🍽️ Kitchen

A kitchen is the room or corner of a home where food is prepared and stored. For milk, it is the end of the journey: here it stands in the fridge and turns into porridge, pancakes, sauces or cocoa. FDA advises keeping the fridge no warmer than 4 °C and the freezer at about −18 °C.

The main kitchen rule is cold and time. According to FDA, perishables, including milk and leftovers, should go into the fridge within 2 hours of buying or preparing them, or within an hour above 32 °C. The warmest spot in the fridge is the door, so FDA advises keeping eggs, for example, on a shelf instead.

WHO sums up kitchen safety in five keys: keep clean, separate raw and prepared food, heat food thoroughly, keep it at safe temperatures, and use safe water and raw materials. The UK FSA recommends a fridge at 0–5 °C, dividing hot dishes into small portions, refrigerating them within 1–2 hours, and eating leftovers within two days or freezing them. In a power cut, a closed fridge stays cold for about four hours (FDA).

The fitted kitchen has a history. In 1926–1927 architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky designed a compact kitchen for Frankfurt, about 3.4 by 1.9 metres, installed in some 10,000 flats. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, it drew on scientific management and on a 1913 book on efficient housekeeping by the American Christine Frederick.

Why it matters to you. Milk left on the table all day is a risk: FDA advises not keeping perishable foods warm for more than 2 hours. Put a thermometer in your fridge and check that it really is no warmer than 4 °C. And heat milk on the hob over medium heat, stirring, so it does not scorch or boil over.