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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

#61

Post by mcv »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #41
anon4242 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess you have some solid data to support that statement? I unfortunately only have anecdotal evidence that 60h is not implausible. Me and my wife have two kids and share most of the household work, it's not an even split (she does more). I would say that on average we both work from the time we get back home from work until the kids sleep, ~4hrs later. In addition to that, one of us probably spends some 30 mins ea…

Are we counting all time spent with children as a chore? Don't get me wrong, I'm a father of two. Like you, our work is not split evenly, though I like to think I take on a higher share than most similarly situated men. There are times when my time with my sons can be trying, and I can get behind counting some fraction of that time as work. On the other hand, just today my son and I spent three hours going to and fro…

It's a fuzzy area. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. When we do something together that I also enjoy, then it isn't. When it's about something he wants and I'm just there because I need to be while I'd rather be doing something else, then it's a chore.

I don't think there's any way to objectively measure that.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#62

Post by onion2k »

Merrill wrote: post #58

A century ago most housewives were farm housewives. The housewife on a pre-electric, pre-running water farm could not have spent 60 hours/week on what is now "housework", since considerable time had to be devoted to caring for the chickens; collecting and packing eggs; planting, weeding, harvesting the garden; canning vegetables and fruits; helping with the milking; helping with butchering chickens, pigs, and steers;…

A century ago most housewives were farm housewives.

You believe that in 1919, at the end of the first world war, and just 10 years before the Wall Street crash, most housewives lived on farms that didn't have electricity or running water? The population of New York city in 1919 was a little over 5.5 million people.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#63

Post by onion2k »

chiph wrote: post #16

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.

You would need a rail network to pass the salt.

So... I'd need a train set in the kitchen? This is not a downside.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#64

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#65

Post by msla »

goto11 wrote: post #47

Hey everyone, before you comment: This article is a reviews of the HBO TV-show Big Little Lies. If you don't know or care about the show, the article will probably be of little interest to you. HN seems to be interpreting the article as a general critique of open-plan kitchens. Apparently HN cares a lot more about kitchen islands than about mainstream TV-shows!

> Hey everyone, before you comment: This article is a reviews of the HBO TV-show Big Little Lies.

Thank you. This was rather odd without context.

> Apparently HN cares a lot more about kitchen islands than about mainstream TV-shows!

HBO is mainstream, now? I thought it was premium. Super-duper-premium, maybe.

Ah well. I suppose in a land where Netflix can make its own movies, HBO is positively dowdy.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#66

Post by scarejunba »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #27
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…

I think you're focusing too much on the women part? I see it as criticising the stage aspect: instead of being able to be secluded and focus on the task at hand in a practically small space, you are instead performing in a space visible to everyone which is much too big to be good for the actual task.

Practically everyone I know would rather have a larger kitchen and have conversation going on around the cooking. Who wants to be out there alone cooking? It's a nice activity together.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#67

Post by pure-awesome »

cmiles74 wrote: post #59
anm89 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This all seems very reasonable but none of this is seems to be what is argued here. This person hates islands and maybe a TV show featuring one because something about the idea of "being performative". It's just a bunch of trite crap.

I think they dislike this specific island used on the show because it no longer makes any sense. In the same way families would sit around the dinner table they now sit around this gargantuan kitchen island. It's the worst of both worlds: the dining room is now taking up all the space in the kitchen and this person needs to run around this ridiculous island when they cook. An argument can be made that some kitchen is…

I've definitely seen the two-kitchen setup at the houses of some more well-to-do family friends.

The kind of cooking done there will usually be only the final part of the meal, e.g., searing the steaks after the vegetables have been made in the work kitchen, or assembling the sushi after the rice has been made. Cocktails would also potentially be mixed here (unless they have a separate bar area for that).

The guests would sit around with their drinks and chat to the host whilst they create the final part of the meal, or perhaps a starter, and serve it freshly prepared.

It's an extravagance, to be sure, but it allows wealthy hosts to show off their cooking skills in front of guests.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#68

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#69

Post by kasey_junk »

cmiles74 wrote: post #59
anm89 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This all seems very reasonable but none of this is seems to be what is argued here. This person hates islands and maybe a TV show featuring one because something about the idea of "being performative". It's just a bunch of trite crap.

I think they dislike this specific island used on the show because it no longer makes any sense. In the same way families would sit around the dinner table they now sit around this gargantuan kitchen island. It's the worst of both worlds: the dining room is now taking up all the space in the kitchen and this person needs to run around this ridiculous island when they cook. An argument can be made that some kitchen is…

I was also fairly shocked by that part of the article, but when you follow the actual link and read the design trend, its much less about having a second place to _cook_. It’s a second place to store items, hold courses during parties and to hide away things that you’d use ‘between’ meals like coffee makers and the like that are a pain to clean on each use.

Still crazy extravagant but not as bad as the throw away paragraph in the article suggests.

Re: The big little lie of the TV kitchen island

#70

Post by wcunning »

onion2k wrote: post #62
Merrill wrote: post #58

A century ago most housewives were farm housewives. The housewife on a pre-electric, pre-running water farm could not have spent 60 hours/week on what is now "housework", since considerable time had to be devoted to caring for the chickens; collecting and packing eggs; planting, weeding, harvesting the garden; canning vegetables and fruits; helping with the milking; helping with butchering chickens, pigs, and steers;…

A century ago most housewives were farm housewives. You believe that in 1919, at the end of the first world war, and just 10 years before the Wall Street crash, most housewives lived on farms that didn't have electricity or running water? The population of New York city in 1919 was a little over 5.5 million people .

More importantly, farming started out as the occupation of 90% of the population in the US and has been continuously falling ever since. The total number of farms grew up until about 1950, but as a share of the population it was only in the low 30% range at that time.

Source: https://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/farmers_land.htm

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