The gradual and steady improvement of the kitchen down through the centuries would certainly serve to impress people if they cared to learn a bit about this completely ubiquitous room in almost any home today. From the first open campfire where foods were prepared to the room we now know, many developments in design and technology can also be laid at the feet of engineers who sought to improve workflow.
For most of the history of humans, the room that we look at today and where food is kept, prepared and sometimes eaten, consisted of nothing more than a spot outside the home where an open campfire was kept and food was cooked on. Generally speaking, it was only the wealthy classes in most societies like the Greeks and Romans where a separate room in the home was devoted to food preparation.
Most of the other classes of people in the societies spent more of their effort in earning enough to procure cooking utensils such as pots and pans rather than in trying to build a separate cooking room. It was the Romans, however, who began to look at the problem and built a number of large kitchens for the public where they could bring their food and prepare it.
The lack of the kitchen in the home — with the exception of the relatively wealthy — carried on for much of history and most people didn’t give it a second thought. For example, Pioneer American colonizers living on the frontier often times had a single room cabin and a fireplace over which food was prepared. They would mark off an area around the fireplace as a kitchen.
Truthfully, improvements in kitchens down through the centuries since are largely the result of concurrent improvements in the design and manufacture of ranges and cook stoves. Innovations in manufacturing meant that stoves were more common which also meant that kitchens were more possible. Additionally, the availability of indoor plumbing for running water also made the kitchen more possible.
Like much of everything that has developed over the last few centuries, improvement in mass production as a result of the Industrial Revolution, led to the increasing ubiquity and low cost of stoves and refrigerators and other kitchen appliances. This made it possible for even the middle and lower classes to devote an entire room to the task of preparing of foods.
Additionally, efforts undertaken by scientists and engineers to improve the efficiency of work processes are partly responsible for many design touches found in kitchens today. The thinking was that women who had more efficient kitchens would spend less time in the home cooking and more time working in the factory. Some of these kitchens were very small and compact but highly efficient.
Thus — in conjunction with urbanization and the penetration of gas, water and electrical lines throughout the country in the 20th century — the kitchen as we know it today became fully possible even for those who were in the lower classes in the country. Soon, every housewife wanted a stove and refrigerator and manufacturers worked hard to make to design rooms where they could be accommodated.
Matthew Kerridge is an expert in kitchen design. If you would like further information about types of kitchen or are looking for a trusted kitchen retailer please visit http://www.wrenkitchens.com
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