Hello everyone! Today I will continue the history of the kitchen in this blog post. Where were we?

I said that the widespread use of the cook stove enabled more “improved appliances” to enter the kitchen. Catherine Beecher (1800-1878), the American pioneer of the rational kitchen, argued for saving an organized kitchen plan by replacing the large kitchen table with condensed, arranged, interconnected work surfaces supported by drawers underneath and shelves in the wall. In search of a kitchen, Beecher begins with the idea that men’s workspaces are rational, smaller and ergonomically equipped. Women’s jobs are made more difficult by large and improperly organized work areas. Taking cues from steamer kitchens, Beecher suggested suitable alternatives to domestic kitchen layouts and fitted kitchen furniture.

Meanwhile, with the cultivation of American civilization as a pioneer country, the quality of cuisine and culinary development was enhanced. By developing the kitchen as a single space, new ideas were implemented to improve the kitchen design in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. By applying science and functionality to the kitchen design, it is designed so that it can be thought of as an individual space that operates completely separate from the rest of the house. Thus, the design of the kitchens has been simplified, concentrated on craftsmanship and focused more on functionality.

Towards the modern kitchen

In kitchen units such as the Frankfurt kitchen designed by Margarete Schutte Lihotsky, the combination of furniture and appliances is one of the steps towards a modern kitchen. In the 1920s, Frankfurt was the birthplace of the first laboratory kitchen, as one of several cities participating in major trends towards low-cost housing. Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky’s idea of ​​Frankfurt kitchen design was influenced by Le Corbusier’s famous quote “a house is a machine for living in”. Therefore, technology has been integrated into kitchens to transform it into a zone with a space for preparing food and machines for preparing food.

In the 1920s and 1930s there was the fact that the kitchen was a unit that was small and properly arranged so that all appliances could cook as efficiently and properly as possible, or designed to make any preparations for eating and drinking.

As the refrigerator enters our lives…

Especially in the late 1930s, cooking became more important. The kitchen is not just for cooking at home, it is becoming a workspace and then a business zone. The evolution of the food industry in the 1900s was rapid. Electricity and emerging technology added the first electric refrigerators and freezers to the kitchen industry between the 1920s and 1930s. In addition, the innovation of products such as packaged foods, frozen fruits and vegetables, and ready-made food packages in the 1940s had a direct impact on kitchen design. The refrigerator, which was produced in Chicago in 1913 for use in homes, has a wooden appearance and works with electricity. There is a compressor type cooler on the upper part of the wooden body. The cooler of this refrigerator is placed on the top of the cabinet. The cooling device was almost half the cabinet.

In this refrigerator, which was produced in 1927, wood gave way to steel. It is one of the first refrigerators made of steel. The compressor is on the cabinet.

The development of industry and science affected kitchen design in different ways. Sometimes, the effect obtained from a new type of food, and sometimes from innovative tools that help the user to prepare and cook food, contributed to this development, and sometimes the diversification of food consumption patterns contributed. As a result, kitchen design was developed together with science and industry. Orderly, well-equipped and efficient arrangements have been the focus of the kitchen market. In particular, the work triangle was one of the most important characters developed from the 1940s to the present. It becomes a standard means of connection for better circulation and easy access between the three kitchen areas frequently used for storage, cleaning and cooking functions.

As the kitchen design began to take shape according to the needs, various kitchen types began to emerge.

I will talk about these kitchen types in the next blog post. 

Stay tuned folks!

Anil Uzun