The Maid’s Transformation
The Antique Hoosier cupboard from the nineteenth century in typically considered the ancestor of the Kitchen girl cupboard of the early twentieth century.’th Century cabinetry typically reserved space to accommodate items like flour, sugar and other staples. A times room for as much as 50 pounds of flour was necessary. Shelving for plates and drinking vessels was present also. The year’12 saw the appearance of the Kitchen house maid cupboard.
Much of what make up that world has passed into history, included in that parade into oblivion are old-style kitchens. As World War I ended in’19 the company began to try to improve upon the traditional country-style design with innovations like the porcelain top. The year’24 saw a ’standardized unit system’ version of the Kitchen maid cabinet make an appearance in the catalogue put out by the Wasmuth-Endicott company.
Like many products sold’49 the corporation’s products were now characterized as swish, modern and practical as opposed to quaint and beguiling. Firms started to make extravagant sounding claims for the products based primarily on made-up words and astonishing new findings in their research labs and factories.
The words Composite Construction did serve to describe a significant invention to its products. Not only aluminum, but plastic was being mixed with the traditional hardwood in what was considered leading edge at the time. Nor would they be very fashionable.
At one point the busy housewife would simply lift bags of sugar or flour in and out the cupboard as the requirement arose, no longer. The victory of the first human in space took a rear seat to the advent of fold away kitchen cabinets in’59, at least in the kitchens of America.
It is not a big surprise that folk who collect and restore this stuff generally work with the older models. If you happen to find an older Kitchen maid cupboard replacing missing or rusted out hardware can turn out to be a bit difficult. The doors appear to be too thin to fit any kind of nail or fastener. Perhaps in its haste to enhance the antique versions from centuries past a lot of skillful advantageous knowledge was lost on the way.
You can find more information about kitchen cabinets at http://www.kitchenmaidcabinets.net, where you can read about Kitchen Maid cabinets.


