Text 20255, 69 rader
Skriven 2007-09-10 21:16:20 av Joan Macdiarmid (1:18/200)
     Kommentar till en text av Ruth Haffly
Ärende: Enough.
===============
 Hi, Ruth,

 RH> Thaks for the run down.  The rain held off so we grilled the lamb
 RH> outside.  We're still in the debating stage on the GF since it's
 RH> another appliance to find storage for in a place with limited storage
 RH> room. Heard someting the other day about the average kitchen in the 50s
 RH> being 90 square feet, today it's closer to 2000 sq ft.  I said
 RH> something to Steve about wondering if we even have 90; he's not sure
 RH> (would have to measure) and this place was built last year.

 A few thoughts on that...The word "kitchen" might
 describe quite a variety of rooms with different
 ranges of functions, cooking always included, of
 course. I have seen one of the small old kitchens,
 in the home of my former boss when he held a cookout
 for the research group. His kitchen was for one
 thing (well, two), cooking and some food storage.
 One dined in the dining room. Some, at least, of
 the diningware was kept in a china cabinet in the
 dining room. I don't remember if he kept a separate
 pantry, but many older homes had one for shelf
 storage of canned and dry goods. I bet that 90
 sq ft didn't count the pantry. Nowadays, kitchens
 store just about all the food, unless you keep an
 extra freezer in the garage or basement. And it
 is customary to have a dinette set in the kitchen
 for the less formal meals like breakfast and lunch.
 And the tableware is also stored in the kitchen.
 In my Mom's house, the kitchen also houses the
 laundry facilities! Very convenient! So the modern
 "kitchen" is much more a multifunctional family
 room than a simple cooking place to which one
 consigns the maid/cook. Nowadays we live in our
 kitchens. The "living room" in many modern homes
 is often a showroom off limits to the kids, kept
 dusted for the possibility of entertaining guests,
 who often would just as soon hang out in the
 kitchen!

 I went through a spate of house-hunting some years
 back, before my job situation changed such that I
 became wary of anchoring myself to this location.
 I looked at a lot of houses and kitchens! The
 house I should have bought (not the one I actually
 bid on but backed out of) had the hugest kitchen
 relative to the house size I ever saw! I suspect
 it was larger than the combined living/dining rooms.
 I lusted for that kitchen, but wasn't sure about
 the rest of the house as being storage-deficient.
 The owner who had it custom built didn't have a
 full basement dug, just enough for the washer/
 dryer which I would rather have on the main floor
 anyway, in favor of springing for Corian countertops.
 Sounds pound-foolish to me, as countertops are
 easy to upgrade later, but enlarging a basement
 would be prohibitive! And there was no practical
 access to the attic space for added storage, either.
 Sigh. Still, I should have bought it, I realize now.
 It was suitably sized for a single person, one story
 except for the tiny basement (my family seems to
 have hip problems in older age, so stairs aren't
 a good idea), and the main bedroom opened to a
 screened porch! And in a good neighborhood, to
 boot. The road not taken, and now it's too late.

 Joan MacDiarmid
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