The Vital Nature Of Kitchens In The Home

By Matthew Kerridge

Though, we may not think of them as often as we might if we were aware of their history, kitchens and their importance in the home can certainly make for some interesting historical study. These vital and completely ubiquitous rooms in the modern-day home have existed in various iterations throughout human history, even down to the basic campfire over which early human tribes cooked their food.

Scholars studying the development of technologies used in the home over the last several thousand years can tie the development of cook stoves and ranges to the concurrent development of the kitchen as we know it today. As those stoves became more sophisticated so too did the kitchens they sat in. Additionally, improvements in plumbing also contributed, though kitchens were still basic up until the'th century.

It was in the'th and'th centuries in the West that people began to look at the open fire over which most food was heated and prepared as less than adequate. As a result, engineers and others began to study the problem and also started applying solutions to the need to improve the cook stove and range. This allowed the stove to be brought into the home along with plumbing to create the modern kitchen.

Even though we look at kitchens today as almost an afterthought when thinking about where they came from, history reveals that even the ancient Greeks had areas in their homes that they considered to be kitchens. Wealthy Greeks of the day actually had a separate room where food was prepared. They were usually located next to a water closet or bathroom so that both could share a common fire.

The Romans, who were extremely efficient at taking designs and improving them, actually came up with the idea of large kitchens for common Romans, many of whom didn't have kitchens in their own homes. Wealthier Romans, of course, had kitchens that were often highly equipped and occupied a separate room in a typical Roman villa. Kitchens then kept fires burning all day to cook food.

It was in pioneer colonial America that a kitchen area soon came to be looked at as a vital part of the home. Usually, it was located next to a fireplace that was constructed near a corner of a cabin that was used not only to heat the living area but also the food. It was only later in American history that the kitchen came to be placed into a separate room.

The Industrial Revolution, working as it did on kitchens the same way it did with just about anything else involving technology, provided the greatest impetus in the development of modern-day kitchens. Updated and improved cook stoves and ranges soon came into being and with them the ability to create a room where food preparation and cooking of food could be accomplished more easily.

In the modern day that we live in, there seems to be a limitless variation in the ways and methods that kitchens can be built. Nowadays, they range in size from very small and equipped with a basic stove, refrigerator and sink all the way up to rooms in the home that often are larger than the total living area of a colonial American cabin or home itself. - 30289

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