small kitchen tables

small kitchen tables with Eclectic

By Photographers Photographed in Dallas
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the first half of the twentieth century, the ‘kitchen table'was a vital item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is obviously shown in working-class autobiographies which described the details of domestic life during the 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 might assume that this is the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, the kitchen table was there, but in the working-class home it absolutely was in the primary family living space. For two thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was described as a ‘kitchen'but for one third it absolutely was referred to as a ‘family area '. Food was prepared and cooked in the family area but it absolutely was unlikely to become a area 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 first council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For many it was the table – the only one in the house. It was the focal point of the family area and activities took place around or on the table. In the first part of the period, the main light source might sit there. Some uses for the table are familiar; others are now rare. It 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 in their kitchen, this is not the case 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 as it was the only real work surface in a time 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 utilizing it for variety 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 doing offers and doing homework could be done elsewhere. In all, the autobiographical sources referred to 24 different uses of the kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as for example 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 the next 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) might be replaced with a wiser cloth signifying the special nature of the day.

The centrality of the kitchen table declined in working-class homes after the Second World War but has increased in importance in middle-class homes. The variety of living spaces increased in the former along side 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 both classes, though contemporary advocates of the ‘farmhouse kitchen'rarely acknowledge its antecedents in the working-class living room.