Kitchen maid (domestic worker)

Dutch painting of a young kitchen maid. 19th century or early 20th century.

A kitchen maid or kitchen girl is a young housemaid, or other junior female domestic worker. In the hierarchy of a great house she ranked below a cook and above a scullery maid. An experienced kitchen maid is an assistant cook; the position may be compared to that of a chef de partie in a professional kitchen.

The kitchen maid reports to the Head Cook, if there is one.

Her uniform may consist of a blouse and a skirt, and apron.

Margaret Powell worked as a kitchen girl at the age of 15.^[1]

An early meaning of "slut" was "kitchen maid or drudge" (c. 1450), a meaning retained as late as the 18th century, when hard knots of dough found in bread were referred to as "slut's pennies".^[2] A notable example of this use is Samuel Pepys's diary description of his servant girl as "an admirable slut" who "pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better" (February 1664).^[3] "Slut" and "slutishness" occur in Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It, written in 1599 or 1600.^[4]

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