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 Adjoining the dining room, and also accessible from the south corridor, is a kitchen noisy with clanging brass and pealing copper… sharp-tongued cutlery and singing kettles… chattering fowl and prattling double-boilers…
A long counter and cutting block occupies the better part of the floor, stretching nearly from wall to wall and allowing only a slender passage around which to bypass on either side. Hanging above the work boards are racks of pots and pans, cast iron skillets and skewers and cleavers…
At the south wall dwells a large hearth, simple in design and practical in purpose, and at either side are two more rows of counters, one with gas burners and another with a clear cutting surface.
Rather than being located outside, adjacent to the house, as many stately kitchens once were, this chamber is designed to serve the needs of a huge household, and thus placed nearby. At the west end rests a set of banded double doors that lead, seemingly, to the pantry, and beside that is a narrow staircase that bends around to the south as it rises towards the ceiling and ends abruptly at another coarse door overhead.
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