Replies

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Feb 03, 2010 08:47am | #1

   In Southern mansions of that period, the kitchen was hardly a place for the family, since these were all places with "servants". The mistress of the house may have supervised, but didn't work--not the a Southern home qualifying as a mansion. Dinner guests didn't congregate to chat in the kitchen while dinner was prepared.

   Remember too that these are not the really spectacular Antebellum homes--those were a product of King Cotton, and cotton wasn't to dominate until some time after 1800. The Whitney patent for the cotton gin that made American cotton viable was only dated to 1794. I'd look for materials on homes such as Mt. Vernon, Monticello, at the high end, as well as the many plantation homes in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina.

   This is cooking in the fire place which was likely furnished with cranes, etc. with some sort of oven arrangement. I suppose some iron stoves were beginning to be adopted. Kitchens could often be in separate outbuilding (the summer kitchen), to keep heat out of the house, and to isolate the risk of fire. Hardly likely to find built in cabinets--A work table or two, some pantry shelves. You would find no hints of the Federal style that might be furnishing the main house. Certainly the "style" would have been "country" or "rustic".

1. 
   WillGeorge | Feb 04, 2010 01:36pm | #8

   GREAT REPLY! Sort of like my mothers kitchen. NOBODY was allowed in there! Espically us boy children! Girls were allowed?

   Today's picture was taken in the 1920's and shows the kitchen in the White House. As in the USA..

   http://old-photos.blogspot.com/2009/11/white-house-kitchen.html

   I would think that kitchen was everything the USA could afford at the time for the Kitchen and the staff working in it! Shame on the USA for doing that! THE BEST IMPRESSION TO OTHERS IS GOOD FOOD! I did a look for 1920's pictures for the White House, inside, where the cooks/servents did not have to work in!

   None, I could find.. I guess they hid it from view..

   I will leave it to you to search upon what I found!

2. 
   joinerswork | Feb 03, 2010 10:24am | #2

   Vwright,

   What steve said. In Furniture Treasury by Wallace Nutting, there are several photos of recreated period kitchen interiors, and these all center around a large fireplace.

   What is most often done nowadays, is to make the cabinets resemble in style what would be built-in cupboards, or panelled walls from homes of the period being copied.

   I was just in a home where this was done very tastefully. The fridge and double ovens were hidden by grain-painted flipper doors so they resembled cupboards. There were no upper cabinets as such, but a pair of "pantry" doors, also grained, that covered a floor to ceiling set of shelves for canned goods. Lower cabinets were broken up to (sort of) suggest pieces of furniture- an old dry sink was actually incorporated in the cabinet array to house the sink, while the stovetop inset into the countertop was above a "breakfront" type step out cabinet that stood on bracket feet insted of a kickspace. The drawer fronts were cockbeaded, and the dishwasher had a false front that resembled a bank of drawers. I'm building two hanging corner cupboards, (not matching) that will serve in lieu of upper cabinets.

   Food prep and sanitation was entirely different in colonial times. Most of the kitchen appliances were either used on the hearth- toasters, grills, reflector oven, "dutch" ovens, skillets,and saucepans were operated in front of the fire, or above beds of coals raked from the fireplace. Cranes supported large pots and kettles directly over the flames, and there might be a spit turned by a clockwork spitjack. Baking was done in a reflector oven in front of the flames, in a dutch oven on the hearth, or in an oven recess beside the fireplace, heated by coals on its floor, or by convection in some instances. A large table typically seved in place of a countertop for washing, chopping, slicing, grinding, whipping etc.

   Incidentally fire was ahead of childbirth as a cause of death for the colonial housewife. Those long skirts and red hot coals strewn all over the hearth were not a good match.

   Ray

3. 
   hammer1 | Feb 03, 2010 10:31am | #3

   A kitchen in 1800 would have been fairly primitive. For the wealthy owners of mansions, it would have been the realm of maids, servants and slaves. Often, the kitchen was in the basement or in a separate building. It wasn't where the lady of the house would have spent time. It could be a nasty place, no refrigeration, no indoor plumbing, smoke, soot, odors. The danger of fire was significant which is why the kitchens were often in a separate building.

   By and large, cooking was done on an open hearth. I'm not sure if canning had become common by that time. Preserving food was primarily by pickling and salt. There would have been stoneware jugs on shelves containing such stuff. Butchering and all the preparation that is now done for us would have been the business of kitchens, a far cry from todays kitchens.

   Kitchens of that time would not have had much in the way of cabinets. Simple open shelves, utensils hanging on hooks along with meats and poultry. It's not likely the rich would have spent much to make a kitchen attractive or provide convenience items for their servants.

   I doubt if your customer has a genuine 1800 kitchen in mind. More than likely, they would want a stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, sink and running water. Some of the elements they may have in mind, an open hearth, open shelves, a rustic table, a hutch or Welsh cupboard, utensils hanging. You would not have seen a bank of matching cabinetry, nicely finished with drawers and pretty knobs. It would have been a sparse collection of a few individual pieces of furniture.

   You probably don't have historic colonial buildings in BC to visit. Colonial Williamsburg may be a good source to investigate. The Early American Society put out a series of books called Architectural Treasures of Early America. They are out of print but you can find them on the net. These have great pictures, black and white along with extraordinary detailed drawings. Here is a picture that may be along the lines of what the customer is thinking.

   http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://recollections.nma.gov.au/ejournal_library/images/vol_4_no_2/sanitising_7/files/30636/Sanitising_the_Past_image7_web.jpg&imgrefurl=http://recollections.nma.gov.au/ejournal_library/images/vol_4_no_2/sanitising_7/&usg=__LHMeNrfHsN_NlwNnVOd2JY3oXCc=&h=327&w=450&sz=43&hl=en&start=45&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=Dosk-LCkqKUzcM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcolonial%2B%2Bkitchen%2Bimages%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D40%26um%3D1

1. 
   Eef | Feb 03, 2010 11:57am | #4

   interesting discussion. the gamble house, here in pasadena, although not a colonial era house, has similar kitchen issues. walking around that house one can easily see that no expense was too great in its construction. it is one very lavish place. however, the kitchen is purely utilitarian. large drawers everywhere, zinc countertops, small hexagonal tile work on the floor. nothing about it distinguishes it as a greene brothers creation.

   eef

2. 
   Vwright | Feb 03, 2010 12:08pm | #5

   Thanks for the input. I knew we must be looking at something basic/rustic and that it would not be a direct copy of 1800, I think what he wants is the feeling that the house is old. I just want to know where to start. I won't be actually starting the kitchen for a few months we aren't even to lockup yet. I've got time to let things turn over in my mind.

   I like the idea of hiding as much of the modern appliances as possible yet I wouldn't want it to deter actually using the kitchen. The kitchens use and focus in a house has definitely changed but I like the challenge of making something look like might be from a different era.

   Thanks guys, lots to think about.

1. 
   Eef | Feb 03, 2010 12:37pm | #6

   v,

   keep us posted as to your progress. is the homeowner giving you creative/design license?

   eef

1. 
   Vwright | Feb 04, 2010 12:14am | #7

   Right now he's not thinking
   Right now he's not thinking about too many details, we aren't even at lock up yet. I'm just trying to figure it out since that's what I'm most interested in right now. He's thinking keep it as simple as possible, he wants one section to have open shelves and that's about all he's put into it. It's going to be awhile till we get there, we have a two storey house with a full basement that is 2000sq ft on each floor and there are only two of us working on it. It'll be slow but quite fun as we are going to be milling the sideing and all the trim on site. We might even mill the flooring too. It's labour intensive. I love it.

2. 
   Bolts | Feb 04, 2010 11:38pm | #10

   There is a magazine put out by Old House Journal called I think New Old House that and its parent magazine may be a help with pctures of peiod houses.

   Regards from OZ

4. 
   BruceS | Feb 04, 2010 02:39pm | #9

   I have visited many historic bldgs. The Monticello kitchen is detached on a lower level near the garden and not very glamorous. The McNab (sp) "Castle" in Hamilton Ont. also has a very boring kitchen in the basement, but they sure made some great lemon cake(bread). Your going to find that just about all of the furnishings are going to very simple "Shaker type"