Conclusion

The evolution of domestic kitchen is a constant process, and because of that fact it changes continuously. The kitchen plays an integral role at the heart of most contemporary homes. Much more than simply a place to cook, these multipurpose spaces have become the hub around which the main social areas are arranged. The family is the smallest social group, within which the first relations are being built between household members. The milieu, an appearance and a spatial- functional arrangement of an apartment, can influence the intensity of these relations. Domestic kitchen is one of the fundamental areas, which affect the socialization process. In houses, where the kitchen area is not only a workplace, but also a space of being together, a very important task is social integration, and deepening relationships with family members and friends.

Earlier, the kitchens were considered woman’s territory and in this due course of time there has been a change in this thought. Christine Frederick quoted that “Women’s historic position in the domestic kitchen could be interpreted as a seat of power and thus a tool to shape their own--and others’--lives.” Hence, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that during the past century, the domestic kitchens were once stereotypically ‘feminine’. With time, the feminine and masculine balance of influence in the house, is now quite well resolved. The house is still a sanctuary, a fortress its ‘male’ element, but it is also a practical place with a feminine eye to efficiency. However, due to the gendered connotations associated with the kitchen, it happens to be a crucial site of contestation. Thus, with the integration of idea about the urban communal living and shared spaces the society has produced a more functional and equitable gendered lives.

“Rooms are changing sizes, adopting new roles and shedding old ones, as they have done through history, but now the kitchen is the focus. Its role is being expanded to encompass the functions of room associated with ‘public’ activities- the dining room, drawing room, sitting room and parlour- as well as including aspects of the nursery and ‘private’ rooms of the house-the study, and the softer, relaxing aspects of the sitting room- while still maintaining its pure kitchen functions of food preparation, storage and cooking. The kitchen is now a microcosm of the whole house.” (Grey, 1994)

In addition to considering the kitchen as a unique site of gender, power and culture, it happens to be a place where work mingles with desire, pleasure, creativity, violence, safety and other people; and where domestic technologies, architects and designers create devices and spaces which shape gender. Whether this space is fixed and separated within the modern home, open and communal or one which has to be reassembled daily in the streets of the third-world cities, the kitchen reflects and is remade by social and spatial relations.

But what is in store for the future of kitchen design? While there is a long history within archaeology, anthropology and cultural heritage of considering domestic spaces, places within houses, especially kitchen, tend to be considered infrequently by the spatial disciplines of planning, architecture and geography. As years pass this space will evolve more. No one knows for sure what the next revolutionary innovation will be but it will be interesting to the next step in the history of kitchens.