corner kitchen table

corner kitchen table with Farmhouse

By General Contractors Photographed in Minneapolis
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the first 50% of the twentieth century, the ‘dining 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 important points of domestic life during the first 50% of the twentieth century.

The kitchen table needs to be put in its environment to be able to understand its significance. Nowadays we may believe that this is the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, the kitchen table was there, but in the working-class home it was however family living space. For two thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was called a ‘kitchen'however for one third it was known as a ‘living room '. Food was prepared and cooked in the living room but it was unlikely to be a area for washing dishes. This may be achieved in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A passionate ‘kitchen'was therefore not confirmed in the working-class home and plans for the first council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For all it was the table – the only person in the house. It had been the focal point of the living room and activities took place around or on the table. In the early the main period, the key source of light 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 within their kitchen, this is not the case ahead of 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 only work surface in a time 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 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 playing games and doing homework could be achieved elsewhere. In every, the autobiographical sources referred to 24 different uses of the kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as for example an operating table to eliminate tonsils.

The uses of the kitchen table varied as time passes and reflected the distinctive weekly and daily routines of the working-class home. Ironing would occur either on washday (usually Monday) or these day. Food preparation was a daytime activity, while 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 possibly also help alter the ambiance of the living room. On Sunday, the weekday tablecloth (or newspaper) could be replaced with a better cloth signifying the special nature of the day.

The centrality of the kitchen table declined in working-class homes following the Second World War but has increased in importance in middle-class homes. The variety of living spaces increased in the former along with the number of 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 the two classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.