Abstract
The main aim was to look at the kitchen from the woman's perspective. The study is based on in depth interviews, with fifty-four middle and working class women, with at least two children, in Guildford, Surrey, in 1977. Respondents were drawn from dwellings with three basic variations in ground floor layout, in order to examine the effect of the number of other rooms on the ground floor and the communication possible between these rooms and the kitchen. As part of the preliminary work, a topological system was devised for representing the communication possible between rooms. The women's attitudes towards the kitchen are investigated in terms of a series of functional and socio-psychological parameters. Three orientations towards the kitchen are revealed: (1) The kitchen as a 'family' room; (2) As the woman's 'own' room; and (3) As 'a' room. Orientation to the kitchen is found to be independent of the quality of the environment, as assessed by a range of functional features, with the exception of kitchen size. Orientation towards the lounge and aspects of family behaviour are also investigated and reveal two groups of women, those who demand separate areas for activities and those who do not demand physical separation for the same criteria. This is termed positive and negative 'separation of function' and is utilised as an indicator of lifestyle. The women's identification with the domestic role, the marital role relationship, division of labour and marital satisfaction are found to be crucial factors in the determination of orientation towards the kitchen. These factors, together with 'separation of function' and the houseplan, kitchen size and socio-economic group are used in a case study approach to break down the sample into eight subgroups in order to explain differences amongst the women in orientation to the kitchen. Based on this analysis, a causal model is proposed to explain women's attitudes towards the kitchen.