rustic kitchen tables

rustic kitchen tables with Contemporary

By Interior Designers & Decorators Photographed in Perth
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the initial half the twentieth century, the ‘dining table'was a vital 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 half the twentieth century.

The kitchen table must be placed in its environment in order to understand its significance. Nowadays we might 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 main family living space. For two thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was described as a ‘kitchen'but also for one third it had been called a ‘living room '. Food was prepared and cooked in the living room but it had been unlikely to be a place for washing dishes. This will be done in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A passionate ‘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 several it was the table – the only person in the house. It had been the focal point of the living room and activities took place around or on the table. In the first area of the period, the main source of light 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 within their kitchen, this was 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 sole work surface in a period 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 deploying 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 playing games 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 the following day. Food preparation was a daytime activity, whilst 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 look of the table could also help alter the ambiance of the living room. On Sunday, the weekday tablecloth (or newspaper) may 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 the number 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 the two classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.