Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Your Kitchen: what works/what not so much

[R Philip Dowds (rphilipdowds]

At Cornerstone, severe limitations on project time and money meant our original 
common kitchen was a bit of a rudimentary rush job, and not very satisfactory.  
About fifteen years later, we chose to rebuild the whole thing.

There are a jillion ways to equip and lay out a kitchen, but for me, the most 
critical choice to make is this:
        ??? Do you think a common kitchen is a noisy and dangerous workshop 
(like the commercial kitchen of a restaurant) … and therefore best isolated 
from the dining / multipurpose area?  Put it in its own room, complete with 
walls, doors and a drop-down fire curtain?  Or …
        ??? Do you think a common kitchen is a major social center (like a 
family or household kitchen), and therefore best done as open plan, well 
integrated with the dining / multi-purpose area?

At Cornerstone, we picked the latter.  But somehow, we’ve arrived at a 
traditional schedule of once-a-week Sunday evening meals that sometimes 
conflict with occasional Sunday afternoon plenaries, visiting speakers, etc.  
On such occasions, the cooks sometimes or often choose to prep the dinners in 
their own homes, and cart the food over.

So:  My advice is, Make a kitchen that serves your culture.

———————————
Thanks,
Philip Dowds
Cornerstone Cohousing
Cambridge, MA

> On Mar 8, 2025, at 8:48 AM, Ruth J Hirsch <heidinys [at] earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> Dear Co-Cohousers,
> 
> Here at Cantines Island,  our Family Friendly Cohousing Community, in 
> residence since 1997,
> it is time to renovate our CommonHouse kitchen.  
> 
> We’d love to hear from you about your kitchen:
> the good the bad……
> 
> What did you do that worked out very well??
> 
> What do you wish you had done differently??
> 
> Very much looking forward to your input,
> 
> Ruth Hirsch
> Cantines Island Saugerties, NY
> You’re invited to join us for potlucks weekly
> 
> 
> “In an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow. 
> And in an age of distraction, nothing is so luxurious as paying attention. 
> And in an age of constant movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still.”
> 
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