cheap kitchen tables

cheap kitchen tables with Contemporary

By Kitchen & Bath Designers Photographed in London
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the initial 1 / 2 of the twentieth century, the ‘dining table'was a vital item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is obviously shown in working-class autobiographies which described the important points of domestic life during the initial 1 / 2 of the twentieth century.

The kitchen table must be put in its environment in order to understand its significance. Nowadays we might assume that this is the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, the kitchen table was there, but in the working-class home it had been in the primary family living space. For just two thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was referred to as a ‘kitchen'but 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 become a area for washing dishes. This would be achieved in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A dedicated ‘kitchen'was therefore not a given in the working-class home and plans for the initial council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For all it was the table – the only one in the house. It had been the focal point of the family area and activities took place around or on the table. In the first area 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 the kitchen table that the family ate together, sometimes in two sittings if the family was large. Though middle-class families now eat meals in their kitchen, this is false prior to the Second World War. At that time, 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 a period 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 deploying 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 an alternative relationship with the kitchen table because winning contests and doing homework could be achieved elsewhere. In all, the autobiographical sources known 24 different uses of the kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as an operating table to eliminate tonsils.

The uses of the 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 place in 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 smarter 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 along with how many tables, while in 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 both classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.