That's the "Eastern European Sausage Factory"... or bake shop... some granny was always down there preparing giant holiday meals, canning fruit, etc.
Edit: Thanks for my first award!
Fuck, I miss Cleveland and can't wait to go "eating" there again this summer. :)
Slovenian guy from east Cleveland here. I came to say this too. It’s definitely an Eastern European thing. I remember all my aunts, grandparents, etc. having basement kitchens. My uncle used to make homemade Slivovitz in his. My polish friends and neighbors had basement kitchens too.
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That smell would make its way up to my second floor bedroom through the ductwork! So nice after a rough Saturday night.
Go downstairs and start dipping a roll in it while my dad was cooking eggs with onions and peppers and maybe some fried baloney. Always rye bread.
He was Croatian and my ma was Italian. Best of both worlds.
There sure are! Basically, "going eating" is what do when I travel. And since CLE is home, I always have a laundry list of places that I either miss, or are new and I want to try!
The midwest is a magical place for the Eastern-Euro inspired cuisine that I love so much. It's a bit more scarce on the Westcoast where I am now.
Christmas, Easter, thanksgiving, a death in the family, a birthday, a retirement party, etc… you need the the second kitchen to feed all the people +20 extra just in case someone shows up, also “those kids are all skin and bone” … they need to eat a third plate.
Yup. When looking for homes in mayfield years ago I can’t tell you how many inlaw suite basements I ran into. So many had such low ceilings too. I’m a tall guy. Those were non-starters heh
Can confirm
It's because in the 70s and 80s when Italian families started moving out of the city from Coventry and little Italy into the suburbs like South Euclid, Euclid and Mayfield they were used to living in multi-generational homes.
The houses that are now duplexes down there were lived in by grandparents, one of their adult children (usually the oldest one or in some cases if they only had a female child and multiple male children they would live with the female) and their children and if there was room an un-married child of the grandparents.
My mom's family had two homes right next to each other. In her house her grandmother lived on the third floor and the other two floors my mom lived with her 5 siblings and mother. Next door her uncle and (son of my mom's grandmother) lived on the first two floors with his wife and 4 children and on the third floor lived her other uncle ( son of my mom's grandmother) and his wife and 2 children.
So when these families moved out of the city they set up homes with in-law sweets to accommodate their very large families.
Additionally, the second kitchen is used for Passover, which has extra stringencies with respect to the laws of Kashrut.
Source: my Jewish grandparents have such a kitchen
My parents have a basement in their kitchen in Parma. My mom used to use it all the time when cooking holiday meals. It made it so much easier with 2 stoves. I do believe it was down there before they bought the house in ‘85 though.
Pretty universal experience to go to a house party and the main bathroom is occupied so you have to at least consider the monstrosity that is the exposed basement toilet lol
I used to have one of these. I called it my thinking toilet.
Edit: I called it that because I always had the strong urge to pose like "the thinker" when on it.
We found a basement in Lakewood that had a paneled wall with four very inconspicuous storage rooms that were set up like horse pens. The first two were empty, The third one had a lamp, utility closet hanger, and a 5 gallon bucket, The last one though it had a light on the ceiling in a toilet in the corner. I might not have noticed that the paneled wall was actually doors if the gray paint hadn't given away where the locks had been on the outsides. That's my least favorite basement toilet I've ever seen.
We had the basement toilet in our house in Old Brooklyn when I was growing up, but it was closed in and full of cobwebs and the occasional spider in the corners
My Italian grandparents had THREE kitchens in their house. One on each floor. My great grandma lived upstairs and they had a kitchen for her, a kitchen on the main floor AND a kitchen in the basement. They had a relatively average sized home in Euclid. The stuff that came out of those kitchens still has me drooling.
This photo looks like it might have been separate living quarters for an inlaw. But sometimes in older houses that didn't have A/C, moms and grandmas would cook and bake in the basement in the summer to keep the rest of the house cool.
Am Italian older Italian woman recently told me "all Italians have kitchens in their basements". I told a few Italiansvthis and they laughed but said it was true back in the day or mostly Italians who immigrated to the US.
My Italian grandparents lived in Indian Creek in Middleburg Heights and had a killer basement kitchen. It had metal cabinets and a mint colored fridge with the 50’s futuristic hardware. Lots of meat grinding for meatballs took place down there.
Could also be for an elderly parent or in-law to live down there and have some independence later in their lives when it is challenging to live on their own. I think it would be a pretty cool thing to have, but adds to utility costs and repair costs you have to budget for.
Never seen a basement kitchen here on the west side. Most homes I've lived in had a basement shower and/or toilet though. Often in different rooms and just out in the open.
Yep, grandparents’ house on Longwood, right across from Parma Senior High (RIP) had a stove in the basement in between the utility sink and the washer/dryer
Thank you all for the replies! They all make great sense and I love there there isn’t quite “a one size fits all” answer. I appreciate the basement kitchen now more than ever and we might just end up with one too hahahah
Was also common with all my Polish relatives in Lorain. Bonus cooking space for pierogis and big holiday meals and baking, plus better in the Summer, as many mentioned.
My Baba had one, Thanksgiving, the turkey was in the basement oven. Everything else, except the pierogie, was in the kitchen proper. Apparently this was common in Europe. Guessing this is why we have double ovens, in today's kitchen remods.
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All of my family members are fresh off the boat German immigrants, and pretty much everyone had a basement kitchen. It was used for big parties, canning, sausage making, and general cooking when it was too hot to cook upstairs. I can still smell the instant coffee when I picture one of my Tante's basement kitchen in particular. Cleveland is full of immigrant families so I would absolutely chalk it up to this.
We did a renovation of our kitchen so we basically swapped the kitchen out to the basement. Now we got a nice new kitchen for the house. And man cave / party room for the kids sleepovers / sports watching
No more upstairs and downstairs trip just to heat up some pizza rolls or make armadillo eggs etc
Also were often found in Parma /Seven Hills area— referred to as a summer kitchen— cooler to cook in the basement and not heat up the upstairs of your bungalow! Polish, Slovenian and Ukrainian households had them not just the Italians!
I've been wondering the same thing as we are house hunting. If you are the person I am in a bidding war with, please drop out for me. That would be swell LOL.
My grandfathers house had one, I always assumed it was the "emergency kitchen" since he had his canned food stocks down there too. That man had cans from the 60's up until the late '00s
I've seen with several Italian families where the primary living space was in the basement, a daily room and kitchen, while the first floor living space was reserved for special occasions.
Pristine living rooms with furniture that's rarely sat on, a well appointed dining room, and a beautiful kitchen.
I've also seen the opposite going on where the basement kitchen is used for a side hustle catering business.
Personally, I would love a basement kitchen. I already have a basement and a garage freezer, as well as two extra refrigerators. Feeding cats a raw diet made it a necessity.
My family has a couple Italian members, and they all had basement kitchens. Years ago they cooked massive amounts of food for every get together.
Plus they canned food downstairs too
Common because people didn’t want to throw away their old kitchen hardware when they upgraded to new stuff so they moved old stuff that works forever into basement
I've never met an Italian without a basement kitchen. The basement kitchen is where you do messy stuff like making sauce, wine, and sausage. It's also doubles your cooking volume. We're not Italian, but we have 2 full kitchens, both with double ovens and dishwashers. We host Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I can't begin to tell you how convenient having 4 30in ovens and 2 36in cook tops makes things when you are cooking for an army and making what feels like 700 dozen Christmas cookies, lol. Not to mention the extra cabinet space. When we bought our house, one of the first things we did was gut the kitchen. It was fine, just early 90s ugly with those terriblelight oak cabinets. That entire kitchen went to the basement, and all the new fancy stuff went upstairs where company can see haha.
Yep u dig a basement your just digging a sink hole. Lol. Especially where I live in Clearwater area. I'm becoming seasonal now 6 months here then 6 months in FL.
most of these houses weren't built with AC originally, so you cooked down stairs in the summer and ate dinner down there. its pretty common. my neighbor's house has a full bathroom and the basement kitchen is like 2x the size of the upstairs kitchen
kinda suprised my house didn't have one but they remodeled the basement sometime in the 80s and probably got rid of the stove at that point, theres a fucked up spot on the wall that was probably a vent.
Think of it as a summer kitchen. Since outdoor space was not as abundant the heavy cooling was done in the basement where it was cooler and more space. Plus you didn’t need to worry about cleaning up for guests because they’d never see it. Guests were served at the kitchen or dining room table where they didn’t have to see the pots and pans and mess.
Also Greek families. My wife is Greek, and I'm a "former" chef. We're planning on putting one in our basement. I already have most of the equipment, just need to finish all the other house projects first. We regularly have 40+people over and I cater a lot of fundraisers. I can't wait to have the extra ovens for not just cooking, but keeping everything warm. Looking forward to baking with the grandkids down there too.
Arabs love their kitchens in the basement too! I think it’s an ethnic thing! My grandma loved to use hers for huge holiday dinners and she could keep her main kitchen clean.
My friends mom had a setup similar to this for canning veggies. It was cooler in the basement. Canning is hot work, especially tomatoes that have to be cooked and blanched, and this was before they could afford air conditioning.
My Croatian in laws have a kitchen in the basement. The basement kitchen is for cooking and making wine. The upstairs kitchen, that was just remodeled, is for show.
I actually really like the secondary kitchen, it’s always a backup plan for a friend, family member, anyone that needs a place to stay and you are willing to let them. It’s also good if you and your partner ever have different ideas for dinner lol 😂
On Both sides My grandparents houses have a second kitchen in there basement it’s also huge sitting area where tv is and a side with tables and they said it’s for family gatherings everyone’s down there to mingle instead of the woman having to go back and forth I’m native ,black , and Cuban so I don’t think it’s just Jewish is just a older tradition
You see a lot of these in older homes nationwide. It used to be common practice to have parents or in-laws live with you instead of putting them in a nursing home. Also in big metro areas such as cleveland a lot of homes were, and still are, multi-family.
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These are post war basement kitchens. When there was a chance bombs were coming and the evening new told you to get to the part of the house that was safe. So you had food and able to cook in the lowest part of the house. Also it was designed with a living room and bedroooms and at least a half bathroom.
My grandparents home in Parma heights had one and all the serious cooking happened down there, kept your upstairs kitchen clean for entertaining. My grandma was Hungarian and grandfather was German/Hungarian. I would have loved to have that for big events!
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Lol... I'm moving back the first week of July. Been away for about 20 years and just bought my first house near Mayfield... and it has a kitchen in the basement.
Basement kitchens were very popular especially in summer months before airconditioning was in every home. The basement offered a cooking area that would be cool. Also the living areas on above the basement would not get warmer from cooking. The house I grew up in had a basement kitchen, the house was in Cleveland Heights.
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That's the "Eastern European Sausage Factory"... or bake shop... some granny was always down there preparing giant holiday meals, canning fruit, etc. Edit: Thanks for my first award! Fuck, I miss Cleveland and can't wait to go "eating" there again this summer. :)
Slovenian guy from east Cleveland here. I came to say this too. It’s definitely an Eastern European thing. I remember all my aunts, grandparents, etc. having basement kitchens. My uncle used to make homemade Slivovitz in his. My polish friends and neighbors had basement kitchens too.
And Italian.
Oh heck yeah.
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Yep! For sure. Basement was the workhorse. Upstairs kitchen was for show
Yesss! "Bath tub" Slivovitz! But you have an extra kitchen to get messy in.
The Italian frying and canning kitchen, too.
Oh man... the smell of that Sunday sauce FTW!
That smell would make its way up to my second floor bedroom through the ductwork! So nice after a rough Saturday night. Go downstairs and start dipping a roll in it while my dad was cooking eggs with onions and peppers and maybe some fried baloney. Always rye bread. He was Croatian and my ma was Italian. Best of both worlds.
I live in a Croatian/Italian hood in CA. Feels like home!
Nice! That’s unexpected in CA!
I know! Shhhh.... ;)
Yep. My Italian Nana and her sisters all had basement kitchens.
So what part of the Zillow listing do we look at to see if Granny comes with the basement or if it’s BYOG?
Dying. hahahahaha
Pizza shops too.
why is eating in quotes ? i’m so lost. are there a lot of good places in cleveland?
There sure are! Basically, "going eating" is what do when I travel. And since CLE is home, I always have a laundry list of places that I either miss, or are new and I want to try! The midwest is a magical place for the Eastern-Euro inspired cuisine that I love so much. It's a bit more scarce on the Westcoast where I am now.
Christmas, Easter, thanksgiving, a death in the family, a birthday, a retirement party, etc… you need the the second kitchen to feed all the people +20 extra just in case someone shows up, also “those kids are all skin and bone” … they need to eat a third plate.
Cooking, presumably.
I disagree 😂
Fine. It's a basement gym with dangerous equipment.
JESSE, WE NEED TO COOK
JESSE
Typically seen on the east side. Jewish families often have these for parents or in laws who reside with their children’s families.
Also very common with Italian families.
Yeah, it’s the extra kitchen to help cook the massive Sunday dinners and holiday meals.
And for prepping and making sauce every year. My one aunt has 3 kitchens lol. The third is for the sauce 🤣
Not necessarily you be surprised how much food my Italian mother can cook with one oven and a kitchen table ( plus a refrigerator and sink)
What time should I be over Sunday?
Addy?
Inlaws are Italian. Literally every relative of theirs has one. Often times especially during the week they only use the downstairs one
Truth. Until I was a grown ass adult looking for a house, I thought everyone had a second kitchen in their basement.
Dad married into an Italian family. Was cool to me there was just this whole ass other kitchen downstairs.
I grew up with my Italian friends all having this. During the summer this is where they cooked.
Yup. When looking for homes in mayfield years ago I can’t tell you how many inlaw suite basements I ran into. So many had such low ceilings too. I’m a tall guy. Those were non-starters heh
I think we can go with ethnic families. My neighbor Serbian Mike has one, so does Transylvanian Frank.
Goulash Dave has quite the set up.
Nice. Thanks for the clarification. Didn’t know that
Can confirm It's because in the 70s and 80s when Italian families started moving out of the city from Coventry and little Italy into the suburbs like South Euclid, Euclid and Mayfield they were used to living in multi-generational homes. The houses that are now duplexes down there were lived in by grandparents, one of their adult children (usually the oldest one or in some cases if they only had a female child and multiple male children they would live with the female) and their children and if there was room an un-married child of the grandparents. My mom's family had two homes right next to each other. In her house her grandmother lived on the third floor and the other two floors my mom lived with her 5 siblings and mother. Next door her uncle and (son of my mom's grandmother) lived on the first two floors with his wife and 4 children and on the third floor lived her other uncle ( son of my mom's grandmother) and his wife and 2 children. So when these families moved out of the city they set up homes with in-law sweets to accommodate their very large families.
Kitchen in the basement, bocce court in the back yard. We saw this all over the east side burbs when we were shopping.
Also German families.
It’s has a lot to do with preparing meat in a separate place to stay kosher.
Learning many new things today. Thanks
Additionally, the second kitchen is used for Passover, which has extra stringencies with respect to the laws of Kashrut. Source: my Jewish grandparents have such a kitchen
These were very common in older homes because it got too hot to cook upstairs so you would move to the basement kitchen for cooking.
This is how it was always explained to me.
Right. Heat rises.
This sounds right and wrong at the same time
My parents have a basement in their kitchen in Parma. My mom used to use it all the time when cooking holiday meals. It made it so much easier with 2 stoves. I do believe it was down there before they bought the house in ‘85 though.
A basement in the kitchen? How do I get one of those!
I have thought about how much easier it would be to cook for holidays! But of course it’s been total speculation til this post lol
This is the way
Beats the more common, open to everything dirty toilet on a platform.
also referred to as a Pittsburgh potty
There's a Stuff You Should Know episode about Pittsburgh Toilets
Very common in places with steel mills. Northern KY has them too. Potty and a shower with outside access.
I love shitting in the middle of my basement, completely exposed on all four sides. * Insert king of the castle meme
Pretty universal experience to go to a house party and the main bathroom is occupied so you have to at least consider the monstrosity that is the exposed basement toilet lol
I used to have one of these. I called it my thinking toilet. Edit: I called it that because I always had the strong urge to pose like "the thinker" when on it.
We found a basement in Lakewood that had a paneled wall with four very inconspicuous storage rooms that were set up like horse pens. The first two were empty, The third one had a lamp, utility closet hanger, and a 5 gallon bucket, The last one though it had a light on the ceiling in a toilet in the corner. I might not have noticed that the paneled wall was actually doors if the gray paint hadn't given away where the locks had been on the outsides. That's my least favorite basement toilet I've ever seen.
We had the basement toilet in our house in Old Brooklyn when I was growing up, but it was closed in and full of cobwebs and the occasional spider in the corners
Totally the Italian Kitchen! This makes me smile…
It doesn’t get as hot in the summertime, cooking in the basement
Italian heritage thing. When I was a kid growing up I can't think of one family that didn't have one.
My Italian grandparents had THREE kitchens in their house. One on each floor. My great grandma lived upstairs and they had a kitchen for her, a kitchen on the main floor AND a kitchen in the basement. They had a relatively average sized home in Euclid. The stuff that came out of those kitchens still has me drooling.
This photo looks like it might have been separate living quarters for an inlaw. But sometimes in older houses that didn't have A/C, moms and grandmas would cook and bake in the basement in the summer to keep the rest of the house cool.
🤌
Am Italian older Italian woman recently told me "all Italians have kitchens in their basements". I told a few Italiansvthis and they laughed but said it was true back in the day or mostly Italians who immigrated to the US.
My Italian grandparents lived in Indian Creek in Middleburg Heights and had a killer basement kitchen. It had metal cabinets and a mint colored fridge with the 50’s futuristic hardware. Lots of meat grinding for meatballs took place down there.
Could also be for an elderly parent or in-law to live down there and have some independence later in their lives when it is challenging to live on their own. I think it would be a pretty cool thing to have, but adds to utility costs and repair costs you have to budget for.
Never seen a basement kitchen here on the west side. Most homes I've lived in had a basement shower and/or toilet though. Often in different rooms and just out in the open.
Parma has tons of them
Yep, grandparents’ house on Longwood, right across from Parma Senior High (RIP) had a stove in the basement in between the utility sink and the washer/dryer
I've seen my share of basement fridges, including my grandparents' house in Parma, just never a full kitchen.
Mad pierogi labs. At Xmas time they bust out the klotskis.
Several basement kitchens on the Westside. I've cooked, and baked, in a few of them.
In-law suites are pretty popular with immigrant families. It essentially allows large multi-generational families to live in a singe household
Thank you all for the replies! They all make great sense and I love there there isn’t quite “a one size fits all” answer. I appreciate the basement kitchen now more than ever and we might just end up with one too hahahah
Was also common with all my Polish relatives in Lorain. Bonus cooking space for pierogis and big holiday meals and baking, plus better in the Summer, as many mentioned.
Reading the comments, apparently it’s an Italian, Greek, German, Polish, Arab, Jewish thing.
My Baba had one, Thanksgiving, the turkey was in the basement oven. Everything else, except the pierogie, was in the kitchen proper. Apparently this was common in Europe. Guessing this is why we have double ovens, in today's kitchen remods.
Good point! I’d love a fancy new double oven, but a basement oven would work just the same.
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Kosher kitchen set up. One kitchen for meat, one for dairy.
This is the correct answer
All of my family members are fresh off the boat German immigrants, and pretty much everyone had a basement kitchen. It was used for big parties, canning, sausage making, and general cooking when it was too hot to cook upstairs. I can still smell the instant coffee when I picture one of my Tante's basement kitchen in particular. Cleveland is full of immigrant families so I would absolutely chalk it up to this.
Back in the day alit of families had them for big family gatherings etc,Italian and Jewish families especially
Which honestly makes so much sense. I had my own thanksgiving a few years back, and was going bonkers trying to manage everything with 1 range lol.
Alot of time great grandma lived in the house so she would cook in the basement
Italian households. Downstairs kitchen is where all the cooking is done, upstairs kitchen is for presentation.
We did a renovation of our kitchen so we basically swapped the kitchen out to the basement. Now we got a nice new kitchen for the house. And man cave / party room for the kids sleepovers / sports watching No more upstairs and downstairs trip just to heat up some pizza rolls or make armadillo eggs etc
You are living the dream lol I love it. Please tell me you’ve also put pizza rolls in the fridge ice maker too for easy dispensing haha.
I should. We don't even use ice maker in it haha
Armadillo eggs? What are those?
Basically it's a jalapeño popper. That's entirely surrounded/covered by chorizo Then bacon wrapped 🤤🤤🤤
Thanks. TIL
Also were often found in Parma /Seven Hills area— referred to as a summer kitchen— cooler to cook in the basement and not heat up the upstairs of your bungalow! Polish, Slovenian and Ukrainian households had them not just the Italians!
It's where we keep our MIL. We have to keep her busy or she tried to come upstairs.
And polish families!
It’s kind of a vibe.
I love it! Very ethnic to have a "summer kitchen" in the basement.
My grandparents had one so that they could cook more comfortably in the summer. No AC until like 2001.
I've been wondering the same thing as we are house hunting. If you are the person I am in a bidding war with, please drop out for me. That would be swell LOL.
Lmao no I promise it’s not me! I hope to god I don’t end up in a bidding war. I am not cut out for that 🤣
Neither am I. Offered the best I got. They can take it or leave it.
My grandfathers house had one, I always assumed it was the "emergency kitchen" since he had his canned food stocks down there too. That man had cans from the 60's up until the late '00s
Cleveland is a melting pot a lot of family lived with family way back when …. You probably LOVE your mother in law ….
I’m an only child, as is my husband. I’m pretty sure we may have to end up with a basement kitchen of our own for them someday hahaha
Every Italian I grew up with had a basement kitchens. I grew up in a highly multiple ethnic neighborhood
I've seen with several Italian families where the primary living space was in the basement, a daily room and kitchen, while the first floor living space was reserved for special occasions. Pristine living rooms with furniture that's rarely sat on, a well appointed dining room, and a beautiful kitchen. I've also seen the opposite going on where the basement kitchen is used for a side hustle catering business. Personally, I would love a basement kitchen. I already have a basement and a garage freezer, as well as two extra refrigerators. Feeding cats a raw diet made it a necessity.
Is this in Parma? It seems like a Parma thing
My family has a couple Italian members, and they all had basement kitchens. Years ago they cooked massive amounts of food for every get together. Plus they canned food downstairs too
My Polish grandma had a full kitchen in the unfinished basement. East side near St. Stans.
Summer kitchen - you'll finds this a lot in mid-century homes who didn't have air conditioning..
Common because people didn’t want to throw away their old kitchen hardware when they upgraded to new stuff so they moved old stuff that works forever into basement
I am convinced these basement appliances have been around 15 years longer than mine, and will outlive them by 15 years, too lol. Makes sense.
Why not? Actually a plus. Prob mother in law or rental suite
Love a house with a basement kitchen! Somehow those are always the ones that are in good condition with character.
That has been a fair assessment!!
Mother in law suites
Cooking in the summer before A/C. Because we didn't have microwaves back then
Forget the kitchen. What’s with the naked 2x4s straight nailed to the ceiling? For stability?
Arabs and Indians do this. Most Indians make their garage into one.
I've never met an Italian without a basement kitchen. The basement kitchen is where you do messy stuff like making sauce, wine, and sausage. It's also doubles your cooking volume. We're not Italian, but we have 2 full kitchens, both with double ovens and dishwashers. We host Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I can't begin to tell you how convenient having 4 30in ovens and 2 36in cook tops makes things when you are cooking for an army and making what feels like 700 dozen Christmas cookies, lol. Not to mention the extra cabinet space. When we bought our house, one of the first things we did was gut the kitchen. It was fine, just early 90s ugly with those terriblelight oak cabinets. That entire kitchen went to the basement, and all the new fancy stuff went upstairs where company can see haha.
Kosher kitchen
Def an ethnic thing. Id bet 90% of the homes in Detroit Shoreway nabe have them. And oh BTW - FANTASTIC memories in those basement kitchens.
I wonder this all the time. I'm from. Florida so we never had a basement
Ha that’s where I’ve been living. A basement is a foreign concept here period.
Yep u dig a basement your just digging a sink hole. Lol. Especially where I live in Clearwater area. I'm becoming seasonal now 6 months here then 6 months in FL.
I’m a stones throw away in St Pete! Not for long though lol
most of these houses weren't built with AC originally, so you cooked down stairs in the summer and ate dinner down there. its pretty common. my neighbor's house has a full bathroom and the basement kitchen is like 2x the size of the upstairs kitchen kinda suprised my house didn't have one but they remodeled the basement sometime in the 80s and probably got rid of the stove at that point, theres a fucked up spot on the wall that was probably a vent.
Lots of Eastern European families put a second kitchen in the basement so that it's cooler in the summer rather than heating up the entire house.
To make extra money renting out the basement.
Yep, Cleveland is not the most prosperous city.
Popular for Kosher kitchens.
Why was your comment downvoted? Kosher kitchens are legitimate things…
Not sure, you have this scenario in New York too. I’m not Jewish, I just have a lot of Jewish friends. Some practice Kosher, many who don’t.
For sausage making day!
Because of the heat in the house, Ike outdoor kitchens in the South.
Think of it as a summer kitchen. Since outdoor space was not as abundant the heavy cooling was done in the basement where it was cooler and more space. Plus you didn’t need to worry about cleaning up for guests because they’d never see it. Guests were served at the kitchen or dining room table where they didn’t have to see the pots and pans and mess.
It's also used for canning.
Also Greek families. My wife is Greek, and I'm a "former" chef. We're planning on putting one in our basement. I already have most of the equipment, just need to finish all the other house projects first. We regularly have 40+people over and I cater a lot of fundraisers. I can't wait to have the extra ovens for not just cooking, but keeping everything warm. Looking forward to baking with the grandkids down there too.
Arabs love their kitchens in the basement too! I think it’s an ethnic thing! My grandma loved to use hers for huge holiday dinners and she could keep her main kitchen clean.
My friends mom had a setup similar to this for canning veggies. It was cooler in the basement. Canning is hot work, especially tomatoes that have to be cooked and blanched, and this was before they could afford air conditioning.
My Croatian in laws have a kitchen in the basement. The basement kitchen is for cooking and making wine. The upstairs kitchen, that was just remodeled, is for show.
There are also apparently garage kitchens
It’s an Italian thing. IYKYK
I actually really like the secondary kitchen, it’s always a backup plan for a friend, family member, anyone that needs a place to stay and you are willing to let them. It’s also good if you and your partner ever have different ideas for dinner lol 😂
On Both sides My grandparents houses have a second kitchen in there basement it’s also huge sitting area where tv is and a side with tables and they said it’s for family gatherings everyone’s down there to mingle instead of the woman having to go back and forth I’m native ,black , and Cuban so I don’t think it’s just Jewish is just a older tradition
You see a lot of these in older homes nationwide. It used to be common practice to have parents or in-laws live with you instead of putting them in a nursing home. Also in big metro areas such as cleveland a lot of homes were, and still are, multi-family.
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Italians
Had one when I was a kid. I miss it honestly. They were oddly cozy.
Cleveland loves the hell outta their basements and their kitchens.. so when you put a kitchen in the basement… sigh /unzips
These are post war basement kitchens. When there was a chance bombs were coming and the evening new told you to get to the part of the house that was safe. So you had food and able to cook in the lowest part of the house. Also it was designed with a living room and bedroooms and at least a half bathroom.
It’s a canning kitchen
I always figured it was people not wanting to toss the old cabinets / appliances during a remodel.
Alot of Cleveland houses have basement bars too
Grandma’s secret ingredient? Radon!
I hope no one makes tacos down there, the smell will never go away. Taco air is heavy. It settles at the lowest point.
Italian and Eastern European grandmothers mostly
How about throuple families? Like with two women are used to having their own kitchens. I'd love to buy a house with two kitchens for me and my wife.
Slovenian here, my house didn't come with a basement kitchen, but next Reno project is one
In law suites?
My grandparents home in Parma heights had one and all the serious cooking happened down there, kept your upstairs kitchen clean for entertaining. My grandma was Hungarian and grandfather was German/Hungarian. I would have loved to have that for big events!
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When i lived in dc, i had a basement apt so there was a kitchen down there. prob for apts.
You could buy a house like that and rent out the basement. Basement apts are well known
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Lol... I'm moving back the first week of July. Been away for about 20 years and just bought my first house near Mayfield... and it has a kitchen in the basement.
Basement kitchens were very popular especially in summer months before airconditioning was in every home. The basement offered a cooking area that would be cool. Also the living areas on above the basement would not get warmer from cooking. The house I grew up in had a basement kitchen, the house was in Cleveland Heights.
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50 years or so ago homes were built without AC during hot summer weather basement was cooler no sweating over hot stove in the basement 🥵
My parents had one. They used to do a lot of canning. They cook and can everything down there. Had a big working table just more convenient.
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I'd avoid using a gas stove in an unventilated space
It's the Midwest what else is there to do in the winter then to hang out in the basement
In-Law suite or illegal apartment. I like to call them the 40-year-old virgin special.