kitchen table lighting

kitchen table lighting with Farmhouse

By Architects & Building Designers Photographed in San Francisco
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the very first half of the twentieth century, the ‘kitchen table'was an essential item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is actually shown in working-class autobiographies which described the details of domestic life during the very first half of the twentieth century.

Your kitchen table needs to be put into its environment to be able to understand its significance. Nowadays we may assume that this was 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 described as a ‘kitchen'however for one third it had been called a ‘family room '. Food was prepared and cooked in the family room but it had been unlikely to be always a place for washing dishes. This might be achieved in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A separate ‘kitchen'was therefore not confirmed in the working-class home and plans for the very first council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For most it was the table – the only one 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 main light source might sit there. Some uses for the table are familiar; others are actually rare. It absolutely was 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 was incorrect 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 since it was the only real 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 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 remove 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 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 appearance of the table could 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. All of the living spaces increased in the former along with how many tables, during 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.