black kitchen table set

black kitchen table set with Contemporary

By Kitchen Designers & Remodelers Photographed in Perth
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the very first half of the twentieth century, the ‘kitchen table'was an essential item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is obviously shown in working-class autobiographies which described the facts of domestic life during the very first half of the twentieth century.

The kitchen table must be placed in its environment in order to understand its significance. Nowadays we may think that this was the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, the kitchen table was there, however in the working-class home it had been however family living space. For just two thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was referred to as a ‘kitchen'however for one third it had been known as a ‘family area '. Food was prepared and cooked in the family area but it had been unlikely to be always a area for washing dishes. This would be achieved in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A separate ‘kitchen'was therefore not a given in the working-class home and plans for the very first council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For most it was the table – the only one in the house. It was the focal point of the family area and activities took place around or on the table. In early part of the period, the main light source might sit there. Some uses for the table are familiar; others are actually rare. It was at the kitchen table that the household ate together, sometimes in two sittings if the household was large. Though middle-class families now eat meals within their kitchen, this was incorrect before the Second World War. In those days, only the servants ate regular meals at the kitchen table in wealthy households and the kitchen of the lower-middle class suburban ‘semi'had little space for eating at a table.

Food preparation was generally done at the kitchen table because it was the sole work surface in an era before units. The table was used being an ironing board and for washing up in homes lacking a sink. People sat, sewed and read there. Memoirs of working-class childhood recall playing at the table and utilizing it for selection of games from Ludo to ping pong. Homework will be done at the table too as overcrowded bedrooms lacked desks, heat and adequate lighting. Middle-class children had a different relationship with the kitchen table because playing games and doing homework could be achieved elsewhere. In every, the autobiographical sources known 24 different uses of the kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as for instance an operating table to eliminate tonsils.

The uses of the kitchen table varied with time and reflected the distinctive weekly and daily routines of the working-class home. Ironing would occur either on washday (usually Monday) or the following day. Food preparation was a day activity, as the playing of games took invest evenings and at weekends. Uses of the table were also seasonal: warmer weather and lighter evenings meant children played outside and grown-ups chatted on doorsteps. Changing the look of the table may also help alter the ambiance of the living room. On Sunday, the weekday tablecloth (or newspaper) could be replaced with a wiser cloth signifying the special nature of the day.

The centrality of the kitchen table declined in working-class homes after the Second World War but has increased in importance in middle-class homes. The variety of living spaces increased in the former alongside the number of tables, during middle-class homes, the kitchen table grew in importance as did the kitchen itself. Present-day usage of kitchen tables thus reflects a convergence in domestic culture between the 2 classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.