Planning the Kitchen
There is a growing and altogether proper tendency to treat the kitchen as an integral part of the house, which was almost entirely absent in English and American houses of early times; in fact, until within the last twenty-five years very little thought was attached to it. A century ago it was regarded advisable to have the kitchen occupy a separate building somewhat removed from the main building or located at a great distance from the dining or living rooms, ofttimes the whole length of the house. The principal reason for this was the primitive methods used in cooking and preparing foods which were very objectionable at close range. Odors, noises and unsanitary appliances made the kitchen a place to be abhorred and to be kept as far away as possible. The present-day intelligent methods of dealing with the kitchen, particularly in America, have effected a complete transformation in this old idea. Our modern successful architect of the home attaches great importance to the planning of the kitchen, with its adjoining pantries, closets, storage rooms, etc.; and rightfully he should, as it goes more towards making for the convenience, help and comfort of the up-to-date household than possibly any other feature of the home.
The modern English kitchen with its relation to the dining-room is interesting for comparison with those here in America, chiefly because the early English settlers constitute the original source from which we obtain our start in house-building. The English kitchen'sadjuncts practically comprise separate departments, such as the scullery, larder, wood, ashes, knives and boots, fuel, etc. This condition naturally requires the employment of considerable help even in the smaller homes. On the other hand, the compactness so noticeable in American homes—requiring perhaps one-half the space, thus reducing the necessary help to a minimum and obtaining the maximum of convenience—has brought our kitchen to a standard, nearly, if not entirely, approaching the ideal. The American architect has based his idea for this compactness upon the same reasoning as is exercised in fitting up a convenient workshop, for truly a kitchen is the workshop of the house. Again, the peculiar custom of medieval times in placing the kitchen a considerable distance from the dining-room still survives in the English homes, while in American homes a marked difference has long prevailed. The kitchen here is usually placed as near as possible to the dining-room, only separated, if at all, by a china-closet, pantry, or butler's room.