Do you let guests use your kitchen?

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The Farmers Daughter

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My kitchen is closed off from the rest of the Inn. Breakfast is plated and carried out to the dining room to be served.
I just spoke to a couple who have strict dietary requirements and have requested to use the kitchen to prepare all their meals. They do not eat out and are stict kosher. I have never been presented with such a request before. Have you?
They claim they go to many Bed and Breakfasts and this has never been a problem. Curious as to how you folks would handle this.
 
The answer is absolutely NOT! Just because they are cooking it does not make it Kosher. True Kosher involves 2 sets of cooking pans, 2 sets of utensels, 2 sets of dishes, etc AND everything has to have been harvested/butchered under Kosher rules. There is no way any Gentile kitchen can meet the requirements of Kosher.
 
I allow guests to enter the kitchen to get coffee or tea and when I am full the guests can eat at the kitchen table. But I they don't do any food preperation in there. If they want to cook kosher they should probably be renting a vacation rental home that has its own kitchen.
 
I agree. It seems highly unlikely to me. I told them I do not keep a Kosher kitchen and I didn't think I could accommodate them in that regard. The husband said that they would then bring all their prepared food and would just need to heat it up and somewhere to eat it.
They booked the last room available for this weekend (and the smallest 15'x15' with a small bath w/shower and 1 queen bed)
Then he said they would even bring their own microwave oven and perhaps a crock pot. I said absolutely not! I won't have anyone preparing food in their room!
Oh...and by the way, they have a special needs baby that just sleeps in the bed with them....that won't be a problem ... will it?
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I cancelled them...where do people get their nerve?
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We are fortunate to have a separate cottage with a full kitchen, so I would tell them that was the room they would need to book. If the cottage were full and they were in the rooms in the main house, I would refuse them kitchen priviledges. It's against our health department regulations, and even if it weren't I still don't want people wandering in and out and using my kitchen.
Did they mention this before they booked with you?
I don't believe them when they say they haven't had an issue with other B&Bs!
 
I agree. It seems highly unlikely to me. I told them I do not keep a Kosher kitchen and I didn't think I could accommodate them in that regard. The husband said that they would then bring all their prepared food and would just need to heat it up and somewhere to eat it.
They booked the last room available for this weekend (and the smallest 15'x15' with a small bath w/shower and 1 queen bed)
Then he said they would even bring their own microwave oven and perhaps a crock pot. I said absolutely not! I won't have anyone preparing food in their room!
Oh...and by the way, they have a special needs baby that just sleeps in the bed with them....that won't be a problem ... will it?
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I cancelled them...where do people get their nerve?
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Good for you for cancelling them. This was definitely not the right fit. They could easily find a hotel/motel with a kitchenette and everyone would be happy. I'm glad you learned about their requests before they checked in!
 
The Farmers Daughter said:
My kitchen is closed off from the rest of the Inn. Breakfast is plated and carried out to the dining room to be served.
I just spoke to a couple who have strict dietary requirements and have requested to use the kitchen to prepare all their meals. They do not eat out and are stict kosher. I have never been presented with such a request before. Have you?
They claim they go to many Bed and Breakfasts and this has never been a problem. Curious as to how you folks would handle this.
Ah yes the old, "I go to B&Bs all the time and they all let me (insert unreasonable request here) all the time.
Absolutely not. This is not their vacation home. They can do a search for a kosher B&B if they are that strict. If I have to, I'll tell them the Health Dept will not allow.
All they have to use is a microwave in the tasting room. Period.
They sound like TROUBLE to me.
Riki
 
I've never been to a b&b that would have allowed me to cook, AND I don't want to when I am on vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I would be very upset if I found out the people in the next room where cooking in there! Good for you cancelling them.
 
I had a kosher couple here last November who brought all their own prepared food. They did not ask to use my kitchen or any of my plates or utensils. All the food they brought was ready-to-eat. They kept a cooler out on the back porch with the food. They did generate a tremendous amount of trash, so that I put an extra kitchen trash can up on the back porch. I don't allow the use of my kitchen, ever. It's in our private quarters and we are not going to make that available to anyone.
 
we recently had a big discussion here about a couple who wanted kosher meals - was it proud texan? and they were doing their best to accommodate them. there is kosher and then there is KOSHER. some keep totally separate kitchen appliances, sinks, everything, one for meat and one for dairy, others just use different shelving in the fridge, different pans ...
if this couple says they are allowed to use the kitchen at other b&b's then they might be staying at little ones 'under the radar' ... i have stayed at places that were extremely casual. but i have a feeling they are fibbing or they stay at housekeeping cottages which seems more appropriate for what they want. and some b&b's do have housekeeping cottages.
i did have guests who wanted the use of a blender and i set it up for them in the breakfast room on the buffet table. they did not want any food i set out except for fruit and blended up their own smoothies and protein things. i had a guest microwave and fridge in guest library but wouldn't want guests bringing in appliances.
 
Although I just finished a remodel and it's now beautiful (I would have been embarassed before), I would never let a guest in the kitchen, much less use it. We sleep upstairs with guest rooms next to and across from us, and we share a bath with a guest room. The kitchen and it's adjoining private living room are the only real privacy we have, and I refuse to let it be violated. It's my sanity!
 
we recently had a big discussion here about a couple who wanted kosher meals - was it proud texan? and they were doing their best to accommodate them. there is kosher and then there is KOSHER. some keep totally separate kitchen appliances, sinks, everything, one for meat and one for dairy, others just use different shelving in the fridge, different pans ...
if this couple says they are allowed to use the kitchen at other b&b's then they might be staying at little ones 'under the radar' ... i have stayed at places that were extremely casual. but i have a feeling they are fibbing or they stay at housekeeping cottages which seems more appropriate for what they want. and some b&b's do have housekeeping cottages.
i did have guests who wanted the use of a blender and i set it up for them in the breakfast room on the buffet table. they did not want any food i set out except for fruit and blended up their own smoothies and protein things. i had a guest microwave and fridge in guest library but wouldn't want guests bringing in appliances..
SS,
That might have been us as we had a gentlemen for a week with a very strict kosher diet. We did our best for the few mornings he wasn't so paranoid about us and the other guests that he actually joined us for breakfast.
He mostly ate crackers and prepared foods in his room which he barely ever left for six days. We had a much bigger problem with that aspect and the unfounded accusations lodged against us of stealing some personal items of his.
As many have stated on so many topics here, we can't be everything to everybody and on such strict things like this, FD made the right decision.
Part of our obligation to the other guests staying at our places is our being in control of the environment, tone, and access to amenities for all the guests. Allowing one to do soemthing you're not prepared or legally able to allow all to do is ripe for abuse, problems and hard feelings by those not utilizing said privileges.
 
You don not h ave to allow them to do anything in your kitchen. Your kitchen isn't kosher...so why would it be ok for them to use it???? I can't believe they gave you the line that other B & B's let them....maybe they did but doesn't mean you have to. I certainly would not.
Let them go somewhere else. Tell them you are sorry you cannot accommodate their requests as the "health dept. doesn't permit it."
This happened to friends of mine just a few weeks ago. However..the couple BROUGHT their own microvwave, toaster oven and all utensils and dishes etc with them. They cooked their own food. This however was in a cottage on the property. '
THey need to find a rental cabin.
 
I agree with everthing said so far. The part that I find especially strange is the "Special needs child" that they just casually throw into the pot at the last moment. I would never allow a child with medical needs to sleep in a QS bed with the parents. What if the child fell out and was injured? The whole thing just doesn't sit right.
 
This is a problem at every B&B they have ever gone to. Don't get shnookered. If they eat kosher only, your entire kitchen will have to be scrubbed before they can use it. Or, they will layer tin foil on all of the surfaces. YOU will not be allowed to work in the kitchen while they are there so you don't contaminate anything.
Where will they be able to store their foods, etc?
That's got to be rough, but there are kosher B&B's they can go to.
 
No kitchen access, health dept rules. Boundaries. Guests will try to push them and barge through them every time.
 
Glad you hear they are now cancelled. Refer them to a kosher BnB or one with an onsite restaurant.
 
Our health department would not permit this unless one of them obtained a county food workers card,
KathleenM
 
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