My Kitchen In 1943

By Author: Mark Hammon
Total Articles: 29
Comment this article

I'm old but I can still remember our kitchen on the south side of Chicago in 1943. It sure wasn't like todays kitchens, but times were different then.

To begin with, the second world war was going on. Any type of invention or renovation was at a standstill because of total involvement in the war effort. Materials needed to create kitchen products were being used to make war products.

People were extremely concerned about the war. We had air raid drills and blackouts and streamers dropped from airplanes simulating bombs. My father was an air raid warden and he would dash out with his white helmet and night stick to enforce a blackout, but no one even thought of looting then. People in rural areas grew cannabis, not to smoke, but to make hemp, which was made into rope. They also collected milkweed pods. The silk was extracted and made into parachutes. If a family had a son, two sons or three sons in the military; they had a small flag in the window with one, two, or three stars on it.

Anyway, that's the backdrop for my 1943 kitchen. I might add, because of food rationing, there wasn't a lot of gourmet cooking ...
... going on. The stores didn't stock a lot of vegetables, but our family was lucky enough to have a spot in the local victory garden. We grew potatoes, tomatoes and green beans. Women were more taken up with replacing the men in the workplace than being creative in the kitchen.

In 1943, kitchens were plain vanilla, without any kitchen art or unique kitchen decor. Kitchen tableware generally fell into one of two categories. The good china, which was used, maybe, once a week on Sunday, and the everyday dishes. A lot of the good china came over on boats when our parents or grandparents immigrated here. Today the good china is rare and very collectable. It was just the opposite with the everyday dishes. Plastic and glass additives weren't invented yet and glass broke easily, so the every day dishes were constantly being amended from the local five and dime. Glasses looked a lot like empty jelly or pickle jars. Nothing like todays durable, practical kitchen tableware.

Kitchen accessories were almost nonexistent. We had a toaster in which you reversed the bread to get it brown on both sides, but it sure didn't pop up the toast. There were no microwaves, blenders, yogurt makers etc, etc, etc. We had a radio with big tubes in it. If it quit working you removed all the tubes, took them to the "electric store", tested them, replaced the bad one, reassembled the radio and it usually worked. Today if the radio breaks, you just throw it away. No fun in that. During fly season, long strips of fly paper hung from the ceiling. Not exactly beautiful, unique kitchen decor, but very effective. We also had a curtain stretcher that was needed to keep the curtains from shrinking after they were washed.That pretty much covers the kitchen accessories.

Spartan, would be a complimentary term for our kitchen furnishings, Except for maybe a kitchen art calendar, wall decor consisted of washing and painting, Cabinets and countertops were still in the future so that left a lot of wall showing, The floor was linoleum. Can you imagine a kitchen without a few thousand dollars worth of cabinets and a floor that doesn't cost $5, or more, a square foot.

We didn't have cabinets but we had other great kitchen furnishings. The pantry was about 12 foot long and 6 foot wide. Everyday dishes, food items. cleaning supplies and many household items were stored there. The special china had special storage in the china hutch.

The kitchen was a huge room. Right in the middle of it was a big table that could seat eight with the leaf extensions. We had no TV or computers yet, and this table became the household hub. Besides eating, it was used for studying, ironing, sewing, family meetings and playing various board and card games like Go Fish, Old Maid and Crazy Eights. The kitchen table brought families closer together.

The sink had four long legs, a bowl, a drain board and all its plumbing showing. It also had two valves, but I don't know why. All the hot water came from the stove. Yes, we heated water for dishes, baths (no shower), and anything else you needed hot water for.

The gas stove (they weren't called ranges yet) also had four long legs and an oven you could look in without bending over. That would be a modern convenience today. You lit the burners with a big wooden match. Under the stove belonged to the neighborhood dog who had claimed us as its human. He would show up, get a bath, some good meals, a lot of sleep and then he would be gone again. I think he had more than one human family that participated in his care.

Of all our kitchen furnishings, the most modern piece was our refrigerator. It was a large, square, formidable contraption, with a smelly motor that ran all day. If it wasn't defrosted every few days there would be puddles. A lot of people still had iceboxes. Every morning the ice man would stop at their house, tong a 25 pound block of ice, hoist it on to his leather shoulder pad, carry it into their house which may have been on the second or third floor and put it in their ice box. Bingo, instant refrigeration.

When the war finally ended in 1945 the celebration was huge and spontaneous. Whole families went out in the street beating pots and pans with spoons. Every town and city in the country had a parade.. American flags were everywhere. The people began to throw off the oppression of war. Housing was being built for returning soldiers. Women, for the most part, were glad to leave the factories and return to being housewives and mothers. Factories transitioned from making war products to making appliances, cars and peace time products. The soldiers were coming home and the people were happy again.

Now, was this an article about a kitchen, or was it about something else? Things sure were different then.

Jim Harder is a publisher of family friendly websites. His current project is Unique Kitchen Decor Stores, URL: unique-kitchen-decor.com. Jim searches the web for retailers who market kitchen art in the form of kitchen tableware, kitchen accessories and kitchen furnishings. Visit http://www.unique-kitchen-decor.com/unique_kitchen_decor_stores_home.html for more information.