That was fun to watch:)

Some of the comments made fun of the pace of the woman preparing the meal, but besides her pace was for showing the features, I thought how rushed and hurried we are these days - nice to think of enjoying meal prep and not rush, rush, rush.

plus not lots of working outside the home at that time for most wives. I know my Mom never worked outside the home after she got pregnant the first time (with me). Most of my friends' Moms didn't work outside the home then (1949) either. So yes, the pace was slower (but just remember those washing machines, fridge that had to be defrosted, no dishwasher, no A/C, etc.

I enjoyed the video. Thanks for sharing. Lots of interesting details that are relevant today.

My grandfather built my grandmother's kitchen--he was an engineer who also did woodworking. She had a super Susan and a 36" range with a second oven above, the side-by-side fridge was surrounded by cabinets, and she had 6' of to-the-ceiling reach-in pantry cabinets. All dark raised panel, even though it was done in the 60s, because she liked fine furniture and wanted it to look like that. Lol.

This is supposed to be for farm wives. Being a farm wife was easily a full time job.

One on my grandmothers didn't work. The other only took off until her kids were in school, but she changed jobs to be home for the kids in the evenings.

That was fun!

One thing I note is how small the kitchen was ... today's kitchens have ballooned up, and I'm not convinced it's a positive.

Most of my friends' Moms didn't work outside the home then (1949)
either. So yes, the pace was slower (but just remember those washing
machines, fridge that had to be defrosted, no dishwasher, no A/C, etc.

Oh, yes, just think of the things we can do faster today: No wringing the wash and hanging it out to dry (my grandmother talks about hanging diapers on the line and having them freeze) ... disposable diapers are huge time savers ... we buy ready-made bread, cookies, etc. ... we have frozen lasagna on hand for busy evenings ... we can buy professionally canned tomatoes, which are just as cheap as growing your own and canning them ... we don't save bacon grease anymore ... if we tend chickens, it's a hobby ... we don't make our own sweaters and afghans ... if our socks wear out, we buy new ones instead of mending them ... we can order groceries ahead and pick them up while we're out ... so many things are different /easier today.

Being a farm wife was easily a full time job.

I come from farming families, and you're absolutely right. A big bunch of kids, a vegetable garden and food to be preserved for the winter -- it was hard work.

I have many memories of visiting my great-great-great aunt's dairy farm, and everything was centered around food. She had a whole back porch designed for her comfort while she worked: The back porch was slanted slightly and had a small hole in one corner (stopped up with a cork) so she could wash the floor and push the water out that hole ... she had an outdoor faucet that popped up through the floor of the porch so she could fill a bucket of water ... the walls were lined with shelves for her large enameled bowls and various gadgets ... she had a couple small tables, which she could move around to various spots as it suited her ... on the far end she had a drying rack where she could dry beans, etc. ... and she had a door between the kitchen and the porch. For her time period, her porch was a state-of-the-art extension of the kitchen.

One on my grandmothers didn't work.

I was born in the late 60s, and both my grandmothers worked their whole lives. However, it's notable that both had hired help at home:

- My American grandmother had a college degree (unheard of for a woman born in 1913), and she had an unequaled work ethic. She and my grandfather chose their wedding date because it was the only day neither of them was working. Once she had children, she stayed home until the youngest started school ... then she had a part-time housekeeper to do some cleaning, meet the kids after school and cook dinner ... the girl she hired was a recent high school grad who couldn't find "real work", and -- oddly enough -- in my grandmother's later years, that same girl was a Meals on Wheels volunteer who brought her lunches. Anyway, by the time her youngest child was in school, my grandfather had started his own business, and she worked with him in the office. Later he became disabled, and she became the primary breadwinner. She loved her work and worked part-time into her 70s, though it wasn't a financial necessity.

- My other grandmother was an accomplished secretary who had a college certificate (still ahead of her time), and she worked for the government. Hired help was very cheap, so she did literally nothing at home -- to the point that my aunt says that the children had no chores /learned nothing about keeping house, and when she was a new wife (in America, where hired help couldn't be had for pennies) it was rough for her to "learn on the job". My grandmother was very much "a society lady", and in all the pictures I see from her younger years, she's wearing evening gowns and furs, or she's vacationing here and there. To be perfectly honest, that grandmother always made it crystal clear that she didn't care for me much, and I don't know a lot of details about her.

Thank you for the video - amazing how many ideas are still incorporated here today! Yes, the slow pace was to show the 'ideal kitchen layout'. I loved seeing all the drawers, the ways they made a small kitchen so useful.

"Behind the door, a container, holding 40 lbs. of flour feeds the smaller bin below" Ok, can I just say Clever! Reminds me of the MT soap dispenser! But seriously, needing and using 40 lbs. of flour to make all your breads, biscuits, pie dough... it's hard to fathom these days, isn't it? We have it so easy.

My Grams also lived and worked on a farm, plus was a hospital dietitian - that was back when they cooked hospital meals almost separately for each patient, served them individually on china with silver - each meal hand-delivered and hot, not to mention very nutritional and tasty. This was a large hospital with people of all incomes. Things have changed!

That video reminds me how I much could use an onion and potato bin somewhere!

Are built-in kitchen desks considered outdated now? I think I read that somewhere, but honestly, having an area to sit and look over recipes, organize grocery lists, seems incredibly useful, and far better than the kitchen table to me.

I love the wallpaper, and the fact that there was No Island.

Sadly, there was no backsplash tile either. There was so much storage in that bs area - that was pretty cool.

Thanks Artemis.

That video was fun to watch. Loved the rudimentary special effects to show what was behind cabinet/bin doors. If the sink had a sprayer, she could have rinsed the dinner dishes that she washed before serving dessert. 0.0

Things that stuck with me: the handmade cabinets look like handmade cabinets, and all the "new" metal bins looked old and worn. Maybe it's galvanized.

Both my grandmothers worked and had small kitchens with one counter top run that held the sink. Most of the prep was done on the kitchen table. They both made the most wonderfully delicious food in their sparse work spaces.

I had a great aunt who was born in the 20s. She was a CPA her whole life. One great-grandmother even worked after kids--court reporter. She had to quit her first job when she got married.

The great grandmother who was a farmer's wife was a farmer's wife, though!!!

My grandmother who worked had an advanced degree. Talk about rare!

What a cute video to watch! My 3-year-old asked me if we were going to watch Tom&Jerry when the music started :) I'm going to show this to my 83-year-old Mother-in-law today. This was made when she was a teenager, and just a couple of years before she had her 1st (of 8) kids and was a brand new wife. I bet it will bring back fun memories for her.

I liked it a lot. Am buying a 1947 house, so the kitchen is small, but many of the ideas in the video come in handy. I noted they had the super Susan, lots of bottom drawers, and skinny in height bottom shelves for platters. I will put all my serving dishes next to my stove now!

I really like the desk/work center by the stove. My new kitchen has a stove at the end of the cabinetry, so I am placing a 1955 formica table on the end next to stove to use as seated workspace like in the video.

Tiny kitchens can function very well indeed!

My mother in law great up without plumbing or electricity until she was older. Lol. 3rd world.

Milly Rey, mine did too : - ) I remember my parents explained 'ice box' to me... the ice truck came by delivering blocks of ice to be kept in their ice box for cold items. Years later, Mom did NOT speak of it fondly, LOL! My Dad grew up with an outhouse, and he never remembered that very fondly either... or the old greasy lunch bag he carried to school day after day. Funny the memories coming back now...

I remember my first DW... forgot to use it for several weeks, and it was just beside my sink! The things we get used to... the things we now take for granted!

I stayed with a friend's grandmother for a while as a child, and loved the old newspaper on the walls as insulation... I would lay awake in the lamp-light on that amazing feather mattress, snuggled under the warm but well-worn quilt and read the old articles! I have to say, I did not enjoy the trip out to the outhouse in the cold! But I loved the creaky raw-wood floors, and the wonderful breakfast from her cast iron stove and cast iron skillets - that's where my love of cast iron cooking must've begun! I thought her pigs smelled, but loved working the farm with her!

The slow pace of the woman is for video ease, so the viewer has time to reflect on all the perks. This is a demonstration video.