The Kitchen

The size, construction and facilities of medieval kitchens varied enormously from one household to another, depending on the number and status of those to be fed. At the most basic level, some families lacked any room which could be recognized as a kitchen. Their food preparation, if any, was carried out in the living-room without a fireplace. These were the town-dwellers who lived in houses such as Lady Row, Goodramgate, York, one-up and one-down cottages lining a major city-centre thoroughfare where trading or craft activities were probably more important than home-cooking.¹ Here it would be far more convenient to live on take-away food from one of the local cookshops, re-heating if necessary on a chafing dish. This anticipates the widespread modern practice of using the sandwich and office microwave for regular urban meals.