black kitchen table

black kitchen table with Contemporary

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

Your kitchen table needs to be put into its environment to be able to understand its significance. Nowadays we would think that this is the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, your kitchen table was there, however in the working-class home it was in the primary family living space. For 2 thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was called a ‘kitchen'but for one third it was referred to as a ‘living room '. Food was prepared and cooked in the living room but it was unlikely to be always a area for washing dishes. This could be performed in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A dedicated ‘kitchen'was therefore not certain in the working-class home and plans for the first council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For many it was the table – the only one in the house. It had been the focal point of the living room 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 now rare. It had been at your kitchen table that the household ate together, sometimes in two sittings if the household was large. Though middle-class families now eat meals inside their kitchen, this is incorrect prior to the Second World War. During those times, only the servants ate regular meals at your kitchen table in wealthy households and your kitchen of the lower-middle class suburban ‘semi'had little space for eating at a table.

Food preparation was generally done at your kitchen table since it was the only real work surface in a period before units. The table was used as 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 deploying it for variety of games from Ludo to ping pong. Homework would be done at the table too as overcrowded bedrooms lacked desks, heat and adequate lighting. Middle-class children had a different relationship with your kitchen table because doing offers and doing homework could be performed elsewhere. In all, the autobiographical sources referred to 24 different uses of your kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as for instance an operating table to get rid of tonsils.

The uses of your kitchen table varied over time and reflected the distinctive weekly and daily routines of the working-class home. Ironing would occur either on washday (usually Monday) or the next day. Food preparation was a day activity, as the playing of games took devote 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 possibly 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 your kitchen table declined in working-class homes following the Second World War but has increased in importance in middle-class homes. The range of living spaces increased in the former alongside the amount of tables, whilst in middle-class homes, your kitchen table grew in importance as did your kitchen itself. Present-day usage of kitchen tables thus reflects a convergence in domestic culture between the two classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.