Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-05
ARTISTIC KITCHENS.
Beautiful Rooms Where the Meals of
MilionaireS Are Cooked.
AN IDEAL KITCHEN In FRANCE.
Exquisite Appointments and Utensils Of
the Vanderbilt Kitchen.
COOKING By STEAM, GAS AND CHARCOAL
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The most ideal kitchen ever saw was q
Fecamp, famous for its Bene5ictine an
Benedictines OF blessed memory. We ha
stopped over to take another diligence. TIL
waiting room, which was also dining room
was too reminiscent of dinners past and din
ners to come to be tolerable. So, impelle
by the natural instinct after a more agree
able environment, I reached the kitchen.
The change from the grim, weary waiting
room to this airy, spacious kitchen
filed with gayety and color, had the en-
chantment of a transformation scene. Th
three large French windows were vine
wreathed. The range was framed in will
scripture Gle, and spit strung with fowl
cheerily spun before an open fire. An an
mex to the range also framed in with blu,
tiles was filled with holes, each requiring
its own charcoal fame and to be used as the
service pressed.
Against the walls and over doors and In
panels hung copper pots and pans, arranged
with as much skill as if they were trophie.
of arms, and FURNISHED to the last degree
Of brilliancy. Long handled frying pans
like unstrung banjos, were graded down to
baby pans fora single egg without missin g
link, and copper measures, in like manner,
seemed to go of toward a vanishing point.
Many of these were beautifully wrought
with incised ornament. will not attempt
to describe the personal attractions of the
kitchen, the rotund hostess who was cook,
nor the wit and good fellowship which evil
dent)y made the kitchen rival of the wine
room, for we are about more serious busi-
ness. The Norman kitchens of the humber
sort with which L became familiar were all
arranged with reference to form and color,
due presumably to the fact that they were
largely living rooms, and will always be
remembered as among the most artistic
rooms 1 have ever seen.
LIGHT AND CLEANLINESS.
'Perfect ventilation" said Mr.. George
Post, the architect, who is regarded as an
authority on the subject of kitchens, sis
the first consideration in a kitchen, then
come light and the possibilities of perfect
cleanliness"
To get these in a crowded city block and
half buried in the earth, is, in the nature of
things, difficult MIR. Cornelius Wander
bilt's kitchen was the first of the evolution
ary series which Mr.. Post inaugurated. 1t
is a large room, SO x16. There are three
windows on Fifty-seventh street, and these
are peculiarly constructed to receive the
light and air, on which the architect insists.
A bronze grating only is seen from the
street; Within this are shelving panes of
glass which may be opened SO as to freely
admit the air yet will prevent the passers-
by from looking in to see what the Wander
bilts are going to have for dinner, for there
are people who entertain that sort of curios-
ity. Another provision prevents them from
smelling the dishes,
This inheres in the more essential ventila-
ton. The range is situated in the remote
corner of the room in order to be near the,
main ventilating shaft of the house. kn
immense hood is suspended above, which
connects with the shaft and gathering all
the steam and odors passes it through and.
without losing a single smell, out of the
honsa This is an immeqse' advantage as
everyone living in thsr City houses around
which llnger the scent of perpetual dinners
knows.
The range is in fact two ranges separated
by partition. These are built out from
the wall and behind are two horizontal boil
ers. Attached at one end is the charcoal
broiler. at the other is the roaster which
consists of low CRATE with a spit attached
to jack moved by clockwork, and semi
circular Dutch oven. OF course for ordi-
nary occasions but one spit is used.
SOME coNvENIENCEs.
At this end of the room the cook moves, a
cherry table at his right hand, his copper
treasures in a pot closet at his left, the
dresser at his back. This dresser has no
back except the enamelled tiles of the vail.
This, too, is consideration in city which
lacking the necessary supply of Crotoa
water, is overstocked with Croto1 bugs, in
sects which show an unreasonable disposi-
ton to colonize in the seams of dressers,
that they pry open for that purpose.
At the other end of the room the kitchen
maid moves. At one side is the table at
which she prepares her vegetables, and op-
posite the porcelain lined sink and draining
table where they are washed. This sink Is
provided with grease trap, a clever ar
rangement by which the grease is chilled
and adheres until it can be removed and the
stoppage of pipes thereby prevented. In
front of the windows is long table for the
preparation of entrees, and beneath this are
closed compartments. Near by is the chop
ping block, its architecture that of the
butchers block. The pastry shares a
cooler room, which the scullery maids also
occupy.
I have been specific because this kitchen
has been thoughtfully considered, and while
1t has what is needed, has only what is
needed. The floor is laid in red and gray
encaustic tiles, the walls are lined with
cream enameIed tiles, and there is no reason
here, as Mr.. Post suggests, why a hose
should not play without detriment to any
thing but dirt
Mr.. W. Z. vanderbilt's chef has had
such renoWn that the temple in which he
moves and the altar at which he off1ciates
must be of interest. Both are worth his cost
to import, and worthy his talents. Mr..
Vanderbilt's kitchen is really very beauti-
full to the eve. The purity of marble, the
luster of tiles and the CLEAN of metal are
what one sees. The floor is of marble, the
shelves, the tables, the sinks, all the things
that are rarely moved are of marble and cut
with the precision of jewels. The walls are
lined with cream enamelled tiles and all the
angles are covered with brass mouldings.
Where these meet the doors and the win
dows they are covered with these metal
mOuldings, dispensing even with wooden
trim. The ceiling is made of white
enamelled tiles set in cement. But one does
not imperil the head of S10. 900 cook with
loosely set brick, so each tile is also
secured with raised metal bolts.
SPLENDID COOKING UTENSILS.
Accenting all this CLEAN of white and
metal is the large double range. 1t is similar
to that already described, and set in one
corner under large semi-circular hood en-
riehed with embossed copper ornaments, and
swung from iron bars wrought in spirals
and foliations. This hood, the purpose of
which has already been described, is 50
powerful an agent in carrying off the odor
and greasy steam that it will wait from the
hand newspaper held under it.
The cooking utensils are in keeping with
all this splendor. They are Of copper, with
wrought iron handles, many of them orns-
mented, and some of them have been copied
from special pieces in the Cluny and other
museums Luxurious cooking utensils are
indeed the thing of the moment, and a
wedding present not disdained is set of
copper silver lined such as are now dis
played among gems and gold at the jewellers.
Leading from the kitchen to the buffers
pantry are spiral stairs entirely enclosed in
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