drop leaf kitchen table

drop leaf kitchen table with Mediterranean

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

The kitchen table needs to be put into its environment in order to understand its significance. Nowadays we might believe 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 two thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was described as a ‘kitchen'but for one third it was known as a ‘family area '. Food was prepared and cooked in the family area but it was unlikely to become a area for washing dishes. This will be performed 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 many it was the table – the only person in the house. It had been the focal point of the family area and activities took place around or on the table. In early area of the period, the main light source might sit there. Some uses for the table are familiar; others are now actually 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 false before 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 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 using 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 your kitchen table because playing games and doing homework could be performed elsewhere. In all, the autobiographical sources described 24 different uses of your kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as an operating table to get rid of tonsils.

The uses of your 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 looks of the table could also help alter the ambiance of the living room. On Sunday, the weekday tablecloth (or newspaper) might be replaced with a wiser cloth signifying the special nature of the day.

The centrality of your 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 the amount of tables, during 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.