The proper order of things

There is a debate in my house, and your opinion will determine whether this marriage - nay, even the continued existence of the universe as we know it - shall survive.

It’s knife, fork and spoon, am I right? This is the correct order of things in the silverware drawer, not fork, knife and then spoon. I mean, what are we, savages? I blame her upbringing in Buffalo, which is a hotbed of radical thought with their Pickalilli Relish, beef on Weck, and their satanic worship of the chicken wing. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to hear “I’m going to have a jelly and peanut butter sandwich for lunch.”

Oh, and she also orders her eggs “easy over”, which I’m pretty sure is grounds for a restraining order.

What say you, Dopers? Sit down and take a stand for all human-kind.

Is that right-to-left or left-to-right?

j

Our silverware drawer insert has 4 slots, and we sort as thus from left to right: spoons, forks, butter knives & steak knives. But then, my entire family is left-handed, so maybe we do things backwards.

But separating the spoons and forks with knives? That just seems very wrong. As wrong as saying ‘easy over’. Could your wife be a tad dyslexic, by chance? I’m sure she’s a wonderful person, despite her silverware confusion.

My silverware drawer goes, left to right, (1) big space full of long and random things like chopsticks and serving spoons, (2) forks, large and small with heads opposite, (3) spoons, same, (4) butter knives, (5) steak knives, (6) another big space full of small random things like mini teaspoons and corkscrews.

^^^ This is the correct way, though for reasons of drawer size, steak knives reside elsewhere and kitchen chachkes have their own tetanus drawer.

To the OP: Eggs over easy us just wrong. It should be eggs over medium. Let me know if you need the number for a Portland marriage counselor.

She’d probably say “medium over” and further enrage me. As for the order, the drawer starts with knives on the right, then forks, then teaspoons, then soup spoons. There’s a slot in front for salad forks, although why anyone thinks it’s necessary to eat one’s salad with a special fork smacks of perversity and elitism.

Left-to-right: serving utensils (forks, spoons, ladles, cake knives), dessert knives, dinner forks, salad forks, spoons, misc (cheese knives, oyster forks, cob holders, crab cracker, etc). Pull the drawer out a little more and you’ll see the dinner knives. Steak knives aren’t in the drawer at all, they are in a tray on a different counter. Chopsticks also have their own dedicated drawer.

~Max

I have a very wide drawer for utensils.

In the middle is a section which goes all the way from the front of the drawer to the back.

Left of that, across the back of the drawer, are the steak knives which match the flatware.

In front of them perpendicular, are the butter knives, salad forks and then the dinner forks.
In front of them again perpendicular (so same direction as the steak knives) are the soup spoons and then the teaspoons, which are in front. As they are not so long, they only cover the butter knives and salad forks. In front of the dinner forks, in line with the dinner forks, are the espresso spoons. And I think something else.

Anyhow, it‘s not the same. And it‘s rather complicated to explain, but really easy to use.

She sounds like a monster.

My lovely wife uses salad forks for all things fork. I’ve learned not to hurl it as an accusation during arguments.

Butter knives? My my, aren’t we the precious one. Do you have a swooning couch in your living room?

Left to right - Spoons, forks, butter knives, steak knives. The butter knives include any table knife not sharp enough to cut steak.

I have seen other configurations which are incorrect but the OP’s order of knife first does not merely appear incongruous to normal utensil users but may also be some kind of cry for help.

I don’t have steak knives. They rank down there with snail forks. I have two paring knives if I ruin a perfectly good piece of meat, but lightly serrated table knives cut most anything I care to eat.

Let me guess… you spork?

~Max

Ye gods, man, I’m not from San Francisco, although I do admit an unholy fondness for granola. The wife, who DID live in SFO for a few decades, has several sporks in various locations (I’m guessing in case the industry goes tits up at some point), but I’ve never observed her using one to ingest food.

My flatware drawer uses two identical 5-compartment Rubbermaid organizers set transversely. The pointy end of the utensils is on the left, and the handle end is on the right. From front to back the contents are:

Table knives (commonly but erroneously called “butter knives” by the uncultured)
Salad forks
Teaspoons
Steak knives and a serrated small chef’s knife we commonly use for cheese.
Tablespoons
Full-sized dinner forks
A second stack of teaspoons
Chopsticks

So there.

You… don’t have snail forks? Or, you know, tofu “snail” forks?

You’re cracking me up, kid.

Unless I’m mistaken there’s butter/dessert knives, vs place/dinner/table knives, vs steak knives.

~Max

What does one use a ‘dessert knife’ on? Not jello, certainly.

We do. The Rubbermaid organizers also include another compartment about 5" square. The front one is full of mini hors d’oeuvre-sized forks, knives, & spoons along with condiment spreaders. Which forks are perfect for snails. The rear organizer compartment is full of corn-on-the-cob handles