My, oh-me, oh-my... What a day! I spent in total about three hours working on my kitchen. Most of it this morning - then I cut out at noon as I had some place to be - then I was back to work this evening to finish the job. Thus far, cleaning the kitchen has easily been the most physically demanding chore. I took a couple breaks to drink some water and, once, to lay down on my bed and close my eyes for a few minutes.
The basic layout of the routine is organized around the three major appliances. First, the refrigerator. Second, the range. Third, the sink. Which makes sense - as you use the sink so much in cleaning things - from the crisper bins and racks in the refrigerator to the drip trays on the range. By the time you're finished cleaning everything else, the sink gets a final scrub and polish and you're finished. I'm actually not quite finished. My garbage can is airing dry outdoors on my landing. I'll bring it in in a few hours and throw a clean bag inside.
What was interesting was how few cleansers I needed in a room that gets as dirty as the kitchen. Per the manual, I used baking soda dissolved in cool water to clean out the inside of the refrigerator. Scouring powder to clean the drip trays. And lots of hot water, scalding water, and soapsuds. The only tools I needed: a sponge, a few clean dish towels (I put these in the wash as they got soiled), and a nylon scrubby thing. Some steel wool would have done a better job on the drip trays, though, so I picked up a box of those at the grocery store for next week. You really can do an amazing job with just a very few simple tools and cleansers. The disinfectant habit is so ingrained in me that it was tough not to use some of the stronger cleansers I had on hand. For a finishing touch, I guess. We've been so bombarded with ads promoting antibacterial cleansers and disinfectant wipes that it's tough to figure out whether these things are truly important in housekeeping or not. The only time the manual recommends using a disinfectant is occasionally in cleaning the garbage can.
Although I didn't even notice when I typed up the list of chores for the kitchen, there are several major items missing! The floor, for one. Which is strange, as the manual mentions floor care for every other room in the house. They do mention in a chapter on "Floors" that the "kitchen floors may need to be damp-mopped every day" and "may require washing once a week or oftener." They just leave this item out of the daily and weekly routine entirely. The authors of the manual never mention cleaning up smaller appliances. And they neglect entirely any care needed to a breakfast nook or dining alcove in the kitchen. These kinds of things are certainly covered in other chapters, it's just odd that they are aren't mentioned specifically in daily or weekly chores for the kitchen. The authors are usually so detailed!
I'm so tired I can't even think in a straight line, so I'll leave you with my 1945 dinner menu for tomorrow evening and call it a night:
Whipped Potatoes
Buttered Beets
Tossed Greens Salad
Chocolate Pudding
5 comments:
Three hours! I expect mine would need a few more than that, if I did everything on the list. My hat is off to you! It must just smell like a spring day, though, in your kitchen, and if you go the list again next week, it will go so much faster. I will try that list tomorrow in my kitchen, but I will probably collapse halfway through!
Andrea
I'm exhausted just reading that. You are doing such a detailed job! You kitchen will sparkle!
Oh, I adore beets! They are the cats pajamas. Maybe I should make some tonight. I too, am exhuasted though I have had to neglect my kitchen this weeken as I have been cleaning and moving things on a project that vintage friend and I are doing. Hats off to you and your clean kitchen, keep up the good work! Our Homemaking powers are growing!
Eat a good breakfast, Andrea! You'll need the fuel. I completely understand now why the lunch menus in my 1945 cookbook are so large. They needed the calories, plain and simple.
I knew the first time would take the longest, so I will try to be heartened by that next time 'round.
Bonjour Madame, I don't know about the rest of the kitchen, but the stovetop does sparkle. It's odd to see. In my kitchen! I can actually see my reflection in it. And everytime I walk by, I keep checking it. Yep, still sparkling.
50s gal, I can't wait to find out what kind of project you're working on! I do love beets as long as they're not they're Harvard Beets - you know the kind coated with all the sticky, sweet sauce. I was surprised to find that I couldn't get them at all at one grocery store. At another, they only sold organic beets (I guess only the super healthy folks eat beets?) and I had to pay $2.49 per beet!
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