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Were there kitchens before stoves? Although or we will go until then in history, surely there were. Cooking is an almost ancestral art and, at that time when the stove was not in the collective imagination, it was certainly done outdoors. Any place that was roasted or cooked was, in fact, a kitchen.
In the kitchens of old houses, the stove is the center not only of its function, but also of its historical atmosphere. So much so that, if we want to have a clear idea of the kitchens of antiquity and that serve as inspiration for kitchens of this century, it is enough to look at the evolution of this important element, in turn, through the evolution of its fuels, its construction and its design.
first ovens
Speaking in culinary terms, the elements to create the recipe for a perfect kitchen took more than two centuries to come together. We mean a flat heat source combined with an oven. Credit goes to Benjamin Thompson, better known as Count Rumford who, in the 1790s, designed the first kitchen appliances that worked scientifically through heat.
Better known as the creator of the thermos and the only efficient fireplace that exists (the Rumford), this character along with his wonderful ideas, what he did was remove the fire from the open fireplace and put it in a box.
Based on Rumford’s theory, a real kitchen should be made of brick. Although they were sometimes connected to the fireplace table, their kitchens could also have their own space. The basic idea was a flat tray pierced with round holes of various sizes that opened over the fire below. There, the cook worked with Rumford-designed pots and pans, much like some industrial kitchens today.
Cast iron appeared in later versions, initially for the trays and fireplace doors. Even the kitchen itself might include another Rumford innovation: an iron drum with a door that was incorporated into the stonework of the fireplace, called the “Rumford Rotisserie.”
19th century stoves
In the 1820s, the rise of coal and iron mining in the United States made cast iron the star material of the 19th century. In addition, it gave rise to a prolific cooking stove manufacturing industry. Cast iron could withstand multiple temperature variations, with constant changes from cold to hot. It was also an ideal material for casting complex and precast parts, as well as for surface ornamentation.
The first metal stoves, imported in large numbers from Holland and England, had various shapes. However, in the 1840s several basic types of stoves, used for washing, heating, and cooking, were developed on a large scale in America. Just in America, after its civil war, coal-fired stoves were created.
Although stoves designed for cooking and heating could be adapted to an existing chimney vent and flue, it was best to connect them via a metal duct to a new type of chimney with a smaller flue diameter, in order to improve stove draft.
In houses prior to 1830, where there might be only a large central fireplace and open hearth for cooking, new kitchen hallways were often built to accommodate yet another radically different kitchen.
The first gas stoves
As the era of invention intensified in the 1880s and 1890s (“Today the sciences anticipate that it is barbaric”, as the lyrics of the extremely famous zarzuela La verbena de la Paloma, from 1894 with lyrics by Ricardo de la Vega and music by Tomás Bretón) stove manufacturers began to look for sources of heat other than wood and coal. A rather unlikely combination of circumstances ended up leading them to gas.
It was around 1900 and the gas was made from coal with bitumen and was used, above all, to provide light in houses. Although the gas cooker arrived in England in the 1860s and cooker manufacturers began shipping their products abroad, in the United States gas was considered too expensive a fuel to use for cooking. Not to mention, many skeptics inexperienced in the culinary arts believed that the gas would leave a bad taste in the mouth of food so cooked.
However, from 1900 the gas companies saw how the electric companies began to nibble on their main business, lighting, with the appearance of displacing gas in a short time, and they turned to cooking as a source of a vast new market. This, thanks to the fact that the materials for making kitchens were much lighter.
Thus, in the 1910s, the design of a gas cooker gave rise to the momentous built-in cooker, consisting of a burner on top, to the left or right of a cooking oven with a grill below. . Kitchens were generally made of sheet metal and cast iron, with an enamel finish. Gas was supplied to the burners via an exposed manifold running at the front and controlled by rotary valves or service taps. In the roaring twenties, the kitchen reached its maximum splendor with appliances with up to five places and two ovens.
the steam oven
Gas was not the only fuel innovation. The steam furnace, common in the 1890s, took advantage of the new availability of petroleum products in areas where piped gas was not available.
Also made of iron and sheet steel, these early ovens were lightweight and portable. Its style was not much different from the treadle sewing machines of the time. In the 1910s and 1920s, the combi kitchen became very fashionable. These kitchens worked with gas, wood or coal. In addition, they offered seasonal versatility: coal or firewood for the winter, or gas for the summer.
Later, appliance manufacturers entered the electric range market. What in 1917 was a simple electric cooking plate of marginal use, in 1930 it had already fully entered the market. And it is that electric stoves, which in their appearance were very similar to the products of their gas competitors, satisfied the appetite of a nation that was turning to the conduction of electrical energy. But that is another story, which we will tell immediately.
Electric furnaces
By the early 1940s, wall-hung cookers were firmly on the market. Also for this time the kitchens that used gas or electric current were added to the designs of integral kitchens. The winds of streamlining were blowing into the kitchen, bringing forth wall-hugging backsplashes and square corners that flushed with the countertops on either side. But now the question is, when were electric ovens created?
The first patent for an electric oven was granted to William Hadaway in 1896. Although Thomas Ahearn is credited with its invention, it is believed, in 1882. As electrical technology improved, electric ovens became more important. . Between the 1920s and 1930s, talking about electric ovens did not make much noise and even less, it was seen as competition for other stoves. We cannot ignore this surprising fact, since electric ovens have been on sale since the late 1890s.
Today there is a wide variety of oven options. Whereas in the past the focus has been on making more compact ovens for homes, the industry is now thriving with the making of large industrial ovens suitable for commercial cooking. From double wall stainless steel ovens to gas and electric ranges, the oven has definitely improved over the years.
Sources
- Noriega, R. (2014). The kitchen and its evolution. YouTube video. https://youtu.be/QvDdeJ0Vtmk
- Roper, R. (2009). The evolution of ovens .
- Trejo, R. (2020). Furnaces through history .
