When a Jew buys a new house to move into is there a formal way to kosher the kitchen of the new house?

Question

Does one have to have a rabbi come to do this or can the person do it on their own?

Answer 1

The easy answer is: no, you don't need a rabbi to kasher (make kosher) your new home.  We certainly don't have rabbis coming in and blessing the place - that's a Christian (actually Catholic) concept and is completely foreign to Judaism.

The less simple answer is - if you don't know what you're doing, it is often easier to call and have a rabbi or other religious organization come in and help you out, because depending on the home, it can be a lot of work.  The kosher laws are complex and have to do not only with the actual food, but the containers that hold and cook them - which includes kitchen equipment.  Some appliances, like dishwashers, can never be made kosher once they have been used for non-kosher dishes.  You simply have to buy a new one.  Porcelain sinks are also problematic - while you don't have to replace them, as no cooking is done in them, you would have to put down sink mats and not soak your dirty dishes in hot water in them - you would have to use a separate basin for soaking.  

If it's a new house, with a new kitchen, you generally don't have to do anything.  Just give everything a good scrubbing (that's just common sense), and you're good to go.   Any kitchen that has been in use before, however, needs to be kashered if you are going to have a kosher kitchen.  Once everything has been scrubbed as clean as you can get it, to remove all food residue, the predominant way of kashering a kitchen is through heat (which will burn or boil off all remaining residue).  If you have a self-cleaning oven, this is a LOT easier.  Stainless steel sinks can be kashered by pouring a sufficient amount of boiling water over them. The microwave is a closed box - the inside lining is non-porous, so there is no way it can become inherently unkosher. It simply needs to be scrubbed, then put a glass of water in and let it boil over for a couple of minutes to fully steam the interior.  The refrigerator, since it is only used for cooling food and storing cold food, is the easiest - you only need to clean it with hot water.  

Here are a couple of good sites that detail how to kasher the whole kitchen, piece by piece:

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_howto...

(though I would avoid their advice about dishes - they can shatter or even fuse to your oven racks permanently, and then you have a really expensive mess on your hands - it's much better to buy new)

http://kosherfood.about.com/gi/dynamic/o...

And as I said before, if it's too daunting you can also always call a rabbi or other authority to do this for you - Chabad usually offers this service, often for no charge.  But since you end up having to do the whole thing again once a year before Passover, it's probably better to bite the bullet and learn how to do it yourself

Good luck!

Answer 2

If I remember correctly, they bring the Rabbi in to throw a blessing on the whole place.

Answer 3

Michelle R has said it all in detail!