June Cleaver Had It Right

[ladysprite]

I am not a large person.

Aside from being slight of build, I am about 5'3" tall if I stand up straight and stretch. While this isn't abnormally small, it is below average for where and when I live. The world, in general, is not sized to be appropriate for me. In particular, the counters in my kitchen are about 2-3 inches higher than is convenient. I can work with them in general; it's not a huge problem for things like chopping vegetables, cooking, or simple baking projects. But when I'm working with, say, huge amounts of stiff, awkward dough that needs to be rolled out with a lot of effort or pressed and munged around extensively, it's a major pain.

All of this explains why I am now baking about 150 shortbread cookies while wearing high heels. All those media housewives from the 1950's weren't oppressed, they were just freaking short. Admittedly, I'm wearing jeans and a flannel top instead of a dress and pearls, and I've got a crochet hook stuck in my hair to keep it out of my face and the food, but the scene was still enough to amuse the heck out of my husband....

Comments

[citabria]

I'm reluctant to say this and perhaps forestall similar visions in the future, but ... you *could* buy a pair of Danskos.

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

Darling citabria, this is the problem with your new profession: it's screwed up your priorities. ;-)

Seriously, my maternal grandmother, who I remember was shorter than my mother (5'1"), had a wooden crate of some kind in her kitchen. Probably obtained from the grocery that she had. My mother would use stepstools or give up and just use the kitchen table. I definitely remember her rolling out pizza dough on the kitchen table.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

I have a stepstool for getting into the cabinets - but it's too tall for working on the kitchen counters. :(

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Similarly, all those women in '70s photos wearing the go-go boots with the four-inch-thick platform soles? Bakers, every single one of them.

(The crochet hook is a nice touch. I've seen similar things done to very fetching effect with pencils. Nothing says "hot 'n scholarly" like a slightly disheveled impromptu chignon secured with a #2/HB Dixon Ticonderoga.)

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

I've found that, in spite of their occasional tendency to write on my head, PaperMate pens tend to work better than pencils, unless the latter have been recently sharpened. :)

(The crochet hook was just closer to hand today....)

[grum]

I've been known to stand on phone books. And I'm not particularly short, just that I really like to be able to bear down on the dough I'm kneading.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I too am 5'3", and I have nerve damage of a kind that prevents me ever from wearing even very short heels. I firmly believe kitchen counters are designed by SADISTS. Newsflash, house designers! Women tend to be shorter than average!

[medeaschild.livejournal.com]

I'm 6'0" and the primary cook of my house is 6'5"... we are drooling over the thought of being able to rip out "normal" height counters and raise them by several inches.

[flaviarassen.livejournal.com]

Thank you for speaking up for our side! I'm only 5' 10" (but was supposed to be 6 feet - scoliosis. I have the legs of a six-footer, tho' & damned if I haven't hit my head on every single bus or plane I've ever been stuck in! But I digress!). I mostly want to replace the bathroom counter - and do that medicine cabinet, too, but that will be next to impossible - it's a built-in antique & I am reluctant to mess w/it. My parents had a built-in vanity in our first house - built by my mother's father, & deliberately raised ABOVE spec. Guarantee you it was one of the 2nd things those who bought our house threw out. Sigh.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

I think that qualifies as "thinking outside of the box".

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

..... dammit, why didn't I ever think of that? You're brilliant. (:

[matildalucet.livejournal.com]

I'm 5'2". If I have to knead or roll dough or chop authoritatively, I use the old kitchen table. The counters are for taller people or to line up ingredients to go into a pan on the stove, whose height bothers me less for some reason. I used to put my bread trough on the floor and either sit or kneel on the floor to make bread, but I'm getting older and doing that less. :-)

I'm glad heels worked for you. Much more mobile than standing on a box, which I've also done in my kitchen time.

[robertbollerman.livejournal.com]

My wife makes similar complaints, that the counters are just a bit high. However, since I (6'2" vs. her 5'7") do a majority of the cooking and baking, I believe that the counters are the right height. Like yours, just the right height.

Although, I'm sure that strapping tall man in your house would have certainly helped you out had you given him, "The Eyes"

Hope the cookies turned out great. I loved the chicken!

[aries-walker.livejournal.com]

What you need is a nice pair of powerbockers:



No, seriously, I have exactly the opposite problem. If you poke around in my kitchen cabinets, you'll find there's virtually nothing in the bottom shelves, and absolutely nothing in the back of the bottom shelves. It's just too much of a pain to reach down and get them. Instead, I make full use of those half-height counters above the sink and stove.

Somewhere in between our lamentations must be some sort of balance.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I'm about 5'11" -- I find counters a touch short, but what is really a pain is sinks. Working with anything in the sink -- whether it is washing veggies, or washing dishes, generally requires me to stoop over, and this makes my back hurt after a while.

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

I'm 5'3" with nerve damage. Whenever I have to do something that involves a lot of stirring or hand-mixing, I sit in a chair and hold the bowl on my lap.

For your amusement, here are June Cleaver's own words about her costuming on the show (including reason for the pearls and how the heels grew over the years).

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

I remember Alex coming into the kitchen not long ago while I was kicking the stepstool across the floor toward the counter with dough covered hands in the air. He asked if there was something he could get down for me. I had to tell him I needed it for the leverage!

[braider.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Hee!