Today, there is a room in our house that can trace its history back to the first open fires which early bands of humans used to cook food over. What you might not know about the kitchen, then, could come as a surprise, especially when it's realized that these fascinating rooms owe some of their development to the need to streamline work on the factory floor.
Throughout much of human history, what we think of as the kitchen consisted of not much more than an open fire and a few implements and tools to cook food over it. For sure, wealthy ancient Greeks and Romans quite often had separate rooms in which an open fire was kept and food was cooked on but most people tended to not even have what could be considered a rudimentary kitchen.
The common folk, instead, were more focused on procuring the pots, pans and utensils in which food could be prepared over a campfire rather than obtaining a room in whatever home they had. The first attempt at bringing kitchens to the masses was undertaken by the ancient Romans, who built large kitchens open to the public where food could be prepared by one and all.
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.
Subsequently, engineers working in factories began to look at improving kitchen design in order to enable women to spend less time in their kitchens and more time in the factories. Much of the design concepts in a kitchen today owe their ancestry to these early efforts at streamlining workflow and processes in these very small but highly efficient kitchen workspaces.
Indeed, the improvement in the ability to bring electricity, indoor plumbing and other now-commonplace technological developments led to the rise of the kitchen throughout the 20th century to what it has become today, when even the smallest and least expensive of apartments or homes may have an extensive room dedicated strictly for the preparing of foods.
Throughout much of human history, what we think of as the kitchen consisted of not much more than an open fire and a few implements and tools to cook food over it. For sure, wealthy ancient Greeks and Romans quite often had separate rooms in which an open fire was kept and food was cooked on but most people tended to not even have what could be considered a rudimentary kitchen.
The common folk, instead, were more focused on procuring the pots, pans and utensils in which food could be prepared over a campfire rather than obtaining a room in whatever home they had. The first attempt at bringing kitchens to the masses was undertaken by the ancient Romans, who built large kitchens open to the public where food could be prepared by one and all.
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.
Subsequently, engineers working in factories began to look at improving kitchen design in order to enable women to spend less time in their kitchens and more time in the factories. Much of the design concepts in a kitchen today owe their ancestry to these early efforts at streamlining workflow and processes in these very small but highly efficient kitchen workspaces.
Indeed, the improvement in the ability to bring electricity, indoor plumbing and other now-commonplace technological developments led to the rise of the kitchen throughout the 20th century to what it has become today, when even the smallest and least expensive of apartments or homes may have an extensive room dedicated strictly for the preparing of foods.
About the Author:
Matthew Kerridge is an expert in home improvements. If you want further information about types of kitchen or are searching for a trusted kitchen retailer please visit http://www.wrenkitchens.com
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