summer

3 Kitchen Problems Only People Without Central Air Will Understand

Lisa Freedman
Lisa FreedmanExecutive Lifestyle Director
Lisa Freedman is the Executive Lifestyle Director at The Kitchn. She has never met a cheese or a washi tape she didn't like. She lives in New York state with her husband and their pup, Millie.
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published Jun 29, 2018
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(Image credit: Bijou Karman)

When you don’t have central (or any kind of) air conditioning in your kitchen, you quickly realize a few things. I knew living in a (very!) old house would mean not wanting to turn on the oven from roughly June through September, but the last few summers had a few other surprises in store for me, as well.

Here are the three biggest problems only people without air conditioning in their kitchen will understand.

1. Chips, crackers, and other snacks go stale very quickly!

What’s that, dear husband? You want to open that box of Extra Toasty Cheez-It crackers? Go for it … as long as you’re willing to eat the entire box today. Because, as long it’s hot and humid outside (and, by default, inside), even the best Chip Clip in the world isn’t going to keep those crackers from getting stale by tomorrow. We have become so much more selective about when we do open a bag of chips or a box of cereal (read: we mostly do not).

(Image credit: Lisa Freedman)

2. Salt melts and clumps like you couldn’t even imagine.

One of the first things I set up in our entire house was a cute little salt section. (I seriously did it before I made our bed! Priorities!) I was so proud of myself. Only, it’s kinda gotten ruined since then. That cute Himalayan salt rock? Yeah, it melted after our first 90-degree weekend. And my container of Kosher salt turned into big ol’ salt clump. Who would have predicted that? (You would have? Cool.)

3. You’ve gotta pay extra attention to copper and cast iron.

I have a brushed copper KitchenAid stand mixer, a few small copper pots, and various copper accessories. Plus two cast iron skillets, which I love more than anything. All of these things need extra TLC in the summer. See, the copper tarnishes super quickly and the cast iron develops rust spots — just because of the moisture in the air. I’m constantly checking in on all these things just to make sure they’re okay! If they could talk, they’d probably tell me they miss the spring.

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Are you lacking central (or any kind of) air conditioning? What other issues do you have to deal with in the summer?