What can you use in an Airbnb kitchen? - Keeping it Kosher Clips

Let's talk about Airbnbs or home rentals.  You take your family away for a vacation,   and now, in this rental, you have  microwaves, you have stovetops,   you have counters. Can you briefly address  the issues of these different items? So even though we said there was  a heter for Stam Keilim, that's   only bedieved, that's after the  fact, or you're in a tight situation.   You don't take a vacation and just rely on that  lechatchilah. So, the microwave is really the   easiest thing to use because if you double-wrap  something, you don't have to kasher it. And double-wrap means in saran  wrap? It means in plastic bags? Either or. I see. But it has to be plastic? In other words,  if I wrap it with paper towels, it doesn't help? No. I would not recommend that because a problem  that can come up is that anything that gets hot,   you know, the zeah liquefies and it comes up,  and the paper towels won't hold it back. Whereas,   if it's double-wrapped plastic, it should hold  it in, and there shouldn't be any problem. Stove tops, you know, there might be  dirt or grime on the stove itself,   but the actual coils, can I just put my kosher  pot on top of the coils and use it like that? There are different types of ranges. If it's a gas  range with the old-fashioned fire that goes on. So   you can just clean the grate and put the fire on  for 20 minutes, and then it's considered kosher,   and then you can cook your food. It would  be a problem if it's a glass-top stove,   that would be a problem because you can't  really kasher glass. I mean glass is a   very big enigma in halacha, either you  can't kasher it or it doesn't really   get tried. So of course, not on Pesach. You  know, Ashkenazim, bedieved, b’sha'at hadchak,   they might be makel, but never in a lechatchilah  setting. And what people do is, you don't have   to kasher it, you put something, there's a mat  that's made to go over these glass-top stoves;   it's called a LoMi mat. And you put that on  top, and it's hefsek, so it divides between the   range and the pot, and even if it wasn't cleaned  properly, it doesn't make a difference, it's fine. Wow. Is there a difference between Ashkenazim  and Sephardim when it comes to glass? Yes. Because it's a question in the  Rishonim, what exactly is the status   of glass? Is it like a klei cheres? You can't  kasher a klei cheres. The only thing you can do   is throw it out. And there's one de'ah  that holds that not only is a klei cheres   better because it doesn't it's not boleah,  meaning it doesn't absorb any tam at all. So, we discussed microwaves,   stovetops. What about the countertops?  Do you have to do anything with them? The countertop is a little bit of an issue because  perhaps there was some hot non-kosher food there.   Even if you want to say stam keilim, but again,  lechatchilah, you don't want to rely on that. So,   don't take your hot spoon that you just  mixed something with and that's wet,   and put it down on the counter. Better to  put some plastic down or on it to make a   little separation between the keilim that you're  using to prepare food now and the countertop. And what about the kettles? It seems like  every Airbnb has a nice kettle on top,   and you make your coffee with the  kettle on top. The kettle is just   used for hot water. Can you just  use any kettle you find in Airbnb? Yes, no problem with using a kettle. Even if,  again, someone would use it for something other   than water, there's a principle with  kashrus, rov tashmiso, is how you how   you dan on a klei. You don't have to assume it  was made with something else, that he made his   vegetable soup or chicken soup in there. And  you can use it for plain hot water, no problem.