Our First Kosher Kitchen

As business in the building industry has grown tougher and tougher over the last several years, we at Quality Stone Concepts have used the slowing economy as an opportunity to actively seek out distinctive projects.  Exploring projects that other companies have traditionally shied away from has enabled us to take on unique projects that have really allowed our services to stand out and even develop a niche market.  

Last month, in Norfolk, we designed and installed of our first kitchen that adheres to kashrut, or Jewish dietary law.   After our initial consult with our customers, my business partner Tony Pirrone and I raced back to our office and did our research.  Our first introduction to kashrut, or kosher in English, was made by Wikipedia.   What did people do before the

The first thing that we had to understand when designing our first Kosher Kitchen was that Jewish dietary law restricts meat to be cooked with any dairy products.  That meant we had to design two completely different kitchens in one room.   We needed space for two corner sinks, two dishwashers, one for meat and the other for dairy, and enough cabinet space that allowed for two complete sets of dishware.  In addition to keeping the kitchen Kosher, designing the kitchen for entertaining purposes was high priority for the customer (especially the island).     

A design that would have usually taken about 3-6 man hours grew to over 2-3 weeks of design; however we were pleased to learn that Granite Countertops are the perfect application for a Kosher Kitchen.  We learned that the main concern of any koshered kitchen is cross contamination.  Even though, we explained that Granite Countertops are porous in nature, they could be sealed and our customers were happy with that.  Conversely, we learned that while Quartz surfaces are considered nonporous they are made of engineered material and not 100% natural. 

What further complicated this project was that it was in Historic Ghent and walls were being knocked down and rooms were being expanding.  So we didn’t know exactly what we were dealing with until the project was well “under construction.”  Finding out that our customer’s beautiful Travertine floors sloped approximately 3” from one sink to the other was a surprise.   

All in all our first experience in the Kosher Kitchen business was a HUGE success and our customers are happy with their new kitchen.  I’ll attach some pictures to QSC’s Facebook page if you’d like to take a look.