Why were the windows in Victorian kitchens so high?
This was not in order to prevent the servants from daydreaming, or spying on their employer’s family taking the air in the garden. Open ranges generated huge amounts of heat, and so kitchens had high ceilings, with the windows set as high in the walls as possible, for the most efficient ventilation. When did gas cookers become available? Gas-fired ranges were exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and in 1868 Shrewsbury’s Portable Gas Oven came onto the market. However, prejudice, fear of explosions and health scares about eating food impregnated with harmful fumes delayed the widespread introduction of gas ovens, and they did not begin to replace solid fuel ranges in any numbers until the 1890s. What floorcoverings were used in Victorian kitchens? Stone slab or unglazed tiles were the norm. Wooden duckboards were used around the table, where the cook stood. Hard floors were also noisy under chairs or where there was lots of coming and going, hence a Victorian architect’s observati
