white kitchen table

white kitchen table with Transitional

By Architects & Building Designers Photographed in Ottawa
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the very first 50% of the twentieth century, the ‘kitchen table'was an important item of furniture for the British working-class family. Its importance is clearly shown in working-class autobiographies which described the important points of domestic life during the very first 50% of the twentieth century.

Your kitchen table needs to be placed in its environment to be able to understand its significance. Nowadays we might think that this was the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, the kitchen table was there, but in the working-class home it was however family living space. For 2 thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was described as a ‘kitchen'but for one third it was referred to as a ‘family room '. Food was prepared and cooked in the family room but it was unlikely to be always a place for washing dishes. This could be performed in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A dedicated ‘kitchen'was therefore not a given in the working-class home and plans for the very first council houses in 1918 had ‘living rooms'and ‘sculleries'but no ‘kitchens '.

For many it was the table – alone in the house. It had been the focal point of the family room and activities took place around or on the table. In early part of the period, the key 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 in their kitchen, this was not the case before the Second World War. In those days, 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 utilizing 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 performed elsewhere. In every, the autobiographical sources described 24 different uses of the kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as an operating table to eliminate 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 following 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. All of the 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.