carried on in each 
kitchen must be considered before a decision 
on the location, size or arrangement of the 
room can be definitely made. 
The three main elements of the room are 
always the stove, the sink and the table. Re¬ 
gardless of the size or the type of each, the 
operations carried on with them are in such 
close relation one to the other, that the para¬ 
mount issue in the arrangement of the room 
is to have these three pieces of furniture so 
placed that the operations between them may 
be carried on with no steps or at least as 
few as possible. Next must be considered 
the care of the utensils and the storage of the 
materials required in the operations to be carried on in this 
main center of the room. This will be accomplished with the 
use of various types of cabinets, shelves, cupboards and bins; 
which, together with the sink, stove and table, include practi¬ 
cally all the equipment necessary for the 
usual work of the kitchen. With these vari¬ 
ous items of furniture and equipment in 
mind, and with a clear idea of their relation, 
one to the other, one is well prepared to pro¬ 
ceed with the planning of the kitchen in its 
relation to the other portions of the house. 
Those items, which are a part of the struc¬ 
ture of the house, and which must be con¬ 
sidered in the first instance, always bearing 
in mind their close relation to the later plac¬ 
ing of the equipment, are the relation of the 
windows to the points of the compass, the 
distribution of the doors and windows, so as 
to provide the proper wall spaces for the fur¬ 
niture and the other equipment, and still to 
provide good light for all of the working 
spaces, as well as easy and direct lines of 
travel to the dining-room, to the basement, to 
the rear entrance, and to the one or more 
pantries. The location of the flues, electrical, 
gas and plumbing outlets, must also be care¬ 
fully considered at this time. The question 
Metal kitchen cabinets will be 
found indispensable. They 
range from $45 up 
