MODERN KITCHENS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 97, 5 February 1936, Page 8

MODERN KITCHENS

ADDITIONS TO WHITE HOUSE. From now on, when the White House butler announces “soup’s on,” diplomats in the State dining rooms will have every reason to expect the liquor to arrive piping hot (says the “San Francisco Chronicle”). For this well-nigh revolutionary innovation, White House diners can thank the gadgets incorporated in the executive mansion’s new and shining kitchens. The renovated commissary department, a 100,000-dollar project, was unveiled by the mistress of the White House, Mrs Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took the ladies of the press on the first public inspection of the new kitchen, pantries, storage, and service rooms in the middle and west wings on the lower floor of the White House. The first lady was a willing, if sometimes uncertain guide and housewife in the maze's of stainless steel, pale cream enamel, and electrical equipment. But one fact stood forth like a sore thumb. For the first time in 60 years, the White House has a. decent kitchen, adequate to its needs and comparable to the kitchens enjoyed by any one of the upper income tax brackets. Not only that, but the New Deal below stairs has provided White House servants for the first time in history with locker rooms, a place in which to change their clothing, and a rest room. Not all the 100,000-dollar appropriation has been spent below stairs. A good part of the appropriation has been used to modernise the White House’s clogged and rusted plumbing, and to rewire the dwelling. The old wiring was condemned years ago, but the job was put off because it was a terrific task, certain to upset White House routine for weeks. It has taken almost six months to complete the project. The new kitchen, electrified to the last egg-heater, is the pride of the remodelled commissary. The stainless steel electric stove takes up most of one side of the kitchen, and has more control gadgets than the instrument hoard of a transport aeroplane. There is a series of ovens lor baking of all kinds. Built into it are an enormous soup pot and a receptacle for deep-fat frying, where shoestring potatoes or doughnuts can bo produced with equal ease. The stove even has its short-order department. " ~ “Did the stove really cost 5000 dollars?” Mrs Roosevelt was asked. “I don't know,” she replied, “and I’m not the person to give out figures, anyway.” In reply to other questions, she said Ida Allen, the No. 1 cook, and Elizabeth Moore, first assistant, and their two women assistants were delighted with the new kitchen. It seemed to give the women correspondents a deal of satisfaction to learn that the electric dishwashers are operated by a man, while the magnificent stove is in the hands of four competent women. The first lady admitted she had not essayed any cooking on the new equipment, but said she had spent a whole day in going over the equipment, to learn something of its operation, with the manufacturer representative.