kitchen maid
Below-stairs domestic worker
A kitchen maid is a domestic servant who assists the cook, handling tasks like washing dishes, peeling vegetables, scrubbing pots, and keeping the kitchen clean.
The position was near the bottom of household staff hierarchies in large estates: She started as a kitchen maid and worked her way up to cook.
The term is largely historical, associated with the era of formal domestic service.
- sculleryRoom for dishwashing
- servantOne employed to serve
- servants' quartersHousing for domestic employees
- apronWaist-tied protective garment
- scrubbingCleaning by rubbing hard
scrub brush · pots · pans · hearth · soot · black lead · below stairs · service stairs · housemaid · domestic · skivvy · drudge · washing up · dirty dishes · hot water · copper · ladle · downstairs
- castle staffchamberlain, chambermaid, butler, guard, handmaiden
- household staffbutler, housekeeper, cook, nanny, servant
- servantsbutler, servant, servants, domestics, valet
- domestic servantshousemaid, chambermaid, parlormaid, housekeeper, domestic
- servant quartersservants, servant, domestic staff, household staff, below stairs
- Royal Servantsbutler, valet, footman, chamberlain, lady-in-waiting
kitchen maidhead of household
Family's chief decision-maker
butler · master of the house · lady of the house · housekeeper · estate manager
kitchen maidhead cook
Kitchen's senior culinary leader
chef · executive chef · head chef · sous chef · cook
kitchen maidmistress
Illicit female lover
master · aristocrat · employer · noblewoman · duchess
kitchen, maid, kitchens, kitchenette, maids, maiden, maidens, maidenly, maidservant