stainless steel kitchen table

stainless steel kitchen table with Farmhouse

By Interior Designers & Decorators Photographed in Kent
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the initial 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 initial half of the twentieth century.

The kitchen table must be placed in its environment in order 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 was in the main family living space. For just two thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was referred to as a ‘kitchen'however for one third it was referred to as a ‘family area '. Food was prepared and cooked in the family area but it was unlikely to become 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 many it was the table – alone in the house. It absolutely was the focal point of the family area and activities took place around or on the table. In the early the main period, the main 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 family ate together, sometimes in two sittings if the family was large. Though middle-class families now eat meals within their kitchen, this was 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 because 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 deploying 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 playing games and doing homework could be done 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 get rid of tonsils.

The uses of the kitchen table varied with 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, whilst the playing of games took devote 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) could be replaced with a smarter 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 along side 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.