Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1918 — Efficient Arrangement of Kitchen Will Eliminate Many Steps for Busy Housewives [ARTICLE]

Efficient Arrangement of Kitchen Will Eliminate Many Steps for Busy Housewives

“Woman's work is never done** is an expression which could be banished forever if efficiency were faithfully practiced in the homes, according to Miss Margaret Haggart, professor of domestic science in the Kansas State Agricultural college. Poor arrangement of utensils in the kitchen is an Important cause of waste. Many women double the time of making a cake 'because they do not group the ingredients all on the table at once. Instead, they cream the butter and sugar, then stop to get the flour or run to the ice chest for a cup of milk. Only small kitchens can be really efficient The large kitchen found particularly in the country, necessitates hundreds of extra steps. If stove, sink and tables are ip the right relation to each other, much energy can be saved. In preparing a meal one should not have to retrace one’s steps from sink to table and back again. To make pancakes for breakfast in the efficient kitchen the housewife takes the materials from the Icebox, turns a step to the right where she beats the Ingredients on the surface of the cabinet, one more step to the right for the stove. With the last step to the right she lays the cakes on the serving table, and then carries them to the dining room. Washing dishes becomes an art when labor-saving methods are used, points out Miss Haggart. For a woman five feet two Inches tall, the proper height for sink, work table or ironing board is 29 Inches. The ideal arrangement of the sink provides a drain board on each side of the sink. The drainer does away with all wiping of dishes. The glass must be wiped, of course, because hot water cannot be poured on it. Hot water gives to china a polish which will be destroyed if wiped with a cloth. Energy can be saved if the woman will sit down to work whenever possible. When one stands there Is a strain to keep the body erect.