narrow kitchen table

narrow kitchen table with Contemporary

By Kitchen Designers & Remodelers Photographed in Edinburgh
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the very first 50% of the twentieth century, the ‘dining table'was an important item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is obviously shown in working-class autobiographies which described the facts of domestic life during the very 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 think that this was the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, the kitchen table was there, but in the working-class home it had been however family living space. For 2 thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was referred to as a ‘kitchen'but for one third it had been known 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 certain in the working-class home and plans for the very first council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For a lot of it was the table – the only one in the house. It had been the focal point of the family room and activities took place around or on the table. In early area of the period, the key source of light might sit there. Some uses for the table are familiar; others are now actually 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 within their kitchen, this was false before the Second World War. During those times, 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 an era 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 using it for variety of games from Ludo to ping pong. Homework could be done at the table too as overcrowded bedrooms lacked desks, heat and adequate lighting. Middle-class children had a different relationship with the kitchen table because doing offers and doing homework could be done elsewhere. In every, the autobiographical sources known 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 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, 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 looks of the table may also help alter the ambiance of the living room. On Sunday, the weekday tablecloth (or newspaper) may be replaced with a wiser 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 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 the 2 classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.