Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1910-08-18
PLAN THE KITCHEN
ITS ARRANGEMENT A MATTER OF
UTMOST IMPORTANCE.
Makes All the Difference In the World
to the Housewife Who Manages
to Get Along Without
Servants.

The internal arrangements Of a
house have a great deal to do with
the comfort of living without serv-
ants. So much did we feel this to be
the case that we determined to build
our own cottage when we settled to
adopt this mode of life. In so many
houses the inconvenient position Of
staircases, the length Of passages, the
relative position of one room to an
other, leads to far more work than
there really should be any need for.
The same may be said Of badly de-
signed fireplaces, awkward arrange
ments for washing and bathing, and
Of the many other details with which
work is connected in daily life.
In arranging the rooms downstairs
the relative position Of kitchen, store
cupboards, pantry and larder will be
the most important consideration.
This is where the work is done, and
the movements between cooking
stove, saucepan shelves. sink, store
cupboards and larder should be re-
auced to as few steps as possible. A
study Of this just makes all the diner
ence when you do your own work. The
larder should face the north, so that
II Is always cool, and its shelves
should be Of slate. The cooks table
should have store cupboards behind 1t
against a wall up to the ceiling, with
shelves II inches wide, and with slid
Ing doors in front. Below the table
should be cupboards for utensils, pie
dishes, basins, molds, cake tins and
so on. Close by should be other
shelves for saucepans, frying pans,
kettles and so forth.
The cooking stove should be placed
SO that you can walk around 1t. 1t
should stand upon tiled hearth, and
the walls at back and sides should be
tiled. Rails should be fixed at back
and sides on which to air linen. which
Is then kept all out of the way and
free from dust. The prettiest way to
arrange the cooking stove is to copy
the Dutch fashion and have wooden
paneled canopy above 1t, with short
valance hanging down to the plate
rack; on this canopy can be fixed
Delft plates, bowls or the pretty little
Dutch figures.
Top ventilation should be arranged
for above all cooking stoves; heat and
fumes are thus carried out of the room
at once. Further, the skylight AFFORD
ing this ventilation should be open in
more than one direction; then which
ever way the wind is blowing there
will always be a lee side and no down
draught.
The sink should be freclay and en-
ameled white inside. It should be rath-
er deep; then 1t can be used for wash
ing smaller articles at home. Drain
ing boards Of whitewash should be
placed at either side Of the sink, and
these should have some semicircular
grooves cut in them, not V-shaped;
the latter hold water The sink should
be only step or two from the cook
ing stove; then saucepans can be
rinsed out at once after the dish is
cooked. II nothing In a saucepan is
allowed to catch fire or burn, or to dry
hard, they are no trouble at all to
keep perfectly clean and in good or
der. The long time that saucepans
last is one of the most noticeable ad-
vantages Of living without servants.
Saving of expense is effected in many
little ways like this, which are difficult
to detect in detail, but the effect Of
which can be easily seen when the
quarters expenditure Is analysed.