kitchen half of the cottage

[Maybo]

There was a wardrobe which must have contained her clothes, and a great many more cupboards than in the kitchen half of the cottage.

Source: Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Does "kitchen half of the cottage" mean the kitchen occupied half of the cottage?

 

[Flask]

Does "kitchen half of the cottage" mean the kitchen occupied half of the cottage?

Though a noun, "kitchen" functions adjectivally there, answering the question "Which half of the cottage?" The kitchen half. "The kitchen half" means "the half with the kitchen." The kitchen could take up "the whole half" or only part of it. Perhaps the kitchen half of the cottage included not only the kitchen but a dining area that was not part of the kitchen proper.

 

[tedmc]

It's unlikely that the.kitchen alone would occupy half the area of the cottage, so it probably includes the dining part and other ancillary areas.

 

[PeterCW]

I read it as meaning that the cottage had two rooms, one of which was the kitchen. Until the 20th century a cottage would not have had special rooms for eating or relaxing.

This isn't the place for an essay about social and architectural history but the European working classes used to live in very crowded conditions.

 

[Maybo]

Does "kitchen half" mean "the part of the half of Kitchen"?

 

[emsr2d2]

Does "kitchen half" mean "the part of the half of Kitchen"?

No. It means the half of the house that contains the kitchen. Note that "the part of the half of Kitchen" means nothing and contains incorrect capitalisation.