From an open fire to Viking ranges
Stoves evolved over time. Originally, stoves were made of cast iron and set on four legs. Fueled with wood or coal, often they had pots that were set down into the stove. Hot water tanks attached to the side or to the flue pipe heated water from the waste heat.
Piped gas arrived for lighting homes and cooking as early as 1875 in our part of Michigan, though many homes continued to use kerosene and later gasoline well into the 20th century.
The very first electric stove appeared in 1893 at the Chicago Worlds Fair. While electric stoves were far less likely to cause fires, they did not become popular until the 1930s.
By the 1890s, cabinets with doors began replacing open shelves. A call for better sanitation in kitchens resulted in the use of glazed tiles or linoleum on floors and walls.
Hoosier cabinets appeared in kitchens in the early 20th century. These popular fixtures stood about six feet tall, included a tin bin for flour with a built-in sifter, a sugar bin, spice racks and an enameled work surface. The Hoosiers fell out of fashion in the 1920s, as kitchens were designed with more built-in cabinets.
Sinks began as water tubs and became much more user friendly with the availability of running water. The earliest kitchens had water pumped by hand from a well or an underground cistern. In more upscale homes, water would be pumped up into a tank in the attic. This provided enough pressure to distribute water throughout the house to the kitchen as well as to indoor toilets.
Keeping food from spoiling was a challenge. Iceboxes helped, with a large cube of ice placed in a tin-lined box over a food-storage compartment. By World War I, the first refrigerators that used ammonia for cooling appeared. With the advent of easily available electricity, refrigerators became more common.
Todays kitchens are a far cry from the open fire and hand-carried water, but they are still the heart of the home.
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