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==Early History==

In early complex societies in the Near East, Egypt, and in the eastern Mediterranean, including Crete and Cyprus, many homes had open fire places or covered stoves with a fire burning inside (similar to modern clay ovens often used for bread baking). Stoves ranged from simple clay-made pieces to brick-made cooking places. The stoves for cooking were often in open places so that the smoke can escape. Most cooking, therefore, would be outside, although food preparation could take place nearby or in the same space. Some homes may not have had a specific place for cooking, such as smaller homes, where a shared communal space may have been used for making meals (Figure 1). Wealthy people generally had more elaborate rooms that had facilities for storage of foods, what were essentially pantries, that were often next to an open space for cooking. In very wealthy residences, or even palaces, food storage may have been more elaborate, where types of ice houses and large storage rooms would have been present. Some kitchens could also be enclosed, where a possible chimney could have carried the smoke for cooking fires (Figure 2).<ref>For more on kitchens in antiquity in the Mediterranean region, see: Klarich, Elizabeth, ed. 2010. <i>Inside Ancient Kitchens: New Directions in the Study of Daily Meals and Feasts.</i> Boulder: University Press of Colorado.

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One interesting find is cuneiform tablets in Mesopotamia and other writings from parts of the Near East, including Egypt, have been found to sometimes indicate recipes. Although recipes on tablets have not generally been found in kitchens, it is likely chefs at more wealthy residences and palaces would have had access to these recipes as a way to prepare elaborate feasts for guests. The keeping of information on preparing favorite foods was now part of some households written records, making the kitchen an important component for entertaining guests. However, the kitchen itself was seen as a workplace and rarely as the main dinning area for guests.<ref>For more on ancient recipes, see: Kaufman, Cathy K. 2006. <i>Cooking in Ancient Civilizations.</i> The Greenwood Press “Daily Life through History” series. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.</ref>

==Later Periods==

In the late Medieval period in Europe, by the 12-13th centuries, kitchens in wealthier homes and palaces began to be more commonly separated. This created more class separation between areas where food was prepared versus areas where food was served. This had to do with the smoke and smells of the kitchen, which nobles were keen to separate. Alternatives included using sunken floor or areas to allow the smoke to escape using another way from the main building. In more common homes, fireplaces and chimneys were now more typically created, particularly around a side of the house or along one particular wall. This now made the corner or side wall of a larger room, or where chimney might be placed, as an area where indoor cooking was done. Pots and pans were now mostly metallic, where they were hung above a fireplace on stands. Stands or hung cooking wares could be lowered or raised to control heating.<ref>For more on changes in kitchens in the late Medieval period, see: Freedman, Paul, ed. 2007. <i>Food: The History of Taste.</i> California Studies in Food and Culture 21. Berkeley: University of California Press.

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Although cooking was still mostly done in a basic space, by moving the cooking and food preparation space to a more isolated part of the house, thus reducing smoke in the living and dining area, the common living area or room where food could be shared became a more comfortable place to sit in. It increasingly became a space that became the primary social area of the house, as no longer smoke became a major obstacle for larger gatherings. By the 16th century, tiled heating was used more commonly, allowing the kitchen to be placed even farther away from the living area and the kitchen was no longer always needed for also heating the home. Heating could now be transported across the house and the heating source could also be placed at different locations rather than dependent on the kitchen. More homes now even had a separate building used for the kitchen, while poor homes still had to depend on a combined kitchen and dining area with ovens or a form of stove sometimes used for cooking. For wealthy rooms, as they could afford to have another room or even building for the kitchen, this increasingly led to social barriers where kitchens were regulated for servants' or slaves' work.<ref>For more on the socialization of the living and dinning rooms as kitchens changed, see: Pennell, Sara. 2016. <i>The Birth of the English Kitchen, 1600-1850.</i> Cultures of Early Modern Europe. London ; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.</ref>

==Technology Evolution==

==Summary==

Kitchens have been important spaces within houses since prehistoric periods. However, their design remained relatively static until relatively recently in the last two centuries. Few changes occurred before 1800, where major changes included moving cooking spaces away from homes for more affluent homes while other homes tried to minimize the smoke that came from cooking. Moving kitchens away from the home made them less of a social space and more of a work space, while later technology, such as stoves that moved smoke away from the home, allowed kitchens to become more of a social space once again. Additions of gas and water brought in also allowed kitchens to be both functional and social spaces. New demands of work and industrial change meant there was less time for workers, leading to kitchens becoming more work spaces in the mid-20th century. It was the development of even cleaner kitchens, such as the use of extractor fans, that opened the kitchen back up as a social and working space.

==References==

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