'AREA OR NEATNESS?

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19578, 26 August 1933, Page 10

'AREA OR NEATNESS?

PROBLEM OF THE KITCHEN In building a new house two conceptions are apt to compete with each other as regards kitchens. There are advocates for the large, airy kitchen, which indeed has many advantages; and there are adherents to the kitchenette type of culinary laboratory, which really almost takes the place of what used to be known as the back kitchen. The big kitchen has the advantage that it is not necessary to clear up all the time, and that two people in it do not necessarily impede each other, and can work together in comfort. The small kitchen needs more apparatus really to make it suitable for personal use. It is best for the house without service, where it is not a living-room as well, or it can be used admirably with service where there is another room for living. This is perhaps the ideal arrangement. The kitchenette ought to have, as a minimum, a good cooking stove; a sink with two basins and fitted with hot and cold water; an ice safe, which obviates all anxiety about keeping food; and a large dresser or cupboard for supplies. In between or under some of the receptacles can be arranged the various kitchen implements needed. Thus standing room can be reduced to a minimum and many steps can be spared. The kitchen merely becomes a place in which to operate and not to be, and the closer together its various arrangements the more convenient it is.

On the other hand, a big kitchen permits of meals in it, which is often convenient where there is no service. It can be made into an attractive room and it allows of a comfortable chair or two. Everything really turns on the kind of service available, and how much it is a living-room as well as a cooking or washing-room.