Kosher Kitchens

For those who observe kashrut, Jewish dietary laws, a kosher kitchen is designed to separate items used for preparation and serving of meat and dairy meals. Ideally, cookware, utensils, bowls, and dishes would be stored in separate drawers and cabinets. In order to receive the best design, look for help and advice from a Kitchen Designer who specializes in Kosher kitchens.

If space and money were not an issue, you might look at a symmetrically designed kitchen with two separate but equal halves for storage and preparation. Because space and money usually are a concern, you will want to create the most functional space that provides the elements to follow your personal level of dietary observance. Organization and storage follow personal preference. You may prefer to locate your dairy items (as a group) separately from your meat items or mix and match by work centers, i.e. meat utensils on one side of the cooktop and dairy on the other. The mix and match option usually provides a more efficient use of your time--which is also very desirable.

Depending upon your level of observance, you may wish to have two separate sinks, two disposals, two dishwashers, and two ovens. Stainless steel can be kashered (to make kosher) to allow for separate use of dairy and meat items. Therefore, you could use a single stainless steel sink and dishwasher. However, since this option would require the item to be kashered in between crossover usage you might want to consider your time and effort vs. the cost and space requirements of the second item.

Depending upon your space requirements and personal preferences, you might opt for a double bowl sink or a triple bowl sink with a food disposal in the third sink. In each case, one sink is for dairy and one for meat. In a kitchen with limited space, one might consider the "Dishdrawer" dishwasher from Fisher & Paykel with one drawer for each classification (see Dishwashers in our Appliance Section). Since you will be storing two sets of dinnerware, etc, you might also look at cabinets (several or all) that run to the ceiling. This would allow you to store seldom-used items (i.e. holiday items) at the top and leave yourself more accessible cabinet space for day to day usage.