The Great American Kitchen Show, Essay Example

At the beginning of the twentieth century, American society was changing – a new culture, new social patterns, and new standards of living emerged. The United States changed from a rural to an urban country – by 1900 vast majority of Americans lived in rural areas, and by 1920 there lived less than a half (Matranga). The growth of urban population required industrial growth. The development of kitchenware has always been an indivisible part of the technical progress – we all strive to ease and comfort, not least in cooking process.

Since time immemorial human beings heated their meals to make them eatable and technical tools changed a lot in the course of the history. They evolved from simple fires to convenient gas and electricity stoves. And stoves are chosen to be explored in this paper.

The first stove was selected from the section 1900-1920’s of the exhibition “The Great American Kitchen”. It is the Stewart Stove by “The Fuller and Warren Company” in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The information I copied from the wall of the museum stated that it was from the 1900-1920 – the beginning of a new electrical era. “From earlier wood burning and human powered kitchenware to the new electric appliance and gadgets.  Style was usually reflective of the function and technology of the appliance. This stove is a blend of Art from the Art Nouveau and arts and crafts motifs.”

This is a gas stove with four burners and oven. This stove has broiler, and no exhaust hood. It is made of cast iron but painted two shades of gray color, with two white handles and four ceramic knobs. Three panels are decorated with dark grey prominent frames; these frames have rounded angles inside and roundish profile.

There are two distinguishable design features – white handles that have irregular shape and aforementioned frames. I think that these frames have no functionality; they are designed to decorate the stove and make it more comfortable in the interior. Unlike wooden stoves that were spread in rural areas and were dark with metal ornaments, this gas stove is painted calm colors for the casual urban kitchen.

It is nearly twice as big as modern stoves; it is because the oven is placed near the burners for easy access. It is ergonomically explicable – a cook has no necessity to stoop down, but it takes the free space of the room. In my point of view, it is rather practical for its time and even beautiful, as it reflects the design tendencies in the beginning of 20^thcentury.

This stove was made by “The Fuller and Warren Company” between 1900 and 1920. Though this stove is called Stewart, this name does not identify it unequivocally as all stoves made by Fuller and Warren were known as Stewarts (Rittner, p.92). This stove was mass produced and its designer is unknown, but he definitely worked for either Troy Company or its part, Fuller and Warren Company. Strange as it may seem, such stoves can still be found in kitchens of vintage lovers.

This model showed that in 1900 the development of stove design had begun, and it was made not only convenient, but beautiful, too. It was popular to have a porcelain sinks and enameled cabinets (Matranga), and the concept of Art Nouveau implied introduction of design and art in everyday life, so the Stewart stove I am writing about would fit perfectly in this typical kitchen.

Another stove that was chosen for investigation was the 1970-80’s General Electric stove.

It is an electric stove with four rings, and its design recollects modern ones. It is painted harvest gold with silver handles. Its form is simple but includes everything that is needed for cooking meals – and oven and electric rings, though the oven is situated lower than in previous stove. This saves the space of the kitchen and allows other appliances to be placed there. It also has a clock on it and cooking times. It has a function of self-cleaning. Unlike previous one, this stove has oven and range hood. It has no patterns or other extensive design features. It is practical and convenient to use, but not beautiful.

This stove was a commodity in 1970’s. “General Electric” produced many home appliances, and this oven was mass produced, too. It was painted harvest gold as this color was popular, and probably it was designed by the team of GE designers and developers. Nowadays such stoves can still be found in American households. Sometimes they are used to create vintage interiors.

Victoria Matranga gives the next description of the 1970 fashion in households: “By mid 70’s strong primary colors and the industrial look were the hallmarks of high fashion.

The 70’s kitchen became a theatrical stage for cooking and entertaining with status appliances and equipment. But at the same time the 1976 celebration of America’s bicentennial encouraged a nostalgic interpretation of the pre industrial past with dark wood and colonel early American and country craft looks which were often decorated with wood grain plastic laminate and greenery hung in macramé. Harvest gold and avocado green were top colors”. So the original GE stove from the exhibition represents its epoch very well.

Though between these two stoves there is a half of the century, they share some common features. But they also have differences that indicate the level of technical progress.

First, both of the stoves have four burners (or rings). It shows that the family needs and requirements of practicality did not change since 1020’s. This quantity seems to satisfy vast majority of American families.

These stoves have different sizes. The Stewart stove is nearly twice as big as GE one and this represents the level of manufacture of 20’s. Also, it must be noted that the Stewart stove has four legs while the 1970’s stove has no legs. In the former stove they are used to create a comfortable working height, and in the latter case this height is provided by the in-built oven. The legs distinguish the style of beginning of 20^th century from the idle-century one.

Color plays vital role in design, and both stoves represent popular tendencies of their time. Calm grey was designed to fit porcelain and enamel, while harvest gold could be combined with dark surfaces and other appliances of the same color.

These stoves have different handles and knobs. Stewart stove has notable white handles and ceramic knobs – they make it look more stylish and individual. Metallic handles and knobs of GE stove are practically useful and fit the whole style of the kitchen, but blur the individual style of the specific stove.

The Fuller and Warren Company included the name of the stove (Stewart) and the name of the company in the design of front panels, and it looks quite good. It adds some details to the impersonal appliance and makes it more custom. If there is a name on the EG stove, it is small and not visible on the provided photo, and it adds nothing to design. And it is not necessary, as in 1970’s stoves were common sight and lost their individuality.

Both these stoves represent history of the American Kitchen and its evolution from place of toil to the place of easy cooking.

Works Cited

Matranga, Victoria K. America at Home: A Celebration of Twentieth-Century Housewares. 1^st ed. National Housewares Manufacturing, 1996.

Rittner, Don. Troy, NY: A Collar City History. Arcadia Publishing, 2002.