butcher block kitchen table

butcher block kitchen table with Beach Style

By Interior Designers & Decorators Photographed in Portland
Date uploaded: July 19, 2017
In the very first half 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 very first half the twentieth century.

The kitchen table must be put in its environment in order to understand its significance. Nowadays we might assume that this is the kitchen. Certainly, in middle-class homes, your kitchen table was there, in the working-class home it was in the primary family living space. For 2 thirds of the autobiographers examined, this room was referred to as a ‘kitchen'but also 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 area for washing dishes. This will be achieved in a'scullery'or ‘back kitchen '. A separate ‘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 several it was the table – the only person 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 actually rare. It had been at your kitchen table that the household ate together, sometimes in two sittings if the household was large. Though middle-class families now eat meals inside their kitchen, this is not the case ahead of the Second World War. During those times, only the servants ate regular meals at your kitchen table in wealthy households and your kitchen of the lower-middle class suburban ‘semi'had little space for eating at a table.

Food preparation was generally done at your kitchen table since 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 would be done at the table too as overcrowded bedrooms lacked desks, heat and adequate lighting. Middle-class children had a different relationship with your kitchen table because doing offers and doing homework could be achieved elsewhere. In all, the autobiographical sources referred to 24 different uses of your kitchen table. These ranged from eating to more obscure uses such as for instance an operating table to eliminate tonsils.

The uses of your 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 day activity, as 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 looks of the table may possibly also help alter the ambiance of the living room. On Sunday, the weekday tablecloth (or newspaper) might be replaced with a smarter cloth signifying the special nature of the day.

The centrality of your 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 amount of tables, whilst in middle-class homes, your kitchen table grew in importance as did your 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.