August, 19 2 0 
21 
be served, and where the cook 
must calculate to a minute as 
to when various viands would 
be finished. That is, the ex¬ 
perienced cook can know ex¬ 
actly the time-limits neces¬ 
sary to reach a certain tem¬ 
perature in an electric range, 
and by regulation, can main¬ 
tain the different cooking 
compartments at the required 
and various temperatures. 
Cost of Running 
In establishments such as 
these, the cost of operation is 
but a minor consideration, 
but the matter of relative 
expense is not one that can 
be answered dogmatically, 
since it depends largely on 
the price of current in a given 
locality, as compared with 
the cost of gas, oil, coal and 
other fuels available at the 
same point. Care in usage also 
is an important item. Thus 
in a series of extremely care¬ 
ful tests made by arrange¬ 
ment with a group of do¬ 
mestic scientists and a large 
electric lighting company, it 
was found that a family of 
three could have three meals 
per day prepared on an elec¬ 
tric range at a cost of 2.01 
cents; for a family of five, 
the average cost of current 
per meal, per person, fell to 
1.29 cents and for a family 
of eight, the current con¬ 
sumed amounted to .957 
cents per meal per person, 
with electricity charged at 
the rate prevailing in New 
York City. In common ex¬ 
perience, however, especially 
if there were no intelligent 
effort to prevent waste of cur¬ 
rent, the cost would probably 
be in excess of this, in pro¬ 
portion to the relative care¬ 
lessness of handling. 
Warming Devices 
The cooking of a meal is 
really not complete until that 
meal has been placed, hot, upon 
the table. The best device to 
this end, except the elaborate 
steam-tables used by hotels, is 
the electric plate-warmer, in¬ 
stalled preferably in the butler’s 
pantry or serving closet. One 
advantage of this device is that 
it is not hot enough to injure 
either dishes or plate, so that 
viands, thoroughly hot when 
placed in a valuable container, 
may be maintained at the cor¬ 
rect temperature for serving, 
without fear of breaking china 
or melting silver. This applies, 
of course, equally well to the in¬ 
dividual dishes and plates from 
which the food is to be eaten. 
Smaller electrical appliances 
for cooking, of course, are not 
overlooked by the up-to-date 
house-manager, but they are 
more properly speaking, dining 
Kitchen equipment is divided into three classes—devices for preparing meals, 
for serving it and for cleaning up. The electric dish washer falls into the 
last group. A washer of this type should be priced at about $145 
An electric kitchen motor aid of 
this type can serve a diversity of 
domestic purposes. The cost should 
be approximately $130 
Other attachments, including an 
ice cream freezer, vegetable slicer. 
meat chopper, strainer, etc., should 
be had. complete for $160 
or breakfast or even porch 
furnishing, rather than be¬ 
longing to the kitchen outfit. 
Cleaning Up 
Having provided the kitch¬ 
en with electric equipment 
for the preparation, cooking 
and serving of meals, the 
last word in household effi¬ 
ciency has not yet been 
spoken unless attention is 
given to the process of clear¬ 
ing-up afterwards. It may 
come as a surprise to those 
who have not considered the 
matter, but as a time-consum¬ 
ing element, hand clearing-up 
for a family of four takes 
more than fifteen hours per 
week, as against twenty-four 
hours for both the prepara¬ 
tion and cooking of meals for 
the same family. By in¬ 
troduction of suitable devices 
for a household on a mod¬ 
erate scale, clearing up can 
be reduced to ten hours, the 
preparation and serving come 
down to eighteen hours, a 
clear saving of nineteen hours 
per week, or nearly two and 
a half working days on an 
eight-hour basis. While the 
studies from which these fig¬ 
ures were obtained were 
made of homes following a 
simple though intelligent 
regime, there is no reason 
why the proportions of time¬ 
saving should not be corres¬ 
pondingly great in establish¬ 
ments of a more pretentious 
order. 
Time-saving in clearing 
up centers around a dish¬ 
washing machine. For years, 
of course, hotels and large 
mansions have been employ¬ 
ing machinery to this end, 
but it is only comparatively 
recently that machines have 
been produced suitable for or¬ 
dinary family use. The me¬ 
chanical principle involves a 
mass of hot, soapy water, 
churned rapidly by an electri¬ 
cally driven paddle which sprays 
forcibly dishes placed so as to 
receive the full power of the 
water. As the dishes remain 
stationary in the racks, there is 
less danger of breaking than in 
the old-fashioned operation. 
Dishwasher Capacity 
In usage, however, another 
question arises for the house- 
manager to consider. Unless 
the family is quite a large one, 
the capacity of the machine will 
be greater than the number of 
dishes required for one meal, 
especially for breakfast and in¬ 
formal luncheons. It is proba¬ 
bly then, the best management 
to have the dishes washed only 
once or possibly twice a day, the 
soiled utensils being scraped 
and placed inside the washer to 
(Continued on page 82) 
