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The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

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Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#11

Post by JasonFruit »

anm89 wrote: post #2

"Over the decades, as versions of this housewife’s setup have eliminated dining rooms, pass-throughs, and farmhouse tables, the open-concept kitchen, centered around an island visible from all sides, has become not a labor-saving device but a stage on which (mostly) women are forced to perform." I gave up here. This is so stupid that I'm not sure what is the premise that I should critique. Also Im a guy who cooks in…

This was exactly my reaction: I love my island, and I think the kids would eat there every meal if I didn't like to make a sit-down meal now and then. I've never found that the island acted as a stage, or that it interfered with my convenient triangle of sink-counter-stove.

I don't know what kind of poppycock this is trying to be, but there is no excuse for it.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#13

Post by goto11 »

anm89 wrote: post #2

"Over the decades, as versions of this housewife’s setup have eliminated dining rooms, pass-throughs, and farmhouse tables, the open-concept kitchen, centered around an island visible from all sides, has become not a labor-saving device but a stage on which (mostly) women are forced to perform." I gave up here. This is so stupid that I'm not sure what is the premise that I should critique. Also Im a guy who cooks in…

TV shows and movies love kitchen islands because because you can have people moving around while interacting and the camera moving around them.

The article is not about interior design per se though, it is about characters in the HBO TV series "Big Little Lies", characterized through their homes. If you haven't seen the show the article probably makes little sense.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#14

Post by goto11 »

kop316 wrote: post #4

I read through this a couple of times, and I still can't figure out its point beyond the idea that the author doesn't like kitchen islands/open floor plans, and even that I'm not sure of? I've found to really like open floor plans and an open kitchen. When I visit my family, we tend to congregate in the kitchen as someone is cooking (or several of us are cooking) and we don't want them to feel left out. An open floor…

It is a reviews of a popular TV show called "Big Little Lies". The writer is using the interior design of their houses to characterize the main characters.

Is is not really a critique of open kitchens, it is a critique of a character in the fictional show.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#15

Post by DoreenMichele »

anm89 wrote: post #2

"Over the decades, as versions of this housewife’s setup have eliminated dining rooms, pass-throughs, and farmhouse tables, the open-concept kitchen, centered around an island visible from all sides, has become not a labor-saving device but a stage on which (mostly) women are forced to perform." I gave up here. This is so stupid that I'm not sure what is the premise that I should critique. Also Im a guy who cooks in…

There's an excellent book about the history of domestic technology called "More work for mother." It details how the more domestic tech we created, the more work shifted from the man of the house to the lady of the house and standards were raised

Three hundred years ago, full-time wives did about 60 hours/week of housework. Today, with all our modern appliances, they still do about 60 hours/week of housework.

In most families, as women begin working outside the home, they still do 40 hours/week of housework. The men mostly have not picked up the difference.

I'm a former homemaker. I got divorced and got a corporate job. My adult special needs sons continued to live with me.

Co-workers would express pity anout how I worked full-time and also had to go home and cook dinner. They were flabbergasted to learn my oldest son did the cooking.

Given that I was working at a Fortune 200 company, these were presumably some of the most privileged "ordinary" women on the planet. Even the highest ranking woman in my department whose husband moved to let her accept the promotion was not comfortable learning about my arrangement at home because she apparently still did most of the women's work at home while having a VIP job.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#16

Post by chiph »

Kitchen islands can reach epic proportions. I had to drop off a check to my realtor at another home where she was doing a open-house. The island in it had to have been 200 square feet of dark granite.

You would need a rail network to pass the salt. Even if it housed every labor saving device known to modern kitchen science, there still would have been room left over inside.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#17

Post by IshKebab »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #15
anm89 wrote: post #2

"Over the decades, as versions of this housewife’s setup have eliminated dining rooms, pass-throughs, and farmhouse tables, the open-concept kitchen, centered around an island visible from all sides, has become not a labor-saving device but a stage on which (mostly) women are forced to perform." I gave up here. This is so stupid that I'm not sure what is the premise that I should critique. Also Im a guy who cooks in…

There's an excellent book about the history of domestic technology called "More work for mother." It details how the more domestic tech we created, the more work shifted from the man of the house to the lady of the house and standards were raised Three hundred years ago, full-time wives did about 60 hours/week of housework. Today, with all our modern appliances, they still do about 60 hours/week of housework. In most…

60 hours a week? You think housewives are doing 8½ hours of solid house work every single day? Yeah, no.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#18

Post by [deleted] »

gist wrote: post #10
whatshisface wrote: post #3

Sitcom actors are always more attractive than normal people, and the sets they act in are usually way up there in terms of what it would cost to actually buy a house like that. It's because TV is aspiration with a little (a lot) of consumerist guilt mixed in.

> Sitcom actors are always more attractive than normal people You mean 'actors are more' (no need for 'sitcom'). Most people in entertainment (maybe with the exception of musicians and radio personalities) are more attractive than normal people. What I always find interesting though is when a prisoner is played by an actor. That is a big paradox.

[deleted]

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#19

Post by petepete »

whatshisface wrote: post #3

Sitcom actors are always more attractive than normal people, and the sets they act in are usually way up there in terms of what it would cost to actually buy a house like that. It's because TV is aspiration with a little (a lot) of consumerist guilt mixed in.

In American sitcoms, yes. In British ones, not so much. It's a good thing.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#20

Post by Chris_Chambers »

IshKebab wrote: post #17
DoreenMichele wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an excellent book about the history of domestic technology called "More work for mother." It details how the more domestic tech we created, the more work shifted from the man of the house to the lady of the house and standards were raised Three hundred years ago, full-time wives did about 60 hours/week of housework. Today, with all our modern appliances, they still do about 60 hours/week of housework. In most…

60 hours a week? You think housewives are doing 8½ hours of solid house work every single day? Yeah, no.

It seems like she's shifted to spending 60 hours a week posting comments on HN non-stop. There should really be some kind of broader rate limiting to prevent people like DoreenMichelle and tptacek from polluting so many comment sections on HN. We check comment sections hoping to see a wide variety of opinions, not two people's blogs.
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