"Oh my God, I grew up in the kitchen. Absolutely. The kitchen, for me, is home." Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark
Continuing with the kitchen bit by bit exercise, I am looking today at the part of the kitchen that has been designated David's. Well it's a way of getting into the subject of changing kitchens, changing people - evolution in a particular space. Above is a sort of overview of the kitchen bench. More or less all of it is in the picture. This bit is David's bit in close-up, and let me tell you it is relatively organised at the moment because of last week's birthday party which meant there was considerable tidying up. I put in the overview of the kitchen bench to demonstrate the size of the space he takes up. And again - at the moment it's a bit less than usual.
I designed my kitchen and was conscious of the fact that there would indeed have to be a space somewhere for David. It's where he has his breakfast and where he sits for lunch, reads the newspaper, checks the mail, does puzzles in the paper. It's a more relaxing extension of his desk in the study. We tried a couple of kitchen designers, who were pretty hopeless, before resorting to designing it ourselves. Well mostly I did the designing, but of course it had to be pased by David. And fair enough. I tried completely separate places for him - one was looking out into the garden I seem to remember, because I knew he would overflow onto a larger space, of which he only had a designated part. My husband loves an empty space. He will fill it immediately. It's a primal instinct. Me - I love empty spaces. At times I have been irritated I confess - even annoyed, but I have now come to accept that I am really fussing over nothing because there is plenty of space left for me. More than plenty. Besides the other part of the kitchen he inhabits is the sink, for he always washes up. As his mother said to me after the wedding - "I've trained him well dear." And she had.
I am pointing this out however, not to have a go at David, but to say a few more words on how kitchens have changed over the years. This is my mother in the kitchen in my second home. I think we are looking at the early 1950s. It was a separate room at the end of the house - a narrow galley space, that also served as the laundry on washing day, when a washing machine was installed next to the massive stone sink - which would have been to the right of where the photographer was standing. I have no idea where it was for the rest of the week. The right-hand wall was obviously just behind the stove that you can just see in the corner. The photographer would have been standing more or less at the end of the kitchen bench, so, as you can see, it was very small.
The point is that not only was it tiny and therefore without the space for somebody else to spread their stuff out and sit and have their breakfast, it was also a completely separate room. Kitchens were back then. Our dining, gathering, homework kind of space was beyond the wall on the left. Also a small space - this is England after all and a very average home - it housed a dining table, a large radio/radiogram and a few built in and glassed shelves for the crockery, beside the fireplace. Just about everything happened in that room - I remember ironing, and sewing in there, doing homework, although we did have the luxury of another room in which to watch the television - also a bit of a luxury.
The separate kitchen idea persisted for many years. I think now that there was a modicum of shame about the kitchen. It was a messy place, maybe a sanctuary for mum too. I do know that when we built our first house here in Australia our kitchen was separate, and I think I may even have requested that it be so. I think my reasoning was, that I didn't want any guests to see the dirty pots and pans in the sink if we had invited them around for lunch or dinner. A much more frequent event than today.
Below are the only two pictures I could find of that kitchen. I suspect that the space that the children are sitting at would have been the breakfast bar - if you can call it that - but also the work space. The bench on the opposite side would have contained the sinks and perhaps a bit more workspace.
Over time adjusting to my current kitchen and because of the little spats the two of us have had about how David clutters up a large portion of the bench, I have actually come to realise, that generally speaking I do not actually use a lot of space for food preparation. I always work on the same - I would say quarter - of the entire bench. A space the size of which is similar to the space above. And when you think of the size of some of the open restaurant kitchens you can now see, you realise that you don't actually need all that space for cooking - unless you are preparing a major family feast of course.
There must have been some kind of a midway point where other people came into the kitchen to do other things than cook. Maybe it began with a hatch through which one could communicate. Whatever the process before too long the kitchen opened up to the 'family room' which was like the space in my Hornchurch house where everything happened. Where the family met, worked at various things, argued, ate around the table which would have been central to the room, and just generally hung out. And sometimes this evolved into everyone moving into the kitchen and getting in mum's way.
And so, if you were lucky enought to be able to afford this of course, the 'family room' as it was then called, expanded into an everything room - the previously separate lounge, being absorbed into the kitchen hub. COVID only exacerbated this as people had to work there too. And so the kitchen itself grew so that all members of the family could find a space around the vast bench to do their thing or nearby on the couches or the dining table. Which means of course, that these days you need a charging hub as a major feature. It also means, I think, that sound becomes an expanding problem, particularly as these spaces are not usually carpeted, but have hard surfaces everywhere.
Of course, as well as talking about the evolution in the size and importance of the kitchen I have also been talking, unconsciously at first, of our own rise from relative poverty, or very average income, to a privileged and wealthy lifestyle. Obviously I cannot apply my own kitchen story to that of others with less options. I am sure that in some desperate parts of Australia - and there are some - everything would be smaller and less sumptuous, but I'm pretty sure that in virtually every case the kitchen would be open to the living and eating area. This even occurs in apartments, although in many of them, the kitchen is sort of disappearing, as the property developers assume that the inhabitants will not be cooking but will be eating takeaway. So there is no separate bench - just a kitchen section against the wall with a tiny space on which to work - a bit like my very first kitchen as a wife in a rented basement flat, where my workspace was the top of the table top height fridge.
Maybe from now on kitchens will separate into those two categories. Those in which people actually cook as well as gather and which will therefore include as big a workspace/bench as is possible within the restrictions of space and money, and those with just a cooktop and a microwave - maybe not even an oven but space for an air fryer, but open to as large a living/gathering space as space and money will allow.
Our house is not really modern like that. Yes the kitchen is open to the dining room, but not to the lounge/TV room or the study. We are still at a midway point.
BACK THEN ON THE BLOG
October 31 - Halloween and also Diwali I see, which are two opposites - dark and light although possibly celebrating the same thing - moving into winter and the dark. Well they are northern hemisphere festivals.
2023 - Grey food
2022 - Nothing
2019 - Nothing
2018 - Ginger - I don't like it
2017 - Nothing
2016 - Crumpets
A fascinating account of how we live and grew in our kitchen. Designed and refined by Rosemary and built by me with considerable support from Dale