Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Kitchen cleaning Protocols

[Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah (welcome]

For the folks who have yet to set up their kitchen. Aim for
=storage at point of use (where would you be when you want to peel a vegetable? 
spin a salad? serve ice cream?)

= labels (for those who read.... surprising how many do not pay attention to 
labels) We have one of those Brother label printers we use to label drawers, 
shelves, mailboxes; also have a Dremel tool to etch our name into pricey big 
soup pots, best cookie sheets, knives. 

= open storage: opt for shallow shelves, pullout shelves, drawers if necessary, 
but minimize closed cupboards: it helps if people can see similar objects to 
what they want to put away. 

= use dining room storage and counter space for beverage bar, cups, glasses, 
tea kettle, drawers with tea, corkscrews, take-home containers for leftovers, 
napkins.; minimize people cutting through cooking area

= rolling cart is what we use for dishes: top has stacks of Corelle plates and 
bowls, mid shelf has caddies with silverware (transferred to counter at meals), 
lower shelf has bins with clean white cotton dish cloths for drying dishes (we 
haven't enough space to air dry it all, but always use fresh clean white cloths 
to dry). (storing those dish cloths there stopped people from using them to 
clean the stove etc! grrr) . Cart gets rolled into kitchen for just-washed 
dishes, then back to the start of the serving line where it is for meals. 

= design with a clean side and dirty-dish side of kitchen, short trips with hot 
stuff (our convection oven is right next to the tiled serving counter). 

AND whatever you do, there will be the clueless: one day I came in to find a 12 
year old dutifully cleaning up after a project in the kitchen: sweeping the 
prep counter with a floor broom!! gulp. 

Thanks to Mary Kraus, who guided our thinking in kitchen design. 

Maraiah Lynn Nadeau
RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend WA