Sunday, December 30, 2007

The warmest room in the house?

Surfing about, I came across this review of a history of the kitchen in the 20th century by Steven Gdula.

Do you hang out in the kitchen?

I grew up in a house where the kitchen was the hub of the action, but really it was a kitchen and dining room combined. In the Maritimes, there is the delightful tradition of kitchen parties. Here's a quote from the remarkable Newfoundland squeezebox player, Vince Collins, from his excellent CD, "Lifting out the Stove": "Mostly they'd have a dance in the kitchen. It was all wooden floors. Some of the kitchens was a bit small so they'd have to take out the stove, lift it outdoors in the yard for to make more room for dancing...and they'd play all night and in the morning they'd bring in the stove again for to boil the kettle and have a cup of tea.".

3 comments:

Radmila said...

The kitchen is always where everyone ends up...even when I kick them out because I can't work...they all slowly creep back in.

That's funny, isn't it?

Friday night I had 9 people crammed into my smallish kitchen...big ass living/dining room...which they all pulled chairs from and dragged into the kitchen.

Candy Minx said...

Yep I like a kitchen. I like them to have a bar with bar chairs, an island and some cosy chairs...even a couch and a tv. Sort of like an urban farm kitchen...

Gardenia said...

I truly love the kitchen - especially since I love to cook. One of the reasons I love this house is that the kitchen is at least as large as the living room area - its open - and bright and has lots of seating. Most of my fondest gatherings took place in the kitchen throughout life.

If I were to ever build a dream house, it would be predominately kitchen - with a fireplace in it - lots of open shelves - windows - two ovens -