The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1933-11-30
Old and New Kitchen Types
In Comparison With Other Periods, Modern House
wives Have Many Conveniences That Were I'm
known to Their Great Crandmoshers.

Before you can really appreciate
the conveniences Of your modern day
kitchens with their cupboarded walls.
ventilation systems, and enameled
furnishings, you have to have some
conception of what your great grand
mothers and their European con-
temporaries had to put up with.
Not that your grandmother's moth
er minded bit, for most of the fam
lily life a hundred years ago Gen.
tered in the kitchen-quilting bees.
corn shocking parties and harvest
celebrations were all held in the early
Colonial kitchen-but she did sur
vive a great many Inconvenience.
But just how many they were
you'll probably never know unless
you visited the kitchen exhibition at
A Century of Progress, at Chicago.
where seven replica kitchens were
created to portray the Spanish, Eng
lish, Dutch, French provencal, Acadi-
an, early New England. American of
1869 period, and the modern Amer
lean types. Extensive research re-
suited in complete authenticity, with
typical room arrangements. charac-
teristics and atmosphere faithfully
reproduced Many of the utensils on
display were valuable original pc
Rod pieces.
The modern kitchen shown was a
revelation of science. 1t lacked some
of the quaintness and picturesque
ness of the other displays, because
today 1T is no longer the ,'''1iving
room" of the home, but has been de-
signed to render maximum efficiency.
To save both energy and time, sci
!ence has created equipment with
plain surfaces, uniformly severe lines
and utmost -compactness. =.#2.
Light in color, with cleaning metal
fixtures, the cabinets, stoves, sinks
and refrigerators. all of which were
shown at A Century of Progress, are
easy to keep clean, as well as being
beautiful in their simplicity. Vivid
color accents add a touch of gayety
to the severity. FAX, a..s. IS. al
All equipment is arranged accord
ing to the scientific plan of minimum
effort. at heights to accommodate
woman of 5 feet z inches. making
the working level &c inches from the
floor to the palms of her hands when
she is standing, shoulders relaxed.
arms bent in a working position.
Electricity has played major role
in the modern day kitchen. and is
utilized for the stove. refrigerator,
dishwasher, clock, telephone extern
sion. ventilation. mixer. radio loud
speaker, and the indirect lighting
over the sink and work table. A
planning desk in one nook is a new
note, with wide shelves for cook
books, a handy telephone, pads, pen
ellis, and a radio speaker. At the
windows hang panel curtains of red
trimmed white oilcloth hung on
chromium rods. the trimming being
in harmony with the plain red limo
leuIn on the floor.
Then you would want to see what
the earlier kitchens looked like. In
the American kitchen of 1869 you
could find the old fashioned stove
with copper hot water boilers, the
iron sink with the pump attached.
the inevitable rocking chair, the
hanging pots and pans, and the
crockery churn.
The early Colonial home conferred
about the big fiat hearthstone in the
kitchen, or fireroom as it was called
then. Their fireplaces were huge cav
ems, fed with tremendous back logs.
and built in the side of the fireplace
was the Dutch oven for baking.
Overhead in the kitchen were open
rafters, from which hung punches of
drying corn, onions and peppers. The
mantel was put to use as resting
place for guns, powder horns, clock.
candle molds. pitchers. mugs and lam
terms. III
About the Acadian kitchen there
was rustic simplicity, combined
with a delicacy of line and coloring
that was charming. To this simplicity
had been added touches of old France
in the coloring Of the walls and
beams, and in the china, clocks and
pictures.
Then one might have visited the
comedy Dutch housewife its delft
tile fireplace. Here a crane is sus-
pended over the fire. and nearby
stands a copper and brass door-pot.
used by the thrifty ones to keep the
glowing briquettes overnight. There
are also numerous spoons and long
pronged forks, a fine bellows Of
brass, foot warmers, and earthen-
ware bowls. IT..
But the most radical departure, for
kitchen, is the builtin wall bed,
concealed in daytime by curtains of
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