Summer Kitchen?

LisaInN.Idaho · #1 03/19/07, 10:19 AM

My husband is thinking about building me a summer kitchen like homes used to have in "olden times". They were used so the house wouldn't be heated up by the cookstove in the hot summer months.
I would use a Waterford Stanley cookstove that is currently being stored because we just lucked into finding it and I don't have a place inside the cabin for it until we add on and make the kitchen larger.
Does anyone still have a summer kitchen? All I can find online is "outdoor kitchens" which are mostly kitchen things built around a huge grill on a patio.
Mine would be a closed in shed type building.

michiganfarmer · #2 03/19/07, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LisaInN.Idaho

Mine would be a closed in shed type building.

with lots of vetilation, and good insulation between it, and the house,lol

LisaInN.Idaho · #3 03/19/07, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

with lots of vetilation, and good insulation between it, and the house,lol

It won't be attached to the main house. It would have to have lots of windows and maybe an opening/closing skylight to let heat out and light in.

A'sta at Hofstead · #4 03/19/07, 11:14 AM

I would really like one too, canning in a summer kitchen would be the bomb!

DocM · #5 03/19/07, 11:28 AM

We have an open gazebo type building down by the river, with a slab floor, and a propane grill/stove/oven - coleman makes them for patio use, small propane fridge salvaged from a travel trailer, and some salvaged cupboards from a neighbor's remodel. You could salvage the propane stove/oven from a trailer, but I wanted a grill too. The footprint is about 12 X 16, it has a picnic table in it too, for eating, 3' solid walls, and screens to the roofline. Has a sink and water supplied by hose (drains onto the ground in back). We do have to jug potable water down to it, but it's sure nice for summer cooking, it's next to the campfire pit and we have a raised pit bbq made from cinder blocks next to it. We built it from logs, homemade trusses (we have a portable mill), split shakes for siding and roof. The biggest expenses were pouring the slab and building the screens, but we did those ourself too, just bought the aluminum framing material, the bead runner, and a roll of screen. If I want electricity, I have to run an extension cord about 70', so lighting is propane and solar.

WanderingOak · #6 03/19/07, 11:37 AM

At a place I where was caretaking a few years ago, there was a picnic-shelter type arrangement for a summer kitchen. The 'floor' was natural flagstone that was dug up when clearing the garden. There was a stone wood-fired grill and an old LP coleman stove for cooking. The 'fridge was an old 1940's era Servel that had to be kept outside because of the CO risk. There were roll-up screens for walls, but I never used them. The 'dining room' section of the shelter was used for firewood storage in the fall/winter.

lyceum · #7 03/19/07, 01:24 PM

Our neighbor has one. It is a cute little playhouse like building with appliances, etc in it near the house. He makes noodles and Angel Feed Cakes in there.

Carisa

ladyrua · #8 03/19/07, 01:42 PM

This is a very timely thread for me, I was just mentioning to DH that when we have the homestead, I'd love a summer kitchen to can in!

But here's my question - I've always been told that from the moment you remove your jars from the boiling water and set them on the towel there should be *NO* drafts, as they may crack! How on earth does that work out in an open summer kitchen? Do you have drapes, shutters, or roll-downs that you put down just before pulling the jars?

Anyone?

Wolf mom · #9 03/19/07, 01:59 PM

Used to have one attached to the back of a garage built built by an old German couple who owned the property before me.
Absolutely nothing fancy. It had a stove with oven & freezer in it. It was a regular room with an outside door, a door to the garage and one window over the sink (cold water only.) Worked well for cooling.
It was great for cleaning vegies pulled straight from the garden. Water ran to a couple fruit trees.
I think you'll find older 'summer kitchens' were more like rooms than patio attachments.
Good idea!

Freeholder · #10 03/19/07, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladyrua

This is a very timely thread for me, I was just mentioning to DH that when we have the homestead, I'd love a summer kitchen to can in!

But here's my question - I've always been told that from the moment you remove your jars from the boiling water and set them on the towel there should be *NO* drafts, as they may crack! How on earth does that work out in an open summer kitchen? Do you have drapes, shutters, or roll-downs that you put down just before pulling the jars?

Anyone?

Drafts might be a problem during cold weather (although we've done a lot of meat canning in fall and winter and never had a problem), but I think the danger has been slightly exaggerated. Especially in summer, when the weather is warm, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. We can with all the doors and windows wide open, since we don't have a summer kitchen (wish we did!), and have never had a jar crack for that reason. Once in a great while we do have a jar break in the canner, but that hasn't got anything to do with drafts, it usually just means there was a weakness in the jar.

Kathleen

diane · #11 03/19/07, 02:17 PM

Goodness, I have canned for 50 years and never had a jar break because of a draft and when it is really hot I have a fan going in the kitchen.

Lisa, most of my neighbors have summer kitchens but they are pretty much just porches attached to the house. I have an old wood cookstove outside that was unsafe to be in a house anymore that I am going to build a roof over so I can use it for maple syrup making and canning. Nothing fancy.....just a shack room with a tin roof.

PineRidge · #12 03/19/07, 02:22 PM

Yeah, I third what Diane and Bluejuniperfarm said. If my dh insists on having the AC on then I throw a towel over my hot canning jars, but I never have a problem with the windows open and ceiling fans on.

I would love a canning kitchen too. But I want mine to look like a little cottage and it has to have a comfy chair for reading...kinda like a mini retreat for "Mom"

ladyrua · #13 03/19/07, 02:22 PM

LOL and here I was all last summer shutting myself up in my kitchen like there was a hurricane outside!! Augh!!!! Almost gave myself heat stroke that way!

That's what I get for learning from a book and not a person! *grins*

BeckyW · #14 03/19/07, 02:38 PM

Friends of ours have an outdoor canning kitchen. It is in the high desert mountains of CA - daytime temps in the upper 90's are common but evenings/nights do cool down. By the time apple season comes, daytime highs are usually only about 84 degrees.

Theirs has a cement floor that they put padded mats on to save the legs. It is a screen house but has fans for circulation. The screens roll up and tie - weighted on the ground by metal pipes (I think it's salvaged chain link posts) so that you can take a power hose and clean the floors. It has commercial style open "cabinets" that are stainless steel tops and shelves for pot/pan storage. The range is 8 propane burners so that assembly line canning can take place (they have a commercial apple orchard.) It has a laundry tub type sink with running water and work-bench type storage for finished jars. Faucet with hose is outside on the edge of the screen kitchen. It has a roof, of course, and is positioned so that it is always in the shade of large trees except early am.

They host apple parties - usually about 16 women at a time where they pick and can their apples, make apple butter and apple cider over a 2-3 day period then everyone loads up their cars and drives back to Los Angeles.

It is not attached to the house but near the apple shed where the chest freezers, refrigerators and the cider press is set up. Just far enough from the canning kitchen is a where the drum BBQ is set up. We've done parties for 60 without even blinking an eye.

It isn't a true summer kitchen but it's pretty slick! I especially like the roll-up-the-walls-and-hose-off-the-floor feature!
BW

YuccaFlatsRanch · #15 03/19/07, 02:45 PM

I will make an outdoor kitchen as soon as I can find one of the old cardboard barrels to cut in half and use for a form for my Horno. Anyone know where to get one?? I figure I can do at least half of my weeks cooking in one foring of the adobe oven.

Ramblin Wreck · #16 03/19/07, 02:55 PM

In one wing of the planned barn, I want to build a garden center/Summer kitchen combination. It will be situated on the north side of the structure to avoid heat build up from the Sun and have high ceilings and some type of exhaust to remove the heat from a wood cook stove. Any heat I can keep out of the main house in the Summer means less energy to cool it down!

Good luck with yours and send pics of your progress when you can.

**GREENCOUNTYPETE** · #17 03/19/07, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladyrua

This is a very timely thread for me, I was just mentioning to DH that when we have the homestead, I'd love a summer kitchen to can in!

But here's my question - I've always been told that from the moment you remove your jars from the boiling water and set them on the towel there should be *NO* drafts, as they may crack! How on earth does that work out in an open summer kitchen? Do you have drapes, shutters, or roll-downs that you put down just before pulling the jars?

Anyone?

i keep the celing fan going while i can and have never had a jar break
also often have a fan in the window

you have to ask yourself is a 80 degree draft realy a draft i say no

when ever i am canning it tends to be 75 or more that is canning vegitables out of the garden meat is a different story but by then i want the heat in the house

i had been thinking of a kitchen seprate from the house for some time now i am thinking isolated by tight fitting doors but atached to the house and heated for the winter

the reason you see so little of this these days is that people barely use their kitchens just look at what they eat , now i know that yall are the exception to this but just ask when the last time somone made bread was and not in machine with a mix

when we talk to people about cooking they usualy say you should start a restaraunt or that sounds like your cooking for a restaraunt.so if my idea of a dream kitchen sounds like it belongs in a restaraunt that will be of no surprise

i was thinking a comecial dish washer so is she ,when my wife gets in the kitchen no one can make dishes faster 2 ranges a large skullery sink a big table and a eye hook in the cieling (for cutting meat) an easy to clean floor and a floor drain and a pantry close 2 refrigerators and a big freezer
a huge exhaust fan/ fans

BTO · #18 03/19/07, 03:45 PM

I was wondering if you wanted to combine the idea of a summer kitchen and a small comercial kitchen that could be used to process farm goods for sale, what would your ideal "kitchen" look like? I have been told all things should be duel purpose.

halfpint · #19 03/19/07, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladyrua

This is a very timely thread for me, I was just mentioning to DH that when we have the homestead, I'd love a summer kitchen to can in!

But here's my question - I've always been told that from the moment you remove your jars from the boiling water and set them on the towel there should be *NO* drafts, as they may crack! How on earth does that work out in an open summer kitchen? Do you have drapes, shutters, or roll-downs that you put down just before pulling the jars?

Anyone?

I always can out on my covered porch on the coleman stove, or out on the deck using the side burner of my grill. Both are open to the wind (if any exists). I've never had a jar crack, so I think this might be overstated. But I've never canned on a windy day.
Dawn

RoseGarden · #20 03/19/07, 04:13 PM

I am going to build one too, but am looking at historic models of summer kitchens, to at least get an idea of what they looked like on the exterior, and what features were good and not so good, and what would be more trouble than it would be worth adding these days. I am going for a periodically correct small house and would like the summer kitchen to match.