Evolution justifies, that heat and food bring people together. Acquiring food included hunting and gathering, and later agriculture. In old times, people cooked on open fires that were built outside on the ground.
The hearth was known from prehistoric campsites and it was the sole source of heat, light, and cooking, so the kitchen in a home was placed into the corner of the main room and served as a meeting place for families. This was true for thousands of years.
One day, someone (and we at Richwise Australia are sure, it was a woman) came up with an amazing idea of putting everything needed for cooking into one place next to the fireplace and water (or stove and sink later). That’s how kitchens were invented. The idea of combined kitchen was to save miles of steps that used to be between shed, stock barn, pantry, water and fireplace.
In ancient Greece, a top covered but air open patio was served as a kitchen in the atrium-type house with rooms, arranged around a central courtyard.
Sometimes kitchen was already a separate room, usually next to the bathroom (so that both rooms could be heated by the kitchen fire), both rooms had an access from the court. In such houses, there was often a separate small storage room in the back of the kitchen used for storing food and kitchen utensils.
In the Middle Ages, simple masonry constructions were used to hold the wood and food. The food was placed in metal bowls hanging above the fire. In medieval times unless you lived in a castle, kitchen wasn’t a separate room. The kitchen area was the area between the fireplace and entrance. In a castle, the setup was a bit more complex and took up most of the ground floor. Among huge fireplaces there were buttery, pottlery, pantry and various storerooms attached to the kitchen.
The kitchen became a separate room in the 18th century, when thank to metal stoves people got better control over fire.
In the 19th century, through industrialization time, the furniture makers promoted an idea of an integrated, efficient kitchen. The sink was initially a large porcelain bowl and the preparation area was set up with some basic storage above it. Kitchen cabinets went aesthetically better looking and housewives got more space for all needed utensils. The cabinets became display cases and storage. Considering that with the time families migrate from big dining rooms to eating dinners at a small kitchen table, the cabinets and the whole kitchen should be ergonomically right.
The kitchen is the heart of the home. We at Richwise Australia know how to make your kitchen comfortable and stunning, we are providing high-quality birch and poplar plywood materials and are always ready to help with design and other professional suggestions.