Source: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/garden/09kosher.html
Back when the rules of Orthodox Judaism were set forth — that no work should be done on the Sabbath, from Friday evening until Saturday evening — no thought was given to the number of dirty dishes that would pile up in Howard and Elaine Alt’s kitchen over the weekend.
The Alts, who live in Teaneck, N.J., typically have nine people for Friday night dinner, an elaborate meal that includes homemade chicken soup with matzo balls, and 15 or 16 for lunch on Saturday, when the family digs into roast chicken or beef as well as vegetables. But the Alts never turn on the hot water or even use a sponge during the Sabbath, so the mess at the end can be pretty big.
The situation should improve now that the Alts have renovated their kitchen. Instead of one sink and one dishwasher, they now have two of each, so they can easily separate meat and dairy dishes and load them to be washed later. They have also installed some new features brought out by appliance companies that make it easier to follow their rules but also keep a clean kitchen.
Observant Jews tend to learn from their parents how to keep kosher in an ordinary kitchen. They do not turn on lights, cook food or turn any electricity on during the Sabbath, which means, among other things, that the lights in a refrigerator must be disabled before sundown on Fridays. Ovens and dishwashers can also be problematic, since newer models tend to have digital displays or beeping sounds that are activated when the door opens.
Over the last decade, many companies have introduced Sabbath-compliant appliances, and these in turn have fueled interest in kosher kitchen renovations. Instead of having to jury-rig their refrigerators so that the lights do not come on when the door is opened, for example, Orthodox Jews can now buy appliances with built-in mechanisms to disable the lighting and electronics during the Sabbath. The Alts bought a Sub-Zero refrigerator that comes with this feature, known as “Sabbath mode.”
Many appliance makers, including General Electric, Frigidaire, Electrolux, Whirlpool, Maytag and Viking, sell products with a Sabbath mode, said Avrom Pollak, president of Star-K Certification, a Baltimore-based organization that issues kosher designations for household items. (A list of approved products can be found at star-k.org.) There are no reliable estimates for how many people in the United States keep kosher, Dr. Pollak said, but there is sufficient demand for these features to make it worthwhile for the manufacturers.