/'■ (' b r u ary, 
19 2 0 
S3 
WHEN THE POT HANGS HIGH 
A Plea for the Convenient Arrangement of Everyday Kitchen Utensils 
Hooks versus Closets and Daylight against Dark 
ETHEL R. PEYSER 
M y text is “one kitchen tool hung up is 
worth two in a low cupboard’’—taken 
from The Kitchen Libel—Chapter 1, Verse 1. 
This may not look like a technical article 
or like one with a lot of mechanical infonna- 
tion—and it really isn't—it intends to get be¬ 
hind technicalities and be a radical (don’t 
fear the word!) overhauling of women’s opin¬ 
ion on the disestablishment of old forms of 
kitchen usage by ver}' slight changes in kitchen 
arrangement. 
For years kitchens have been built with 
closets for kitchen pots built in “below the 
belt”—with pernickity little doors with cranky 
little locks. For years these closets gave the 
kitchen denizen or housekeeper herself all the 
rhythmic exercise necessary to the develop¬ 
ment of backache and nerves and sense of 
touch. Into these closets one had to feel for 
the pan one wanted and then often had the 
musical treat of hearing them crash down be¬ 
hind something, and the tired housewife must 
needs kneel in prayerful posture to extract the 
necessary pot or pan. 
strong back to get a jian or his nerve to pull 
out a drawer, which so often sticks, for a can 
opener! Not he. 
Could you imagine a carpenter, a butcher, 
or any one else, who worked at anything re- 
ciuiring sharp tools, or fine quality tools, 
jumbling them all up together in a drawer 
that moved in and out, provoking an earth¬ 
quake rhythm among the tools, or a little closet 
in which everything is banged to pieces and 
has to be groped for? 
Good Tools, Good Treatment 
No!—No one could. Because no tools will 
last under such treatment and good tools are 
worth keej:)ing—and the very best are reduced 
to nothingness if not kept well. It’s a case, 
pure and simple, of noblesse oblige. 
There is a good housekeeping reason, too, 
to have things hung up, and this is because 
when things are in plain sight they become 
a constant curse to the cook or to the beholder 
if they are not scrupulously clean. In the 
kitchen of “suspended animation” the house- 
The Argument for Hanging 
I have written the above in the past 
tense—but it is really existent today in 
the majority of homes. “Why,” I asked 
a splendid housekeeper, “don’t you seal 
up those dark receptacles and hang up 
your utensils?” 
“Gracious,” said she, “if I hang them 
up they’d get all dusty and it wouldn’t 
be sanitary. Ridiculous,” quoth she! 
“But, my dear friend, do you think 
those dark closets are dust-proof and do 
you think darkness is a germ killer?” 
The truth is these closets, away from 
light, are almost ominous! 
“But,” continued my friend, “if I de¬ 
cided to hang my things up, where could 
I, do it in this tiny kitchen? It’s all 
right in modem kitchens, but here it is 
impossible!” 
Here she touched a universal note— 
in fact, tw'o notes—the old fashioned 
kitchen, and no room. Two notes upon 
which the housekeeper plays monoton¬ 
ous chomses to excuse modern advances. 
“Aly dear friend,” snapped I—“once 
upon a time I ran an experiment station 
in a tenement kitchen—the kitchen was 
four feet wide by ten feet long—in it 
were tubs, stove, glass closets under 
which were the pot and pan receptacles. 
I was too busy to stoop ever}^ time I 
needed anything so I had the carpenter 
nail on the wall over the tubs and over 
the sink a piece of wood three inches 
wide (this will go in even the tiniest 
kitchen) into which I screwed hooks, 
and there I hung every tool I used. Later 
I had a shelf nailed above it and made 
my work a smooth performance. I felt 
like a carpenter working at my bench 
with all my tool ‘en plein air.’ ” And 
I went on to say, as I had a good op¬ 
portunity, there is no reason why our 
kitchens can’t be made like a tool chest. 
No man would tolerate breaking his verv 
iiNininiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiniiniiii 
SONG for the INCOMING 
of a SHIP 
Have you ever seen a shining ship 
Riding the broad-backed wave 
While the sailors pulled the ropes and sang 
The chantey’s lusty stave? 
Have you ever gazed from a headland’s reach 
Far out, into the Blue, 
To glimpse, at first, a f ashing mote 
That to a tall ship grew, 
A full-sailed ship on the great, broad sea 
Hidl-down, and bearing home 
All the Romance from Homer’s days 
To Now, across the foam? 
For, purple-white in rippling dusks. 
Or edged with sunset’s fre ,— 
Behold, each^ship is a phantom ship 
That bears the World’s Desire! . . . 
O, Merchant, Merchant seeking wares 
That tip full-laden beams. 
The living God has made your feets 
His argosies for dreams, 
Far-riding argosies that go 
With bearded men and strong 
7'o the world’s ends for merchandise 
And come back—bearing Song! 
Legends and songs of Happy Isles 
And faery realms a-far 
Beyond the windless gates of dawn 
And the white morning star! 
—H.4RRY Kemp. 
..... 
keeper is pretty sure to have clean and spot- ^ 
less pots and pans, to have knives whose edges 
are not nicked, and to have egg beaters and 
mayonnaise mixers that are not so out of kilter 
that one gets nervous prostration in coming in 
contact with a scrambled egg or Russian dress¬ 
ing. These are facts to grapple with. 
To prove it, just visit a man-manned restau¬ 
rant or hotel kitchen some time—and there you 
will see the brightest, cleanest looking copper, 
aluminum, nickel, etc., etc., pots and pans 
hung up on racks near operating centers^—• 
ready to be used. If this were anti-hygiene 
the Board of Health would intervene. Any¬ 
how, water is at hand in a kitchen and dust is 
easily swabbed out! 
Of course, in the new kitchen racks are 
built, and the housewife has no choice, so she 
accepts the pleasanter condition without cavil. 
In this connection I can’t forbear to men¬ 
tion the apartment garbage can which owns a 
hygienic lid which sits a foot above the floor 
and for every useless egg shell to be thrown 
away the worker must needs bend double to 
remove the lid, empty her plate, put on 
.I the lid and raise herself up. Time and 
I energy lost. This could easily be on a 
I little stool under a common kitchen table 
I in which a round hole could be cut, or 
I alongside the garbage creating table and 
I the stuff slid into it, if it can be bought 
I with* a sliding lid. There is also a pail 
I whose lid is lifted by a pedal worked by 
I the foot. 
I Hanging Within Reach 
I To be sure, this does not mean to hang 
I up the kitchen table or the stove, but it 
I does mean to keep things, that are used 
I hundreds of times every day, within the 
I radius of one’s hands without superfluous 
I stooping and bending. It means, too, 
I that cleaning utensils, such as brooms 
I and dusters and rags, if hung in sepa- 
I rate racks in or outside a closet, will live 
I longer in good condition than if hurled 
I into a corner of a closet where they get 
I smashed and have their one hundred per 
I cent, utility diminished. 
I Where a culinary tool decreases in effi- 
I ciency, the human element effort is neces- 
I sarily increased, and unnecessary fatigue 
I ensues—then; sloppy preparation of 
I food and then, dyspepsia. 
I Now, don’t you see the inevitable re- 
1 suit of slipshod kitchen arrangement? 
I If, for any reason, one likes closets for 
I pots and pans, have glass doors on them 
I and have them no lower than thirty-two 
I inches from the floor. This way one 
I doesn’t have to stoop, the light penetrates, 
I and an arrangement like this has only 
I the opening and shutting of the door in 
I its disfavor and the fitting in of the uten- 
I . sils each time and their possible denting. 
I Even the finest utensils will dent with 
I improper provocation. Open shelves are 
I very convenient, too, if you do not care 
I to hang things up. 
I If one has a niche for each tool, the 
work becomes almost play. 
