Greenbelt Townhouse

The kitchen closet was very small and did not contain too many items. The closet was connected to the kitchen cabinets and served its purpose very well. The closet had one shelf at the top and an empty space below. The closet has an approximate volume of 12 cubic feet. The following items were found in the closet.

The apron hung on the closet door and was worn by the mother whenever she was doing kitchen and sometimes even housework (5). The ironing board was a very large but sturdy board. They sure do not make them like that anymore. This closet was used to keep household cleaning items rather than kitchen items. The mother was probably the only family member to use this closet. Nurun Nahar described gender roles in the Greenbelt kitchen environment. Nurun has some wonderful pictures representing the kitchens of Greenbelt in the 1930s and the kitchens of today. Nurun refers to the mother using the kitchen but I would think the daughters of the family may have helped in the kitchen also.

College Park House

My kitchen closet holds, in my opinion, a lot of crap. However, I can not throw any of it away because it belongs to other roommates. The closet has four shelves and a small amount of floor space. The closet has an approximate volume of 90 cubic feet. The following items are found in the closet.

Yes there actually is a toy in my kitchen closet, a toy fire truck. Additionally, we have six vases, two tea kettles, and two coffee makers sitting on the shelves taking up valuable space. Finally, one must expect alcohol in a college house; we just keep ours in the kitchen. Looking at this closet one would see too many duplicates and would probably think the owners never throw anything away. Additionally, considering all the alcohol bottles, we could be characterized as alcoholics. However, with a house of four girls, you are bound to have duplicate kitchen items and alcohol to make mixed drinks.

Comparison

I noticed in both of these closets there was no sign of food. I think, in both homes, the closet was intended to hold kitchen appliances or household products rather than food. The Greenbelt closet held household items while the College Park closet held kitchen appliances and other miscellaneous items. The Greenbelt kitchen has much more cabinet space than my kitchen, which is why I would like to use the closet to hold food. Both closets are probably used by the females of the house, in particular the mother in Greenbelt. My landlord told me that he never used the kitchen closet, only his wife did.

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Outside Storage Closets