Sharing the Kitchen

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

miniman

Executive Chef
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Messages
4,687
Location
Basingstoke, England
We recently had a thread about how you liked having people in the kitchen when you cook.

I was wondering yesterday about he next step - how about the person you share the kitchen with. I sometimes get mildly aggravated (thats all I'm admitting to) when my DW uses the kitchen and puts things to suit herself - sometimes not where I have them and use them a lot. I am the main user of the kitchen feel that I want things where they are convinient to me, rather where someone else thinks they should be.

A corollary is when the boys are on clean up - and they have some interesting ideas for where things go!!

Of course I'm perfect and never do anything wrong or wind up anyone else:angel::whistling
 
Sounds like she's the kind of person that would turn the toilet paper around to suit her, too, miniman :mad:
:LOL::ROFLMAO::LOL:
 
Well, I can tell you, my husband refuses to put clean dishes up from fear!! lol
He knows how crazy I get when I can't find something that my kids had put up. Not that they are not in the house any longer, he knows not to touch my stuff, hehehe
 
The kitchen is mine and I am responsible for clean up as well. She does use it from time to time and cleans up after herself.

As part of our remodeling this summer, SO relined the cabinet shelves. In doing so, she decided to rearrange things and move some stuff out all together. We 'discussed' that at length. She also is creative in where she puts stuff when she empties the DW.

I've given up trying to get her to load it properly. I just rearrange stuff before I run it.
 
There are some people I can cook with, where it's almost like a ballet in the kitchen. My mother and I are in synch. Same with my stepmother and I. We sense where the other person is, and move around efficiently and seamlessly.

However, I cannot work side-by-side with either my brother (a very good cook) and my aunt (a terrible cook). They are ALWAYS where I need to be, and we are always tripping over each other.

If anyone is just standing there and not doing anything but following me around and talking to me while I am cooking, I can't stand that.

Lee
 
The dishwasher could be a thread all by itself. I have never met a female that does not rearrange it to suit them. Long as the dishes come out clean "no foul".

I was not into cooking when the kitchen was / built stocked. Since I now do most all of the cooking I have arranged the stores to suit my needs and can pretty much grab what I want easily. It does get rearranged and I don't much like it.

AC
 
I'm considering drawing a map for James so that he can find the kitchen. He has managed to find the refrigerator now and then, and on occasion has found the cupboard next to the refrigerator and the drawer with the can opener (which, not to change the subject, is going into the trash now that we have a new electric one!) and flatware. Since he likes to eat ravioli, Spaghettios, etc. cold out of the can, he hasn't had to venture farther in to find plates, bowls, etc. :LOL::ROFLMAO::LOL:

:)Barbara
 
I think if you make a meal everyone like they should do the dishes. I will do the dishes when the DW cooks, or even when the daughter cooks. I love it when mom comes to town, she takes over the kitchen and I will clean every pot and pan in the house because she will make a meals that will use every pan in anyone's house. :LOL:
 
First, DW and me put things in the same spot each and every time. DW has never learned to load the dish washer properly, so I gave up on that decades ago. Me, I can't stand the dishwasher, and wash everything by hand...that way I KNOW everything is washed, and is back in its place when the cooking and cleanup is finished. I HATE to need something and find out it's in the dishwasher that hasn't been run because it wasn't full enough, and then have to use a chisel to get the hardened food remnants off of the item.

I can work in the kitchen with DW, but find it easier to work with my twin brother in the kitchen. We both share our passion for cooking good meals, and instinctively move AROUND each other, as opposed to INTO each other (DW's way of getting close to me. :LOL:) Really, I cook because I enjoy doing it, but DW cooks because she HAS to . I understand that she fed 5 of us for a lot of years, so I don't mind when she asks me to make something.

So, that's DW and my twin...all others please stay on the non-work side of the island and enjoy your coctail.
 
The dishwasher could be a thread all by itself. I have never met a female that does not rearrange it to suit them. Long as the dishes come out clean "no foul".

I was not into cooking when the kitchen was / built stocked. Since I now do most all of the cooking I have arranged the stores to suit my needs and can pretty much grab what I want easily. It does get rearranged and I don't much like it.

AC

Whoa..............you may not have run into an engineer lately..........when we first moved into a home with a dishwasher about 25 years ago I arranged it and being fairly anal thought that I had done a great job.......oh, no.......Mr. Engineer hubby comes behind me and proceeds to instruct me on how I could have arranged it more efficiently (I've come to hate that word.....ha) and how the knives should be tangential to the spoons and the plates in direct parallel coordinates with the dishes on the top drawer, etc., ad nauseum........fine, I informed him since you're the expert it's your job from now on........:ROFLMAO: didn't bother him at all until he had to do foreign travel and then we had children and it became the job of the inexpert, inefficient, hands of mine since he no longer had the time.......hahahaha....thank goodness for foreign travel...........
 
I am sure there are exceptions and my experiences are not everyone's. However, all of the females that I have been co-kitchening with have always acted as your husband does with you. By the way, I take the same tact that you do, with a little JoeV thrown in. I will run a not full dishwasher to insure that I have everything clean for when I want to cook. I know it is inefficient. I like the job the dishwasher does, it just seems to rinse cleaner than hand washing, at least for me.

AC
 
Well since dh thinks the kitchen is a foreign country he doesn't try to do anything in there but eat! lol I've taught ds and dd (when she's home) how to load the dishwasher for maximum efficiency. I'm somewhat anal about how the silverware and dishes go in. I do tend to change things around from time to time when they load it.
As far as the kitchen, my brothers were here for the holiday and thank goodness they're not familiar with my kitchen.........so they didn't come into the kitchen except to bug me. lol They all think they're the greatest cooks and know how to do things so much better.

Barb
 
There are some people I can cook with, where it's almost like a ballet in the kitchen. Lee

As in so many areas of our life together, Buck and I were partners. The kitchen was no exception and, as Lee says, we almost did a ballet when working together there. And, sometimes, we even danced to songs on the radio when the spirit moved us.

I did most of the cooking and Buck was my sous chef. He did a lot of the chopping and measuring without any complaint. We had a great time in the kitchen and cooked as a pair for over 14 years after we moved here...sans children.

When the children were at home, we both slung hash as fast as we could to feed the "masses." It was fun.
 
The dishwasher could be a thread all by itself. I have never met a female that does not rearrange it to suit them. Long as the dishes come out clean "no foul".

AC

That's hilarious that you point that out! I always rearrange the dishwasher insides, it's just one of those things that is supposed to be certain way (MY way;)).

Expat & pdswife- you should see this great website: www.cookingforengineers.com
See at the bottom of every recipe there's a procedural chart. I love it

As far as sharing the kitchen, I only like having someone I can teach or boss around. SO and I bump around like pinballs when we're together in the kitchen.
 
There are some people I can cook with, where it's almost like a ballet in the kitchen.

dw and i are like a ballet in the kitchen. unfortunately, it's always the nutcracker. :huh:

but seriously, we are dangerous around each other in the kitchen. we both tend to move fast to our blind sides, often carrying hot or sharp things.

however one of the few good parts of living throughout a 2 family house is that we have 2 kitchens: dw's is upstairs, mine is on the first floor. we'll be house shopping in the spring, so one of the first criteria that we will be looking for is a large kitchen. and suits of armor.
 
I do not like to share my kitchen... For years I had a roomate (a major foodie and a very good cook) we basically treated it like a time share we almost never cooked at the same time.... our main problem is that she is super organized and has a defined place for everything... i sort of put things where they fit.... this did not make her happy... The main rule we always followed was cleaning up... there is nothing worse than someone else dirty dishes in the sink.

I find it difficult to even make a cup of coffee in my mothers kitchen and can never find anything and she will immediately take over if you are trying to make something... I grew up in that house and still using the ktchen is soft of unspoken off limits... if she is home she just steps in and if she is not certainly she will discover some mess you made no matter how hard you clean up... and nobody can ever put anything back in the right spot. I dont even like emptying the dishwasher because mom will just come back and rearrange eveything I put away... and forget about putting things IN the dishwasher there are all sorts of unknown rules. It is her domain... my stepfather is allowed to use it once a year on xmas morning to make breakfast.. thats about it otherwise his only responsibility there is to clean the floor nightly. My brother who still lives at home will cook for himself at his GF's parents house but not dare use the kitchen at home.... Fourtunatley mom is a great cook and pretty much always willing to make you something to eat so there really is no incentive to try to cook anything anyway.

My own kitchen, in all honesty, is a disaster. But its my disaster.
 
I like when my wife does the dishes and puts them away the way she wants it to. Then I for sure always know who to ask, if I can't find something. As long as she doesn't do any cooking in My kitchen she can be there as much as she wants. i like to talk to her when I cook.
 
My son and I used to be the perfect pair in the kitchen but this year at Thanksgiving I discovered his wife of at least 10 years and he are now perfect partners...ah well all good things must come to an end and he spends much more time in the kitchen with her than with me (they live some distance away from us)

However, DH and I have finally melded into a kitchen team and we have a wonderful time when we're working in there together but I'm basically a lone cook.
 
Back
Top Bottom