One characteristic of a well-planned house is that the family department and the servants' department are distinctly separated. It is not, as some might suppose, that allowance has to be made for class feeling as between superiors and inferiors; it is simply that the family desire to enjoy freedom from interruption, and that the servants have the same objection to be unduly disturbed or overlooked. In other words, there are two sections of the household both equally entitled to privacy so far as their relations to each other admit; and accordingly, the offices as a whole have always to be grouped together on the same principle, whether in a small house or in a large mansion. Of course there are classes of households in which no distinctions of social status have to be observed, in which case the separation in question may not come into view; but even then the principle need not be ignored.

The first in order of the domestic offices is the kitchen, and the leading feature of its plan is the cooking-range. This ought to occupy preferably a central position in one of the longer walls of the usual oblong room, and in front of it in the middle of the room there will be the large kitchen-table. The window-light ought to be on the left hand of the cook when engaged at the range, and the kitchen dresser ought to stand conveniently adjacent to the table. Miscellaneous apparatus is now manufactured in so much competing variety that it is mere matter for choice in the warehouse, and need not be described (see Fig. 13). But the cook's closet must not be forgotten, in a handy position for constant access, and the door of entrance to the kitchen ought to be near one corner, and must not incommode either the fire or the traffic. The scullery is an apartment which ought to be directly connected with the kitchen, and the door between the two ought to he as near to the range as possible; to have to cross the kitchen to reach the scullery is very objectionable; to have to cross a passage outside is fatal. The scullery will have a fireplace containing a small supplementary range, one or two coppers or other boilers, and one or more sinks; and there must be a door of entrance besides the door of intercommunication with the kitchen. The light to both kitchen and scullery ought to be ample, with an aspect northward or eastward. Ventilation ought to be carefully provide! for; if the work to the done is on a liberal scale it may be desirable to increase the height of the ceilings. An outside door in the scullery is often desirable, but not in the kitchen. In small establishments the principle of plan is the same as in large, the scale of the apparatus and accommodation being proportionately reduced. Fig. 13 shows a good arrangement of kitchen and sculler with larder and pantry, and outside access or so-called "tradesmen's entrance". The kitchen corridor also is designed with a motive. The lobby at the outside door is made to accommodate a table for receiving supplies, and a similar trie is provided in a special recess near the larder. The kitchen door placed out of the line of the corridor traffic. An indication is likewise shown of the principle of inclosing when possible the corridor as a whole, and the borrowed lights throughout are chiefly for ventilation. Hatches for the scullery and the larder, as shown, are useful for taking in the supplies. The purpose of this illustration is chiefly to suggest a large number of con-venient appliances, the distribution of which, and indeed their introduction, must depend upon circumstances.

Fig. 13.-Kitchen Suite.

It will be observed that the scullery is on one side of the kitchen, while the larder and pantry are on the other. The scullery is necessarily at times a somewhat uncleanly adjunct, while the larder (for uncooked meat) and the pantry (for cooked) must be carefully protected against any pollutive influence. Therefore to make these open out of the scullery is inadmissible Bread and pastry, and perhaps milk and butter, are kept in the pantry, and vegetables and cured meat in the larder; but no special provision need be made in either ease. When a dairy is required, it ought to be so far separated from the kitchen offices as to be kept fastidiously clean and cool; and the work of cleansing the dishes ought to be easily taken therefrom to the scullery, or to the open air. All these offices must have a cool aspect.

When the domestic offices occupy a sunk basement, there are special difficulties to be contended with as to lighting and ventilation. Dark passages and a dimly-lighted stair are frequently found even in good houses. Wide open areas, extending as far as possible, are the best substitute, although by no means an equivalent, for the open air; and ventilating flues in the walls may he made very useful. Sleeping-rooms in a basement are not to be sanctioned.

The butler's pantry demands a peculiar position. It must primarily be close to the dining-room; and it has no connection with the kitchen-department, except for service. It has also to be conveniently situated for attending to the entrance-hall, and likewise for commanding the back entrance, although it must not be easily accessible to the light-fingered class. There may be a plate-closet or safe attached to it, and sometimes there is also a little private scullery for the cleaning. The butler's bedroom is a necessary adjunct in large houses for the protection of the plate.

The servery is an appendage at the sideboard end of the dining-room, in fact an anteroom towards the butler's pantry. In small houses the service has to take place from the corridor, and very frequently through the only door of the dining-room; in which case it is always desirable to provide space for a serving-table outside the room. In superior houses the servery may require an ordinary hot closet, for the purpose, so often hopeless, of keeping a ceremonious dinner warm. When a kitchen of importance has to be in the basement story. there ought to be a dinner-lift, but not opening actually into the dining-room.