Kitchen Design: A History

Kitchen Remodeling Feb 21

The history of kitchens and their design is an interesting one that spans many centuries. As a central place in the house with which to sustain the people living within, the kitchen has always had a central role. It started with the humble fire of course, often outside which was then developed with more solid foundations to later be used inside, whereby simple cauldrons could be hung over a fire. It takes a big stretch of the imagination to understand how far we’ve come. Think of the health problems that must have been caused from the heavy build-up of smoke that came with cooking over fire, which although crude to us now, was, in fact, the main source of light and heat in most homes. The Romans did have the thought to use brick tubes to draw out smoke, but it still was a major issue for a quite a while regardless. Fires are still used today in the kitchen stove, often cast iron. The use of stoves goes back quite a while, with stoves in the 17th century utilizing wood for fuel. Cast iron had its origins in the industrial revolution when the use of iron became more widespread and people realized the brilliant qualities it would have for use in everyday objects. The benefits of cast iron are that it can withstand extreme temperature swings and can also be molded very easily, to features that are essential for cooking. The arrival of the Oberlin stove in 1834 by Philo Stewart was a real boom to the stove industry, as it was, for the first time, a smaller stove, and possessed a number of different features that could make the process of cooking much easier, such as faster cooking times and multiple compartments, and was much more sophisticated than earlier stoves had been in this regard. As time moved on, and the transition to gas came about, and then later electricity, design changed too, and became more about cleaner lines, smoother edges, and a more calming center to the house, rather than a hustling, bustling, firelit “industrious” area of the house, although it has still remained a separate area and can be quite busy. The period after the Second World War also brought about changes, with more sophisticated technology now being employed which eventually led to the spaces we have today, which can often be spacious, cleaner, and employ quieter, cleaner technologies with which to cook food and the make the whole space a much more, in some ways, luxurious area to be in than ever before.