ikea kitchen table

ikea kitchen table with Eclectic

By Interior Designers & Decorators Photographed in London
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the initial 1 / 2 of the twentieth century, the ‘kitchen table'was an important item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is actually shown in working-class autobiographies which described the facts of domestic life during the initial 1 / 2 of the twentieth century.

The kitchen table needs to be put in its environment to be able to understand its significance. Nowadays we would believe that this is the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, the kitchen table was there, however 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 called a ‘kitchen'however for one third it had been referred to as a ‘family room '. Food was prepared and cooked in the family room but it had been unlikely to be always a area for washing dishes. This would be done in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A passionate ‘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 several it was the table – alone in the house. It absolutely was the focal point of the family room and activities took place around or on the table. In the early part of the period, the key light source might sit there. Some uses for the table are familiar; others are now actually rare. It absolutely was 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 inside their kitchen, this is not the case prior to the Second World War. In those days, 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 real 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 number 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 done elsewhere. In most, the autobiographical sources referred to 24 different uses of the kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as an operating table to remove 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 daytime 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 appearance of the table can 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 range of living spaces increased in the former alongside the amount 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 both classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.