Thursday, 12 November 2009

The Maid's Progress

By Andre Hansen

The Antique Hoosier cupboard from the nineteenth century in typically considered the ancestor of the Kitchen house maid cabinet of the early twentieth century.'th C cabinetry usually reserved space to accommodate items like flour, sugar and other staples. The year'12 saw the advent of the Kitchen house maid cabinet. One can still find the name Wasmuth-Endicott Indiana, on some older models, although a little time after World War two the company started to be called the Kitchen maid cabinet Company.

Much of what make up that world has passed into history, included in that parade into oblivion are old-style kitchens. As World War I ended in'19 the company began to try to improve upon the traditional country-style design with innovations like the porcelain top. The year'24 saw a 'standardized unit system' version of the Kitchen maid cabinet make an appearance in the catalogue put out by the Wasmuth-Endicott company.

Like many products sold'49 the firm's products were now characterized as swish, modern and practical as opposed to old fashioned and beguiling. Corporations started to make flamboyant sounding claims for the products based primarily on made-up words and startling new findings in their research labs and factories. Kitchen maid jumped into the competitive claims arena with the descriptions Flo-Line Styling and Composite Construction. The company additionally told its consumers that its products now included grain less Presdwood and Resinite Doors.

The words Composite Construction did help to describe a significant creativity to its products. Aluminum and scrupulously 'selected hardwoods' were now employed in the final product where they served the customer's need the best. Aluminum was, durable, straightforward to get and cheaper to buy now than 'selected hardwoods. Headlines like 'Aluminum Production at New Peacetime High' The Hartford Courant heralded the beginning of a new age. Not only aluminum, but plastic was being mixed with the traditional hardwood in what was considered leading edge at the time. Divided Cutlery Drawer Inserts that cemented plastic to wood would not cause much of a stir today.

The more things changed for the Kitchen house maid Corp, which still operated out of Andrews Indiana the more some things appeared to endure, at least in a rather different form. At one point the busy homemaker would simply lift bags of sugar or flour in and out the cupboard as the requirement arose, no longer.

It is not a big surprise that folk who collect and restore this stuff generally work with the older models. If you happen to find an older Kitchen maid cupboard replacing missing or rusted out hardware can turn out to be a bit difficult. The doors appear to be too thin to fit any kind of nail or fastener. Perhaps in its haste to enhance the antique versions from centuries past a lot of skillful advantageous knowledge was lost on the way.

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