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The Changing Domestic
In 2017 ‘The Changing Domestic’ opened at Cobham Library. It was a display of kitchenware and domestic items, tracing the way kitchens have been used and populated from Victorian times to the 1980s.
The modern kitchen, as we know it, is arguably a product of the Victorian age. The inventions of cast iron, electricity and plumbed water made the kitchen a much more efficient space. People in the Victorian era were also fans of gadgets and time-saving tricks such as soap savers, meat grinders and even the first dish washers.
It is only in more recent decades that the kitchen has become the hub of home life and used for socialising. Before this time, kitchens were usually located at the back of the house, away from reception areas and close to the garden for laundry work.
Below are some kitchen related objects from the Elmbridge Museum collection for you to browse.
Cabbage masher
Type: cabbage masher
347.1967
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Wooden butterpats
Type: butterpats
191.1968
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Steel sugar nippers
Type: sugar nippers
195.1968
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Iron trivet
Type: iron stand
280.1968
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Knife cleaner
Type: knife cleaner
12.1969
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Metal soap saver
Type: soap saver
129.1970
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Toasting fork
Type: toasting fork
216.1972/5
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Yellow laundry soap
Type: soap
113.1974
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Tin of dried egg powder
Type: tin
1.1993
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Wooden wash board
Type: wash board
122.1995/1
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Image of housewife at gas cooker
Type: photograph
26.1997/1
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Image of roast dinner in electric cooker
Type: photograph
26.1997/2
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Image of housewife hanging wallpaper
Type: photograph
26.1997/3
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Image of washing-up at kitchen sink
Type: photograph
26.1997/4
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Image of mother and girl with scraped knee
Type: photograph
26.1997/6
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Image of Hoover washing machine
Type: photograph
26.1997/7
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Image of housewife at gas cooker
Type: photograph
106.1997/1
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Image of Hoover washing machine
Type: photograph
106.1997/2
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Image of roast dinner in electric cooker
Type: photograph
106.1997/3
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Image of washing-up at kitchen sink
Type: photograph
106.1997/4
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Image of mother and girl with scraped knee
Type: photograph
106.1997/5
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Image of housewife hanging wallpaper
Type: photograph
106.1997/6
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