Kitchen door

“ I get up in the morning, and find one asleep behind the door, and see one black head poking out from under the table, one lying on the door-mat,—and they are mopping and mowing and grinning between all the railings, and tumbling over the kitchen floor! ”

“ The Kitchen is separated from the dining-room by a single door, and in close proximity to the rear entrance and cellar stairway doors. It contains one large closet, range with elevated oven, warm-closet, and water-back, boiler, sink, and wash-tubs. The Kitchen should be wainscoted 3 feet high, with 5⁄8 × 3-inch ceiling-boards. The clock and lamp-shelf should be put between the closet and hall doors, and not over the range. The advantage of having the kitchen on the same floor with the dining-room must be apparent to every one.... ”

“ At one end is an open fireplace with a cooking range on one side, and an oven on the other. At the left of the entrance door is a large, commodious store-room and pantry, 12×9 feet, lighted by a window; and adjoining it, (and may be connected with it by a door, if necessary,) a kitchen closet of the same size, also connected by a corresponding door from the opposite corner of the kitchen. Between these doors is a flight of stairs leading to the sleeping-rooms above, and a cellar passage beneath them. ”

“ The second doorway, which is open, leads down a long passage to the Great Kitchen. At the end, the passage terminates in a strong and massive half-door, the top of which is formed into a broad shelf. To this point only were the servants permitted to come, but were forbidden access to the kitchen itself. The dishes were placed on the door-shelf by the cooks on the one side, and removed by the servitors on the other, and by them carried up the passage into the Banqueting-Hall. The kitchen is of immense size, its ceiling supported by massive beams and by a central support of solid oak. ”

“ The door opens under the low scullery roof, with the sink to your right hand as you go in, where the whole family takes turns at the papier-maché basin before tea. To the left of the scullery lies the kitchen. You go in as you go in at Stamway's: scrape your boots over a spade, knock both heels alternately against the outer wall, skate inwards over two mats, and give a twist sideways, watching the kitchen floor anxiously the while to see whether the mats have done their work or will betray you.
The kitchen takes up the whole end of the house, facing two ways. ”

“ One little fly said, "I will find a way in, I don't believe the folks who live here have been so careful with the kitchen door." So we flew away, and sure enough the kitchen screen door was standing ajar, with just enough of a crack in it for a busy little fly to slip through into the kitchen. ”

“ Yet it seems almost impossible to teach a servant that just “pushing the door to” is not shutting it, and the smells of the kitchen will escape as readily through a half-closed as through an open door. There is no help for this evil but watchfulness and constant reminder. You can put springs or rubber straps on the door, and while they are new and stiff they will swing to with force enough to close it ”

“ The railings were covered with wire netting inside, as he knew, but fortunately some one had left the gate open, and he pattered eagerly down the area steps, feeling safe and at home at last. The kitchen door was shut, but the window was not, and, as the sill was low, he contrived to scramble up somehow and jump into the kitchen, where he reckoned upon finding friends to protect him. ”

“ We all know the difference it makes to our dinners whether they are served up hot, or only lukewarm; and this alone gives a sufficient reason why we should insist upon the kitchen being close to the dining-room. Where there is no possibility of making a door of immediate communication, we should try our utmost to get a slide-window between the two rooms, so that the dishes, and indeed the whole paraphernalia that necessarily moves from kitchen to dining-room, may be placed on a slab at the said window on one side, and taken in at the other side. ”

“ The third door leads into a dressing-room half the size of the drawing-room, and having a fourth door which opens into a kitchen half the size of the dressing-room, but of course possessing a fifth door which leads out again to the head of the staircase. As no two people meeting in the kitchen could possibly pass each other, or remain in the apartment together without serious inconvenience, the two doors leading in and out of it may be pronounced useful as well as ornamental. ”

“ If the door between the pantry and hall, and the door between kitchen and pantry, be made to open in opposite directions and close with springs, no smell of cooking will be likely at any time to pervade the living-rooms. ”

“ Now the Curtain opens, and you see a farmhouse kitchen, just as Mother Goose promised. At the back, opposite to you, is a fire-place, with a mantel shelf over it. A bright fire is burning. On the mantel is a lamp, lighted, and an unlighted candle; also some other things that you'll hear about later. There is a cupboard against the back wall. At one side of the room is the door leading out of doors; beside it is a large wood box, where the fire-wood is kept ”

“ Another door opens out of it into the dining-room, which is separated from the kitchen by the well of the staircase, the steps being constructed partly of wood, partly of tiles, which are colored and beeswaxed. Nothing can be more depressing than the sight of that sitting-room. ”

“ A very small room in a tar-papered shanty, reeking poverty. The entrance is center-back,—a few boards nailed together for a door. A similar door, opening into the bedroom of the shack, upstage right. Downstage left, a broken window. Left center, a rusty cooking stove. Above it, a series of shelves holding a few dishes and cooking utensils. Rough board table in the center of the room. A kitchen chair at the right of the table. A large wooden rocker near the stove; rope and wire hold it together. An arm-chair, below the bedroom door is full of newspapers. ”

“ The chief dwelling room has the same sort of kitchen fireplace, with boiler, toaster hanging on the bars, movable iron griddle socketed to the hob, hook above for roasting, and broad fender, on which stand a kettle and a plate of buttered toast. The door, between the fireplace and the corner, has neither panels, fingerplates nor handles: it is made of plain boards, and fastens with a latch. The table is a kitchen table, with a treacle colored cover of American cloth, chapped at the corners by draping. ”

“ But," I continued, pointing to the door beside the portrait, "the kitchen is in there, with the sink on the right, where I've often helped the girl wash up the dishes"—I opened the door and we looked in and confirmed my assertion—"but this is the door of the bedroom, with which I am better acquainted." I laid a hand on the door-knob.
"Don't, John!" entreated Joan. "If you do, I'm going to pray that you'll be disappointed!"
"It's too late! Here's what we shall see: On the left there'll be a window, and beside it a dressing-table built into the wall—quite an unusual construction. ”

“ There is nothing inside; every room gapes at you from its dreary window. It is always easy to get inside. Owners leave some door or window free. You get in on to the kitchen sink, into the dreary kitchen, open its further door and come to the silent parlor, climb the stairs, half fearing to meet a ghost, and come upon those [Pg 149] weird bedchambers where no one sleeps. It takes some nerve to settle down there for the night. The wind whistles in the keyholes, creeps with a knife-edge under the door, searching your cold toes. ”

“ On each side of the sink have a swinging table, on which to place dishes. The tables will at times be convenient when making salads and other similar dishes. Above the table nearest the kitchen have a slide in the wall, that dishes may be passed to and from the kitchen. This small space will not admit odors or the hot air as the door would if kept open. In case there be two or more servants in the household, the door from the closet to the kitchen need not be opened at all while a meal is served, all dishes being passed through the slide. ”

“ Adjoining the kitchen, and connected with it, is a pantry, containing shelving, drawers, and a wash-tray, with cold and hot water. The Laundry, or work-room, is arranged to connect directly with the kitchen and pantry, and leads to the rear outside door. This room is fitted up so that the principal kitchen-work may be done in it, with great facility, and with few steps, and contains a closet, sink, pump, wash-tubs, tank, and boiler. The hight of the ceiling in this room is 10 feet in the clear. ”

“ To the north is the only door of the kitchen, 4 feet broad, and shoulder headed, and which opened from the lower end of the hall. It is curious that so large a kitchen should have had no other outlet. Grose gives a drawing taken in 1774, which413 shows this west wall of the kitchen before the great arch was inserted. The wall contains an immense hole or gap, above which, on the outside, is the weather moulding of the high-pitched roof of the hall. The kitchen was very lofty, and had an open timber roof the corbels of the hammer-beams of which remain. ”

“ In these days of the cold early spring, the way from the lawn into the house, through the drawing-room window, was not as yet open, and it was necessary to go round by the kitchen-garden on to the road, and thence in by the front door; or else to pass through the back door, and into the house by the kitchen. ”

“ Should the kitchen windows towards the area be deemed the most vulnerable place, one of the party descends, and breaks a pane of glass, which enables him to push back the bolt, and he slides up the window, the shutter whereof he forces with a small crow-bar, and if the house be not fully inhabited, he leisurely walks upstairs, and admits his accomplices at the front door. ”

“ I am ignorant how this animated, though dumb scene would have ended, or how long I should have continued immovable in this ridiculous, though delicious, situation, had we not been interrupted--in the height of my agitation, I heard the kitchen door open, which joined Madam Basile's chamber; ”

“ Then a door opened into a kitchen nine feet long, situated between the large store-rooms. There electricity, better than gas itself, did all the cooking. ”

“ Broad masses of light are out of place within such venerable walls. The brick-floored kitchen—or maybe it is the parlour—is delightfully snug; the walls panelled darkly all round; the honest raftered ceiling so low as to do away with the necessity ever to stand upon the naked wooden settles to reach things; the fireplace extending across one whole side of the room, the oddest imaginable cross between an old-fashioned ingle-nook open grate and a modern kitchen range; the chimney-piece garnished with many a brightly-burnished pot and pan. ”

“ Indoors there should be a cool little orderly dining-room, with blue china on its shelves, and a blue rug under the round table, and there should be a drawing-room papered in clean tans and curtained in cream colour, with an upright piano and comfortable chairs. The ugly old storeroom off the kitchen must be her mother's; it must have new windows cut, and nothing but what was new and pretty must go in there. And the kitchen should have blue-and-white linoleum, with curtains and shining tinware; there must be the gleam of scrubbed white woodwork, the shine of polished metal. ”

“ This room is the kitchen, reaching across the whole width of the house, and occupying what may be termed the west end of the structure. We notice that the carpetless floor is still damp, where it has been scrubbed to snowy whiteness; the stove shines with its glossy blackness; pots, kettles, dishes, chairs and table are all in place, and an air of exquisite neatness pervades the room.
Passing to our right we enter the sitting-room, not so large as the kitchen, and occupying the southeast corner of the house. There is a carpet on the floor--the only one Judd's mother possessed. ”

“ You go up two flights of massive stone stairs to reach the living part, where we have a decent bedroom, a fair, formal salon, dining-room, and a kitchen—such a kitchen! The ex-mayor’s family must have lived in this room, except on high days and holidays, when they perhaps sat upon the deceitful parlor chairs and sofas—which had all been pasted together for our benefit and broke down at the first trial. The kitchen is an immense, smoke-browned room, with a big fireplace at one end, where all the cooking is done. ”

“ If expense be no obstacle, it will be well to have a separate chimney for the kitchen, as this is one of the surest ways of preventing odors of food from reaching other rooms. Although the room may be admirably arranged and finished, it will not be a model apartment unless there be good ventilation and an abundance of light. Most kitchens have some dark corners, but there should be none.
Excepting the ceilings, every part of the room, as well as of the pantry and the adjoining closets, should be finished in a way that permits of washing. A hard-wood floor is desirable. ”

“ There are generally two rooms to each house, usually with a chimney or open hall between them, so you have to go out of doors to pass from one to the other. In the kitchen (which also serves as dining-room) is a large fireplace and a cook stove, if they are the happy possessors of one. ”

“ I went out on the porch, brought in my valise, and put it on the bed. I raised the sash of each window and pushed open the shutter. Then I asked the boy, who had not moved or spoken, to show me the way to the kitchen. He led me straight through the hall to the back of the house. The kitchen was large, and had no furniture save some pine chairs, a pine bench, and a pine table.
I stuck two candles on opposite corners of the table. There was no stove or range in the kitchen, only a big hearth, the ashes in which smelt and looked a month old. ”