The kitchen and the pantry don't get much space in the 1913 brochure which originally advertised these apartments to the public. It just noted that "the kitchens have been made moderate in size in the belief that when well-arranged, a smaller kitchen is preferable", a view I can subscribe to , to a point. But it also stated that, "..kitchens and servants' rooms are comfortably remote [!] from the rest of the apartment," while,"all pantries are connected to the dining rooms and kitchens."
Yikes. In their effort to spare their tenants from the presumed indignities of consorting with their presumed maid, and the horrors of unsightly food prep, the planners arranged the place so that you've got to go through the pantry to put food on the table. Personally, i like my food hot, and , since I make it myself, well... awkward.
Much as I love the place, I the layout is a bit weird, and certainly somewhat confusing. With concentrated effort, I have finally managed to draw a floor plan, though it is not, as yet, really to scale. I felt a little less totally inadequate on this score after I saw the floor plan the bank's appraiser drew up. I could see, at a glance, that it was also patently incorrect. The room sequence is not entirely logical. Plus, my rooms interlock with the rooms of other, adjacent apartments- as I can see on the over-all plan of the entire 2nd floor. (I have a very teensy and blurry copy of this larger plan.)
The top, unfocused photo is part of the pantry- a better picture or two will follow. The kitchen photos have some of the prior inhabitant's stuff in them, and that stuff is now gone. The sunny door leads to the fire escape- which has room for a few plants and/or a chair.
As I am particularly interested in, and focused on cooking, perhaps it is a little odd that I am not tackling this unfabulous kitchen with my limited fix-up money. I just feel that if I did it straight away, I would make mistakes from lack of familiarity- I need to see how it works, and doesn't work, now, before making permanent plans. I am thinking about maybe painting those ugly cabinets in the interim, though. They are a poor quality, fake veneer sort of thing, but in pretty good repair. Maybe just a glossy white. And I am getting a new stove, as the old one is broken, and there's been an allowance made for it in the overall purchase price.
That's pretty exciting for me, I've never been able to pick out my own stove before. I made one trip to the Sears "Scratch and Dent" ( I'm always wanting to call it "Scratch and Sniff") shop to scout it out, and it looks like I may be able to get something special in the way of a stove for a good price there. I hope to take you with me, via the magic of cellphone photography, when I go back to buy.
Whoo- strangely, the pantry photo has vanished. Must look into this....
Ah, here it is. A bad and foggy photo. There is the one- (I think it's original) nice very solid cabinet, with a top cupboard and bottom drawers, and a bit of tile counter in between. On the same side there is modular shelving with multicolored painted wooden shelves, which goes down to a chair rail level. The other side is an empty wall, with a line of thickish molding which might work as a long spice shelf. We shall see.
