You are probably reading the title to this article and thinking wtf is this clickbait garbage. There is no way this kid is going to actually talk about kitchens becoming obsolete. That is not only absurd, but ridiculous that the staple room throughout history could just fade into oblivion and obsolescence like the dinning room.......
Ahhh yes, remeber the dinning room?
It use to be a staple of every residence in the upper class and its' popularity brought it into many middle class homes in the 19th and 20th century as the pursuit of class followed the emergence of the middle class. The dinning room has long been portrayed in film and book as a place of family. Flash back to the 50'and 60's and the dinning room was everywhere. People believed it to be a pillar of the family. A place where we all came together and shared in a meal, our day, and reaffirmed the strong family values that made us strong and moral.
The dinning room was a place for children to learn their manners, how to be polite at the table, and was a facility to garner respect for elders. All traits that older generations stress upon the younger.
But the grasp on that discipline has been slipping away over the decades. The importance placed on the room has been lost, certainly not to my dismay, but it is common to see dinning rooms completely unused, least a special holiday.
And while Americans have seen the dinning room spiral into non-existence, people may find comfort that many families still eat together. In fact, nearly 3/4's eat together at least 4 times per week according to a Gallup pool. That figure has remain unchanged for nearly 20 years. And while that is still a significant drop, it is nice to see that trend not continue, because I'm not sure about you, but I really enjoyed eating as a family and it forces us to communicate, support and share what's going on in our lives.
To the Kitchen
What has been trending downward, is the amount of meals made at home.
Courtousy of the WashingtonPost
In thirty years we have seen the number of homes decrease by 20%, and that trend has no sign of slowing. Just look at the budget spent on meals
This of course has fed the boon of fast-food joints and restaurants that pepper every town. They have become a staple, like gas stations and bars that have etched their way into the fabric of american culture....and oh do I love em.
This brings us to the status of the kitchen. With more money to be spent eating out then on home cooked meals, and with families continually cooking meals in the home, when will the kitchen become obsolete?
I'm not talking obsolete like never used, but similar in nature what the dinning room has become. When will there be a food chain does to food, like Amazon did to products? When will most meals be bought from a restaurant, or fast food, or delivered right to your door by drones every night? I think that time is coming sooner then we all think.
Food will be brought by drones nightly to families all across America, and the only thing they will have to do is select the day of or prior to ensure availability. (just my guess).
I think the biggest driver in all of this is time. Families and parents find less and less time to prepare meals, plan grocery trips and expend the energy for it. A overwhelming percentage of households have two parents at work compared to past decades. Kids spend more time in organized activities and parents time is stretched thin.
And I don't see this trend reversing, so it will be interesting if one day I am telling my kids or grandkids about how every house use to have a kitchen.
What do you think steemians?