Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing kitchen requirements

[Berrins (Berrins]

I'll try to make this brief...

Some of what you read may be tempered by the size of your community.  We have 
24 on-site homes and 3 participating (we're not supposed to call them 
members- a legal thing) neighbors; over 70 potential eaters, not including 
guests.  Most meals we get between 20-50.

1) Dishwashers- you've read the reviews, the choice is up to you.  We have a 
commercial one and love it- 90 second cycle.  Good warrranty, recycles the 
rise water for the next wash, exceedingly simple to use and will stand up to 
lots of use.

2) Refrigerator- we went with a largish two door commercial.  Easy to get 
into, easy to clean and can hold our coop orders for a day or two until 
everyone picks up their stuff.  We don't keep a lot of leftovers but we have 
lots of condiments and need lots of space for community meal groceries and 
the occasional overlapping private function groceries.  The wide doors and 
higher up shelving make reaching in to get things much, much easier than a 
residential refrigerator and stuff doesn't get lost in the back.  Two 
residential refrigerators side-by-side may hold the same amount, but now 
you're talking close to the same cost of a commercial, more floor square 
footage and they are still harder to use.  But the main reason we went with 
commercial is durability.  Residential units simply don't stand up as well.  
Since cost is a major consideration, you could look into a used commercial.  
There are lots of restaurant supply warehouses with used equipment.

3) Freezers- don't have one.  Someone donated one but it needed work- we 
never spent the money to fix it up because we realized that about the only 
thing we would use it for is ice cream.  Cooks simply keep ice cream at home 
(leftovers are usually not a problem!).  

4) Stoves- we went with a commerical (Vulcan) 6 burner with a large flat 
griddle (which is great for pancakes; try cooking pancakes for 50 in pans!) 
and two ovens.  We considered getting one regular and one convection oven, 
but an avid cook at another cohousing community said they did that and hardly 
ever use the convention oven.  We don't use two stoves all the time but 
really appreciate having two when we do.  Again, we went with commercial for 
durability.  Sure, they get hot, but so does a residential unit and you 
wouldn't want kids playing near either type; our kitchen is basically 
off-limits to younger children unless an adult is right there supervising 
them.  Our city inspector made us put in a vent hood- this does keep the heat 
down.  With a stove, I don't recommend getting a used one- some parts wear 
out and make them dangerous, such as the rear fire wall.  If you go with gas, 
get flame spreaders to use under pots to decrease burning.

5)  Microwave- we hardly ever use it.  Someone donated a small one and it 
works just fine.  

6) I'll echo what Liz said- lots of well-marked drawers and shelves.  And a 
pantry.  We didn't design a pantry (due to lack of square footage, not 
because we didn't want one) but have a space nearby the kitchen that has 
become the de facto pantry area.  Doesn't have to be big.  We also have large 
containers on wheels to hold big bags of flour and rice that stay under a 
counter in the kitchen.

7) Sinks- We have a large commercial stainless sink with three deep sinks.  
We only really need two but the third is a good holding and/or soaking spot 
for large pots.  One of the better deals in used equipment we bought, along 
with the rest of the stainless counters.  Don't worry if the ones you get are 
a little too big; the builder cut ours to fit when they were installed.

8)  One thing not mentioned is a spray sink.  We put one in and use it all 
the time, but I don't know if it's really necessary.  It does keep food from 
building up in the dishwasher and in the sink traps and rinses off the dishes 
very quickly.  And it's really cool.  

9) One thing we didn't get was a broiler.  We've gotten by without but would 
use one if we had it.

Can you tell that professionals designed our kitchen? Not professional 
kitchen designers, but we had three experienced restaurant cooks (one of whom 
had their own catering business) and one avid cook on our kitchen design 
subcommittee.  We maximized our very limited space by setting up good flow 
patterns, separating prep, cooking and clean-up flows to minimize bumping 
butts when the action gets heavy, and getting in as much counter space as 
possible.  Caterers who use our kitchen for private functions have all 
remarked how much they like it (a proud tear moistens my eye every time I 
hear that; yes, I was on that subcommittee- one of the former cooks but not 
the caterer).  As I've said in previous kitchen threads, use whatever 
expertise you have (or hire a professional designer if you don't have any 
members with experience) in setting up the kitchen- the pay-off is 
tremendous.  

Roger
Pathways
Northampton, MA

Who is cooking brunch this Sunday

Okay, this wasn't as brief as I thought.  
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