The First “Modern Kitchen”?

last year

https://www.dwell.com/article/history-of-the-frankfurt-kitchen-48d7e18d

I found this article very interesting. I’ve known that the modern “sanitary kitchen” with fitted cabinetry emerged around the 1920s, but don’t know much about how that happened. How much US kitchens were influenced by developments in European kitchens around that time, or vice-versa, remains a mystery to me.

Any kitchen design history buffs wish to illuminate this?

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Comments (5)

porkchop_z5b_MI
last year
Thanks for posting the article, it was interesting. I would hate those built-in bins, though I can see why they were used in the design because of the space restrictions.

I've always said I would rather have a small kitchen with an efficient layout over a large kitchen any day. I like being able to take just a few steps or a quick pivot to accomplish something and everything is within reasonable reach; it's faster and much more efficient. There was a post on the board not too long ago about someone who designed a large kitchen remodel and was somewhat regretful, she found herself getting fatigued at times.
rebasheba
last year
last modified: last year
If you ever find yourself in Massachusetts, try to visit the Gropius house (1937).

Lots of interesting features rooted in the Bauhaus but bespoke.

The kitchen is teeny tiny, very like the Frankfurt kitchen, and really meant for one person at a time. But, it was modern and cutting edge as apparently GE gave sponsored product at least for a time.

https://gropius.house/location/kitchen-and-pantry/
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ljwrar
last year
I always enjoy the US Department of Agriculture step saving kitchen video from 1949. I would love the rotating corner dish cabinet today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N9RCQjPqh4
Kendrah
last year
@ljwrar What a delightful video. That kitchen is awesome. I too found the rotating cabinets to be fantastic. Yes please to so much of this kitchen.
John Liu
Original Author
last year
I love that 1949 kitchen!

Okay, quibbles can be quibbled. The specialized bins and workstations are from a time when baking things from scratch was something everyone did or was thought to do, and optimized for a certain cuisine when everyone used or was thought to use the same basic ingredients. Less flexible and multicultural than we’d expect today. When my grandparents moved to the US from China via Taiwan in 1950, they wouldn’t have used most of those features, at least not for their intended purpose.

But regardless I love the focus on function, efficiency, and actual cooking. Not on finishes and styles, trying to pretend a suburban kitchen is in a French country estate, or showing off with expensive-looking materials and chasing influencer looks. Of course looks are always important and the chrome-trimmed Formica was the latest look, but I still think that kitchen was 70% function 30% form.