How Kitchen Worktops Remind You Of The Past

Kitchens are the heart of all homes, as a child my most nostalgic memories are from cooking and being in the kitchen watching my mother cook. Just the smell of certain foods can bring back extraordinarily strong emotions and recollections of family life in the kitchen.

I would return home from school the smell of beef stew cooking and the tantalising waft of fresh cupcakes sat on the kitchen worktop would be overwhelming. I would stand nearby, desperately wanting to touch the warm doughy treats that had been prepared, only to be shooed off and told 'not until after dinner'.

I think most people can relate to these memories, as a lot of us find comfort in our families cooking when we feel down or miss those close to us. The concept of home and the kitchen has been prevalent presence within our culture since the beginning of time and the kitchen holds much history to how we have developed the area in which we eat, prepare food, entertain guests and as well as cleaning the households washing.

The kitchen is the place that families congregate to eat, usually on a table within the kitchen surrounded by chairs. This is often why the kitchen is considered one of the most comforting rooms with the house and with even modern kitchens today. With gadgets, dishwashers and shiny, modern kitchen worktops it is still seen as the psychological 'hearth' of the home.

Within ancient history, the houses in Greece usually were arranged and based around a courtyard that was central. In these homes a patio that was covered yet still very open was considered the kitchen.

Homes of the rich usually had a whole separate room dedicated to the kitchen, which was adjacent to the bathroom so that both rooms were heated by the large kitchen fire. Much like today's design, there was even a room that lead from the main kitchen for storing both food and kitchen utensils. Within the Roman Empire however, common people used public kitchens and had no kitchen of their own within their homes.

It is interesting that even in ancient history the concept of the kitchen was incredibly similar to that we have today. Medieval Europe however was slightly different. Wealthy longhouses typically always had more than just one kitchen, sometimes with as many as three.

The kitchens were organised by which food was prepared within them but there was not a chimney within the kitchen, but a hole in the roof in which some of the smoke created by work in the kitchen could escape.

The design of the kitchen hardly moved far architecturally during the Middle Ages as an open fire was the only way in which food could be cooked.

Medieval kitchens were dark and smoky directly because of this, and even during the 10th and 12th centuries the kitchen still had an open fire hearth within the middle of the room. Again wealthier families had a ground floor that was predominately used as a stable and the kitchen was located on the floor above, where typically we now have bedrooms.

Looking at some of the history of the kitchen it is easy to see why it has such a psychological impact on us today as it has in the past. Although the technical advances have changed hugely, the concept has not and although we fill our kitchens with washing machines, ever-changing designs and expensive kitchen worktops to match the interior it is still a little more than just a kitchen.