Something you will learn when you are in the Philippines is that a number of English words take on a completely different meaning here. Most Filipinas desire a dirty kitchen! No, it isn’t a roach and rat infested kitchen with grease splatters on the walls and a pile of dirty dishes in a clogged sink. A dirty kitchen is simply an outside kitchen, not located inside the main house. The dirty kitchen has been part of the Filipino Culture for hundreds of years and everyone who owns one is proud of it! “We have a dirty kitchen,” is proudly proclaimed!
A dirty kitchen is much more common in the province, aka the countryside, however, many modern homes in towns and cities have one. Townhouse and condo dwellers cannot have a dirty kitchen but they are found in many houses located in subdivisions. The dirty kitchen is the pride and joy of every homemaker and they make it nicely as can be afforded.
Dirty Kitchen Advantages
Anyone who has ever cooked a meal knows that cooking food leaves odors in the house. Some of the odors are actually pleasant but many odors are not so pleasant. Seafood is a staple in the vast majority of the Filipino homes and is cooked daily. With a dirty kitchen, the odors of cooking and preparing food remain outside the main house!
When we bought our home in Bacolod City in 2011, it was about 90% completed and there wasn’t a dirty kitchen. One of the first things my wife wanted to add to our new home before it was totally complete was a dirty kitchen! Inside our dirty kitchen is a LP gas burner, a large sink with underneath storage space for cooking utensils, counter space, a 4 tier rack for further storage and for placing newly washed dishes for drying, a full length wooden cabinet for storing spices, flatware and dishware, 5 gallon jugs of purified drinking water, wall shelves, a rice storage bin, aka rice dispenser, and an electric fan. One of the more important items found in a dirty kitchen is an electric rice cooker! It is used daily. The dirty kitchen is actually a space saver and frees up the home living area for better utilization.
In the Philippines, where there is food, there will soon be ants! Having a dirty kitchen keeps down the ant population inside the main house.
The Philippines is already hot everyday, so cooking outside the house does not increase the heat level inside the family home.
A Gathering Spot
Filipinos love preparing food and they love to eat. Who doesn’t? The dirty kitchen is also a gathering spot when friends and relatives drop by. Preparing food and talking about what’s happening or what’s going on is a favorite pastime among many. Tismis is often the term used for this type of talking, which is what Americans may term as gossiping! Filipinos do not have a monopoly on tismis, as expats also tend to gossip at expat gatherings. Not so much in a malicious manner but just talking! Hello?
Sharing about that new brand of wok, the sharp cutlery, non-stick skillets, clear glass pots, the waffle iron, the bread toaster, the sandwich press, and other kitchen gadgets are always interesting conversations.
There is nothing wrong with having a few cold ones while gathering in the dirty kitchen! In my opinion, a home is not complete in the Philippines without a dirty kitchen, if it is possible for you to have one. If you are living in your own house, a dirty kitchen can be added without spending an arm and a leg. We spent only P20,000 to have our dirty kitchen built but we already had 3 walls to work with, which were already constructed. If you can’t stand the heat, get a dirty kitchen!
Gary, You can tell your wife that I to love a Dirty Kitchen. I experienced it for the first time two years ago and just love it. I don’t think a Filipino House would be complete without one. Each time we visit my in-laws everyone is in the dirty kitchen, not the house. If we didn’t have winter here in Virginia, I would think about putting one on if code would allow me. Garry
Thanks, Garry. The Dirty Kitchen concept is pretty cool. My mother in law has a large one, made from bamboo and nipa. Even though we bought her an LP gas burner, she still prefers using her wood stove for cooking!
Have a great day!
~ Gary ~
Yeah! The concept is pretty cool. I think dirty kitcheness should be a quality of life standard. in the Philippines.
We’re on our third house now, and it seems as if we’ve finally sorted out our dirty kitchen requirements. In our first place, the dirty kitchen was against an outside wall under the eaves. Cooking quickly turned into a water sport on windy days during rainy season.
We messed up the next place too. Our intent was to make a nice enclosure where food could be cooked with wood and charcoal. The result was a badly ventilated area where the cook could have used a gas mask to get through the day. We eventually got a rough fix on the ventilation problem, but by then it was time to use the “dream” house design we’d carried around until we could raise the money and not carry a mortgage.
Behind the indoor kitchen we made a space 25 feet long and 10 feet deep equally divided length wise, by a door, into two areas. One area is enclosed but with three large windows, and lots of polished concrete work counters with exposed shelves beneath to store old, ugly pots and pans of every imaginable description. It’s furnished with one old refrigerator to hang and age beef, and another configured to hold plastic and glass containers to brine/cure meat for hams, corned beef, pastrami, salt pork or anything else my wife won’t allow in the “clean” kitchen. It’s center piece is a monstrous ten hob, two oven, commercial LPG range, rescued from a restaurant renovation project. One oven and three hobs generate enough heat to make me leave the cooking to the cooks. I know I went off the deep end, but it was about the same price as the better new ranges that carried no bragging rights.
The second area has four foot walls on the exterior two sides, with wire mesh screens reaching to the ceiling. Except for the old fresh fish refrigerator, it’s furnishings; a deep sink, counters, shelves and a big grill are poured concrete. I’ve been thinking about a couple of purely aesthetic ideas and a way to make the grill more versatile, but I no longer feel quite so envious when I see pictures of those $25,000 stainless steel outdoor kitchens.
I’d really like to read comments from anyone willing to describe features unique to their own dirty kitchens.
Bernie
Thanks for your comments, Bernie.
At our dirty kitchen in the countryside, at our farmhouse, we have a homemade wood stove. We also have a homemade BBQ grill that can be used as a smoker. A metal shop made both. Rambutan wood chips work best in our area for smoking.
Unlike our city house, the farmhouse dirty kitchen is not actually attached to the house. It is made of nipa and bamboo, with open sides.
Have a great day!
~ Gary ~
Well Gary. That is all well and good about your dirty kitchen. Our place has a closet sized one where cooking odors can escape. However, many of the dirty kitchens in other homes are just that… dirty. The floor is dirt. There is no running water and no conveniences whatsoever. Flies and other pests abound. Dogs and cats wander about because it is open air. From what I have seen and experienced in my little corner of the Philippines, that is the norm. Also, the size of your dirty kitchen is the size of many homes here. The people just don’t have the cash for anything better. I don’t either.
The meaning of a “dirty kitchen” in the context of the social elite of the Philippines is the kitchen used daily or the one bearing the brunt of the heavy cooking. The contrast being the “clean kitchen” where it just usually serves as bragging rights. These kitchens are usually the ones you see in designer/architectural magazines which usually cost more than a brand new car. Households that can afford a “clean kitchen” most certainly will have a dirty one as well. These kitchens are very seldom used and often the owners don’t even know how to operate the appliances that came with them. Like I said, just for bragging rights or the occasional conversation piece.
HI Vin,
You are on target and that is pretty much how it is among all Filipino families. My wife cooks fish 1-2 times most everyday of the week and she would never cook fish in our “clean kitchen.
Have a great day!
~ Gary ~
I am now 67 (will be 68 in August) and grew up on farm in Iowa where my father worked as a farm hand. The land owner had a small building (about 30′ x 15′) connected to the main house by an enclosed breezeway that was called the “Summer Kitchen”. Although it had a space heater in it and could be used year around for cooking large meals (Thanksgiving and Christmas come to mind), it was most often used in the summer to keep the heat out of the main house. (There was no such thing as central air or A/C of any kind in the late 40s and 50s.) But it was also the gathering place for breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch again, and supper if they were working near the “Home Place”.
I surely do miss that “Summer Kitchen” and the people I loved that gathered there!
My wife introduced me to the dirty kitchen almost 40 years ago. If I ever try using anything in the indoor kitchen, I usually get my hands slapped. I keep wondering, why did I spend all this money on a kitchen I can’t use.
I hear you, RJ. The house kitchen is mostly for show, although I use it myself from time to time. Especially when I am home alone!
Gary