Posted by Straw Boss on September 14, 2015 at 14:27:23 from (66.35.120.116):
In Reply to: OT stupid question posted by jake collie on September 14, 2015 at 11:39:13:
I don't think its a stupid question at all. But I'll start by saying to each their own, especially if she's left-handed, but to the right is the most accepted way and for good reason. There's my answer but read on if you will let me expand on this.
There used to be a time when kitchens were planned for ease of workload and efficiency. Nowadays the younger generation don't cook or bake from scratch much anymore so have no idea about these things. My mother raised 9 hungry farm kids, six of them boys, and besides the daily workload of turning out 3 meals a day, not including lunches, after school snacks and bedtime snacks, she also often churned her own butter, baked her own bread, made her own pie and pizza crusts and canned fruits, vegetables, meats etc. The kitchen was also used for all the processing after butchering a steer or a hog or countless hundreds of chickens and turkeys. There was also the cream separator bowl and parts that were washed daily. Usually after supper. "the evening meal to any city folk reading this". This way all those stainless steel cones and other parts could be left to drip dry on a dish towel over night and not be in anyone's way since the day was over. After the morning milking the separator just had a dash of water run through it to rinse it a bit until the evening milking. The farm kitchen of the day was a literal factory and a good cook ran her kitchen like a well oiled machine.
My mothers kitchen was in the shape of a horseshoe. As you stand at the opening, you start at the left of the horseshoe. This is the area where assembly takes place. The fridge is on this side along with the potato bin, flour bin, sugar bin, and most of the bigger pots and pans and power equipment storage like the Kitchenaid, waffle iron, electric skillet, hand mixers etc. The counter space here is for gathering all your needed items and ingredients to start a meal.
The middle part of the horseshoe holds the stove. As assembly of the meal comes together the actual cooking and baking is done here, so cupboards and drawers in this vicinity hold kitchen utensils, bowls and cooking items for this purpose. For example, directly to the right of the stove she kept all her spices and measuring items. Because as you stand at the stove, most people are right handed so it makes sense to have all those things ready at your right hand to measure ingredients and add flavorings. The first lower cupboard next to the stove held cookie sheets and cake pans etc. Farther to the right was a large Lazy Susan which held all kinds of items she may need to add to a dish. Always a fun place to explore when your a little kid.
The third side of the horseshoe is your kitchen sink. Often used for food prep but ALWAYS used for cleanup of the cooking operation AND cleanup of all the table plates, utensils and silverware after the meal is over. So again as everything flows from left to right, the first kitchen sink is for dirty dishes, the second for rinsing, followed by counter space for drying rack with the silverware drawer directly under it and the upper cupboard for glasses and dishes with her "every day" plates and glasses closest to the sink and her "best china" or company plates placed in the furthest away cupboard since they seldom get used. Just under the silverware drawer, was the drawer for dish towels used for drying and under that her "junk" drawer, which held odds-n-ends like scissors, string, tape, pencils, pens, a few deck of cards, freezer tape, notebook paper, batteries of all sizes and just about anything else a kid would want to work on a project for school. The utensil drawer was directly opposite the silverware drawer to the left of the sink since more of those items get used while cooking so its closer to the stove but still close to the sink for putting things away after washing.
So again, since most people are right handed, it also makes sense to move from left to right with dirty dishes in the sink because whoever dries the plates and silverware, use there right hand to reach and place the items in the cupboards. Nowadays people have a dishwasher to the right of the sink but for the same reason. Easier to load the washer with your right hand while standing at the sink.
This setup is also why her kitchen was sometimes considered today to be too small and often too "crowded" during holidays and other gatherings. You really can have too many cooks in the kitchen. My mothers kitchen was built to be a one woman operation with maybe one helper. Everything was only a step or two away no matter where you are in the kitchen because of the efficiency built into it for one person to be the master of the kitchen space. Today's kitchens seem to be put together haphazardly or with no fore-thought whatsoever but in older homes, especially large family farm homes built from the 20s to the 60s, most of them I've seem have this type of layout from left to right. New homes today are built with the kitchen set up more as a living space for socializing and entertaining company or as a hangout area. The workload and seriousness of the kitchen area just isn't as important as it used to be. The times....they are a changing!
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