Where do you keep your ziplocs in your kitchen?And your Shabbos tinfoil and nice shopping bags, and your American spice collection and your extra vitamins, tylenol and sudafed that you brought home from your last trip to the States, and extra sippy cups and pedialite and ….
If you find your kitchen isn’t functioning, it’s not because you’re messy. It’s because your American mentality doesn’t fit into your Israeli kitchen.
The kitchen companies here in Israel just don’t get it. Two sets of drawers, one for milchigs and one for fleishigs are not going to satisfy the needs of an American living in Eretz Yisrael. Especially if you hoard your American products in your kitchen cabinets.
And certainly if you still stock up on fancy packaging in random shapes and sizes plus spools of ribbon in every color for sending cakes on erev Shabbos to the neighbors, like they do back at home.
After working on hundreds of kitchens in the greater Yerushalaim area , and helping families navigate Tama or buy in new projects with a standard kitchen company involved – I have come to the conclusion that Americans can’t live like Israelis. (Surprise!)
In a modest Israeli kitchen there are no gadgets, no dozens of bottles of American medicines, and no hundreds of packages of ziplocs in various shapes and sizes. They have a set of pots, a set of dishes, basic ingredients and the basic tinfoil, plastic wrap, a package of sandwich bags, and maybe some paper towels. Their counters are clear and their kitchen is incredibly functional.
If you take this route you can use any decent Israeli kitchen company when renovating your kitchen. Yes, if they are not religious their designs may not be so conducive to keeping meat and milk completely separate… but if you’re a clean, neat and minimalist Israeli you can manage that okay too.
But if you’re American and are not so interested in changing your American mentality and you’re still dreaming of getting that pareve section in there…
And besides all the hoarding you do on the way back from the States, you also stock up here in Osher Ad once a month, own serving platters that you never use, plus a waffle maker, a French frier, an electric pressure cooker, pizza maker and a frying pan in each and every size…
Then please don’t use an Israeli kitchen company to design your kitchen. Your kitchen will be dysfunctional. You will hate your kitchen.
It’s time for a reality check. You need either a large home with a walk-in-pantry and a Costco room, need to move back to America, OR you need a super design for your kitchen and entire home that incorporates as many of your American needs as possible in your Israeli apartment.
If the above are not options, then go knock on your Israeli neighbor’s door and pick up a few of her kitchen habits 🙂
