ikea kitchen table and chairs

ikea kitchen table and chairs with Traditional

By Home Builders Photographed in Dallas
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the initial 50% of the twentieth century, the ‘kitchen table'was an important item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is clearly shown in working-class autobiographies which described the details of domestic life during the initial 50% of the twentieth century.

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

For many it was the table – alone 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 key 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 household ate together, sometimes in two sittings if the household was large. Though middle-class families now eat meals in their kitchen, this is false before 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 as it was the only work surface in a time 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 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 an alternative relationship with the kitchen table because playing games and doing homework could be achieved elsewhere. In most, the autobiographical sources described 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 over time 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 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 appearance of the table can also help alter the ambiance of the living room. On Sunday, the weekday tablecloth (or newspaper) may be replaced with a smarter 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. All of the living spaces increased in the former alongside the amount of tables, whilst 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.