How we've grown to love our kitchens (so much so they've doubled in size since the 1920s)

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:30 PM on 14th March 2011

Hub of family life now averages 121sq ft
We spend more downtime here than in living room

We now spend more waking hours in our kitchens than any other room - including the lounge.

And the average kitchen has almost doubled in size since the 1920s, making it the biggest room in the house.

A century ago homes were built with a tiny scullery, averaging 65sq ft but they have now ballooned to 121sq ft, according to research experts Magnet, who have tracked the growth of kitchens over the decades.

Relaxation: Families are spending more time in their kitchen than any other room in their home. People also spend an average of £19,000 kitting out their kitchen compared with £6,000 on the lounge

Today's kitchens are the hub of family life and serve as a meeting room, dining room, study and social room as well as the centre of food preparation.

Most families spend more relaxation time in the kitchen (2 hours) than we do in the lounge (1.5 hours).

Most modern kitchens have a flat-screen TV, large dining table and chairs, CD/MP3 player and DAB radio as well as all the usual kitchen fixtures like oven and hob, microwave, toaster, storage cupboards, sink and kettle.

We also spend more money on decorating our kitchen than any other room in the home, according to the Magnet study - an average of £19,000 including appliances and furniture, compared to £6,000 on our lounge.

1920s: And the average kitchen has almost doubled in size since the 1920s, making it the biggest room in the house

The advent of the typical British three-bed-semi in the 1930s saw the kitchen increase in size to an average of 78 sq ft, allowing for more room in the, then, bigger sized family home.

That size remained pretty constant through the 1940s and 1950s but increased again in the Swinging 1960s when the average British kitchen increased to 95 sq ft.

But it was the 1980s that the early signs of the kitchen becoming more than a cooking room first started to show.

1940s: A 1940s kitchen in the Castle Museum in York shows how washing and cooking collided in a relatively small space

1960s: British kitchens increased in size in the 60s as larger fridges and innovative appliances became more prevalent

Kitchens became feature rooms - measuring from 109 sq ft to a, then, whopping 121 sq ft - and we replaced our tiny upright combi-ovens with super-sized range cookers, expensive tiled floors, American-style fridge-freezers and, for the first time, microwave ovens.

And that growth has continued ever since with today's kitchens bigger and more grand than ever.

Magnet spokesman Marco Rossi said: 'As kitchens have developed over the years from a small cooking room into a major family social area they have hugely increased in size too.

'Today's kitchen is often the biggest room in the house and, in terms of the value of the equipment and decor we have in them, certainly the most expensive. It is very much now the hub of modern family life, with its own TV and stereo system.

'We spent more hours in our kitchens than we did in our lounges in 2010, so it is little wonder that they have become so big. They are truly multi-functional rooms in the 21st century.'