Every cook has a right to a pleasant, cheerful kitchen with its full complement of those labour-saving devices which help to make cooking a pleasure instead of a task. A well-organised kitchen, good culinary implements, and last but not least, the best of provisions are essential to secure first-class results in oookery. This section deals very fully not only with the kitchen and its equipment, but also with all the chief points a housewife should know in regard to marketing and the choice and care of food. PART I THE KITCHEN Choice of the Kitchen. — This should be a bright and airy place, with enough room for the work that is to be carried on in it. Unfortunately we cannot always have ideal conditions in this respect, especi- ally in town houses where there are underground premises with an area, and the kitchen window, as often as not, looks out on a stone wall. Still, the importance of a bright kitchen should be carefully considered when choosing a house, and special thought given to the apartment, where not only is our food prepared, but where our servants have to live, as we do in our dining-rooms and drawing- rooms. Sometimes an unavoidably dark kitchen can be made brighter by having an outside wall painted white or a very light colour. Besides a cheerful aspect there are several other points which must be carefully attended to in the choice of a kitchen. The ventilation must be good, not only on account of those who have to live and work in it, but also for the benefit of the whole house. With a badly-ventilated kitchen the fumes of cooking are almost bound to spread where they are not wanted. In addition to the door and window it is sometimes a good plan to have a ventilator put in the wall above the height of the window to carry off the steam from cooking. Whenever work is going on in the kitchen the window should be kept open at the top, even in winter. The sanitary arrangements must also have par- ticular attention, and there must be a good and plentiful supply of water. The lighting is another important point, and the light, whether it be gas or electricity, should be so arranged as to make it possible to see clearly both at the table and at the stove. As regards position the kitchen should be within easy reach of the dining-room, and yet so placed that the odours of cooking do not penetrate to other parts of the house. The larder and store-room, too, should be near at hand to avoid all unnecessary running about. The Walls and Ceiling. — The ceding of the kitchen ought to be smoothly plastered and then white- washed. This whitewashing should, if necessary, be renewed every year, not only for cleanliness but also to keep the kitchen as light as possible. For the walls glazed tiles are the ideal covering, as they can so easily be washed, or a high-tiled dado with distemper, or other suitable finish above. But both these methods of wad-covering prove somewhat expensive, and people of moderate means have to content themselves with something a little cheaper. The walls may be washed all over with a simple distemper, and as this process costs very little the distemper may be renewed whenever it becomes dirty. Pretty light colours, such as buff, pink, pale blue, or pale green are the most effective.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Every cook has a right to a pleasant, cheerful kitchen with its full complement of those labour-saving devices which help to make cooking a pleasure instead of a task. A well-organised kitchen, good culinary implements, and last but not least, the best of provisions are essential to secure first-class results in cookery. This section deals very fully not only with the kitchen and its equipment, but also with all the chief points a housewife should know in regard to marketing and the choice and care of food. THE KITCHEN Choice of the Kitchen. — This should be a bright and airy place, with enough room for the work that is to be carried on in it. Unfortunately we cannot always have ideal conditions in this respect, especially in town houses where there are underground premises with an area, and the kitchen window, as often as not, looks out on a stone wall. Still, the importance of a bright kitchen should be carefully considered when choosing a house, and special thought given to the apartment, where not only is our food prepared, but where our servants have to live, as we do in our dining-rooms and drawingrooms. Sometimes an unavoidably dark kitchen can be made brighter by having an outside wall painted white or a very light colour. Besides a cheerful aspect there are several other points which must be carefully attended to in the choice of a kitchen. The ventilation must be good, not only on account of those who have to live and work in it, but also for the benefit of the whole house. With a badly-ventilated kitchen the fumes of cooking are almost bound to spread where they are not wanted. In addition to the door and window it is sometimes a good plan to have a ventilator put in the wall above the height of the window to carry off the steam from cooking. Whenever work is going on in the kitchen the window should be kept open at the top, even in winter. The sanitary arrangements must also have particular attention, and there must be a good and plentiful supply of water. The lighting is another important point, and the light, whether it be gas or electricity, should be so arranged as to make it possible to see clearly both at the table and at the stove. As regards position the kitchen should be within easy reach of the dining-room, and yet so placed that the odours of cooking do not penetrate to other parts of the house. The larder and store-room, too, should be near at hand to avoid all unnecessary running about. The Walls and Ceiling. — The ceiling of the kitchen ought to be smoothly plastered and then whitewashed. This whitewashing should, if necessary, be renewed every year, not only for cleanliness but also to keep the kitchen as light as possible. For the walls glazed tiles are the ideal covering, as they can so easily be washed, or a high-tiled dado with distemper, or other suitable finish above. But both these methods of wad-covering prove somewhat expensive, and people of moderate means have to content themselves with something a little cheaper. The walls may be washed all over with a simple distemper, and as this process costs very little the distemper may be renewed whenever it becomes dirty. Pretty light colours, such as buff, pink, pale blue, or pale green are the most effective.

Cookery for every household