Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing kitchen requirements

[PattyMara Gourley (pattymara]

Thought I would chime in from Tierra Nueva, central CA coast.

-On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 00:55:05 EDT Berrins [at] aol.com writes:
> 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.

At Tierra Nueva, we have 27 households, 2 participating neighbors.  About
75 potential diners, not including guests.  Meals number from 25 - 60.

> 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.

We have a commercial Hobart, love it, but would love it better if we had
the room for a counter level, slide through model that Rob described. 
Most of us can lift the trays, and those that can't, ask for help.

> 2) Refrigerator- we went with a largish two door commercial. 

We chose a refridgerator that has no freezer at all.  It is commonly used
in church halls, so we were told by our appliance dealer.  The plus
factors of this kind of fridge are:  wide shelves, moveable, to store big
pans, large stainless salad bowls.  It stores leftovers AND the prep food
for the next meal, just fine.  Plus lots of condiments on the door.  It
is highly energy efficient, mostly because of the lack of freezer.  Minus
factor:  it needs to be defrosted every few months and sometimes it
leaks.  We have learned to keep up with cleaning out the drain piping to
avoid the leaking.
 
> 3) Freezers- don't have one.  

We have a chest freezer out on our service porch, used for common meals
and individual needs.  We started out with a donated one, and just
recently replaced it with a new one for energy efficiency.  It is almost
always full.  I am currently the kitchen manager and know what's in there
intimately!  Currently we have 8 large filets of smoked salmon, from one
of our member's boyfriend who is a fisherman in Alaska, and offerred the
salmon at discount rates to us.  Also, 4 big cookie dough cannisters
waiting to be dispersed to members as a fundraiser for a local preschool
coop that we have our children in.  Also, frozen stock from past dinners
which are used up when we have a soup dinner.  Ice Cream, blue ice for
ice chests when we camp, nuts, seeds, coop stuff in bulk, good deals on
meat when they come up on sale and are purchased for future meals, and
the most colorful occupants of our freezer:  a bobcat and an owl (from
our member biologist).

> 4) Stoves- we went with a commerical (Vulcan) >

We went with a custom designed Wolf, complete with the red knobs.  6
burners, griddle, two ovens.  One is convection, one is standard. 
Personally I love the convection and wish we had another.  When cooking
large pans of enchiladas (as we did last night) the comparison of the two
is hands down in favor of the convection.  Shorter time, lower temp,
overall browning, and fabulous for baking.  We have a hood/fan, required
by our county regs.  Love the wolf.  
 
> 5)  Microwave- we hardly ever use it.  Someone donated a small one 
>and it works just fine.  

Ditto.  We put ours in the laundry room next to the kitchen, where it is
used occasionally.
 
6) I'll echo what Liz said- lots of well-marked drawers and shelves. And
a 
> pantry.  

All our shelves above are open shelving.  All our drawers below are
marked.  Our butcher block island has open shelves below for bowls,
strainers, measuring cups.  Half of the island is lowered, with open
space underneath for wheelchair accessability.  One of the sinks is there
too.
Pantry.  Fabulous space, well used for food, paper/plastic/foil/bags,
tupperware, bulk rices/beans/flour/oils/pasta, vases, candles and last
but not least, our hub for our network/internet connection.  The door has
a hanging wire shelf on the inside that houses all of our large
containers of spices, alphabetically arranged, no less.

> 7) Sinks- >
A large stainless unit, two deep sinks and drainer board for loading
dishwasher trays.  Fantastic spray unit above for easy rinsing, fun water
play.
garbage disposers in both sinks, put in after movein, due to need.  We
thought we could avoid it, but the build up is bothersome.

> 9) One thing we didn't get was a broiler.  

We don't have one either.

> Can you tell that professionals designed our kitchen? 

We got help from a home ec prof at a local college...and turns out she
later moved in to the home bordering our land, and is one of the
associate members.  We talked lots about working stations, movement
patterns, butt to butt ratios etc.   It is so much fun working in our
kitchen.  And yes, caterers and prof. chefs enjoy it too.  Recently we
had an "Iron Chef" night with two professional chefs cooking seafood side
by side while we all gathered around and tasted all the results as they
werecompleted.   One was the salmon fisherman, one was a member who used
to cook in SF, and is now a middle school math teacher, go figure.

Couple of things Roger didn't mention:

Pot filler water spigot by the stove, to fill up pots easily for pasta,
rice, bean cooking.  

Carts:  we have a stainless steel heavy duty two shelf cart ($250, and
worth the investment) to store our plates and bowls.  It rolls out when
we serve dinner, buffet style.  People take a plate and progress through
the kitchen, around the island where the food is set out, and out into
the dining room.   We recently got two more lighter weight red metal
carts from Harbor Freight....30 bucks each...and we store dishwasher
trays, and sometimes use them for bussing dishes at larger meals, or
table setting.   All the carts are stored below one of our counters (used
for espresso machine, coffee pots and desserts) which is higher than the
others to allow for the cart storage.

Plexi sign holders:  for labeling the foods being served. we have the 8 x
10 plexi stand alone thingabobs that you slide the paper into.  Last
night we made signs for all of our offerings:  Hubbard Squash Enchiladas,
Brazilian Black Beans with Oranges,  Coconut Lime Rice, Chopped Salad.

DECOR:  we all participated in creating 6 x 6 inch tiles, hand painted
with wild designs.  All ages participated.  Even the babies have
handprints and footprints on the tiles.  I helped facilitate the making,
and firing and installation (I'm a potter).  We made over one hundred
tiles...and installed them with plain tiles in between to offer some rest
from the riotous colors.  It is a delightful addition to the decor.

Flooring:  we went with tile, as suggested by our architect, and find it
to be a major drag.  Too difficult to keep clean...the grout gets grungy
immediately.  I would strongly recommend a smooth commercial grade
linoleum or somesuch that can be mopped and sanitized easily.  

Emergency supplies:  we have a well supplied stock of food stored under
our stairwell adjacent to the kitchen.  Started it for Y2K and keep it
for whatever might happen.   Individual households have their own too. 
We have our own well, and a large tank for water storage.  

Linen storage:  In the dining room we have a narrow closet with shelves
inside floor to top to hold tablecloths and napkins.  I'm going to
install a wire door rack for the salt and peppers one of these days.

Enough already.

Patty Mara Gourley
Tierra Nueva, central CA coast
Where we are planning our All Organic Potluck Feast in May to introduce
the new organic farmer who will be taking over our neighborhood
strawberry field this summer, and transitioning it to an organic
community supported farm!  A major victory for Neighbors At Risk, a
coalition of several neighborhoods surrounding the field.  We are
inviting them all to join us at the feast and are all breathing major
sighs of relief and jubilation.  More about this in another post.  






 

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