COMMUNIAL KITCHENS

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12485, 29 June 1926, Page 4

COMMUNIAL KITCHENS

The idea of having one big communal kitchen for a group of houses or flats instead of a number of small, inadequate private kitchens, has never been popular in England, partly because, I suppose, we all believe, more or less, in the oft-repeated saying, “An Englishman’s home is his castle,” and so resent with proper insular pride any intrusion into the privacy of our homes. We pi fer—or, at least, the majority do—to cook meals, which are by no means perfect, under conditions which are exceedingly awkward, rather than have our meals prepared and cooked in a place which is not strictly our own. Yet communal kitchens have much to commend tliom. They mean a saving in money and better food, for everyone knows that it is possible to buy largo quantities cheaper and of better quality than small ones'. They also mean a saving in fuel, to say nothing of the saying in pots and pans arid the housewife’s time and temper. Instead of dozens of little chimneys sending out clouds of smoko, heating dozens of little dinners, one big central heating apparatus, or a number of gas or electric stoves in on© kitchen, is preparing all the dinners in the neighbourhood at once. If every household paid so much every week the services of a good cook could be employed, and the- timo the housewife would ordinarily• spend in cooking could be set free for other things. Communal kitchens have been tried with success in hostels for women workers. Women who nre busy all day, and who do not care for boardinghouse life, find it a great convenience to have their own little flat or rooms and have their food rooked for them efficiently and at a reasonable price at a communal kitchen.

Wrinkles banished in one week Coraan method—not massage. Call for particulars, or send stamped and addressed envelope: Mrs nest to Post Oflire, Courtenay place, Wellington (telephone 22-070). Also at Auckland.— Advt,