- A one-bedroom house needs a minimum of 24 s.f. of wall storage shelf space and 3 linear feet of base cabinet length.
- A two-bedroom house needs a minimum of 30 s.f of wall storage shelf space and 4.5 linear feet of base cabinet length.
- A three-bedroom house needs a minimum of 36 s.f of wall storage shelf space and 6 linear feet of base cabinet length.
- A four-bedroom house needs a minimum of 42 s.f of wall storage shelf space and 7.5 linear feet of base cabinet length.
- A five-bedroom house needs a minimum of 9 s.f of wall storage shelf space and 10.5 linear feet of base cabinet length.
Of course, with all the kitchen appliances we have today, needs could be greater!
The “Balance of Storage” principle research
Beginning around 1929, the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company began a five-year research study to investigate this question. In 1934 — after three years of testing their design principles — they released their study to the public. We first got a look at this fascinating research in the 1937 Whitehead Kitchens catalog that we recently featured. The catalog explains:
All Whitehead Work-Saving Kitchens incorporating Westinghouse appliances are planned in accordance with the “Balance of Storage” principle, which was developed by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company after five years of research and released to the public in 1934. In three years of actual use, it has proven its reasonable accuracy as the kitchen storage equipment yardstick of proven value.
It is based on the sole constant factor in a house — the number of bedrooms. Briefly, it is as follows: The number of bedrooms establishes the normal occupancy of a residence. Normal occupancy is based on one person per bedroom for all except the master bedroom, which has two persons. The normal occupancy of a house, therefore, is one more person than the number of bedrooms. To obtain the actual number of persons to be provided for, however, two persons per house must be added to take care of the entertainment factor and the inevitable accumulation of materials. The actual occupancy, therefore, is three persons more than the number of bedrooms. For each of these total persons, 6 square feet of wall cabinet shelf area is required. The amount of base cabinet storage space is governed by the fact that base cabinets should be placed directly underneath all wall cabinets, with the exception of the space occupied by the major appliances. These two facts give us the following storage requirements for any residence.
This research was likely as another outcome of major scientific movements like Scientific Management, also know as Taylorism. How many kitchen cabinets do you need to really work efficiently? This research certainly seems to make sense to us, even today.
Why did kitchens get bigger?
In the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, the kitchens in most middle class houses were much smaller than what the mass of middle class of America would consider desirable today. As the post-WWII boom continued into the 1960s and beyond, kitchens continued to grow in size — often quite dramatically — for several reasons:
- For many years in many homes in America, the kitchen was a prep space — eating was done in the adjacent dining room. As dining habits became more informal, more families wanted to eat right in the kitchen. Eat-in kitchens — there was even a real estate shorthand “EIK” became a must-have. To fit the EIK, the kitchen had to expand. As this occurred, more cabinets were added around the now-larger perimeter (even if there wasn’t really stuff to fill them.) But of course, we found stuff to fill them, quickly enough…
- After World War II, the number of “labor saving devices” in homes exploded. So then, we *needed* even more storage space. I keep putting needed in *needed*, because, do we really use this stuff? I recently read an article that said that Americans wear only 20% of the clothes they own, on a regular basis. I suspect that, similarly, we only use 20% of the pots and pans and glasses and mugs, etc., stored in our kitchen cabinets. So, in this sense — I bet the Westinghouse research still is relevant.
- Kitchens open to an adjacent great room became popular. The whole assembled space — bigger.
- And similarly, as affluence in America grew, we built houses that were bigger and bigger and bigger (a trend that only ended with the recent Great Recession). Bigger house? Bigger kitchen, of course — because pretty much a constant was, is and ever will be: The kitchen is the epicenter of the home… the very heart of the American Dream that is homeownership.
Readers — do you have “too many” kitchen cabinets?
That is, how actively do you use all the stuff in them — week in and week out?
Thanks to archive.org and the MBJ Collection for making this vintage catalog available.
Rebecca@MidCenturyModernRemodel says
Great timing! I just spent part of the afternoon staring at my kitchen cabinets and a proposed layout. I am trying to decide if I am losing or gaining cabinets. And… do I care. I can’t wait to redo the kitchen and throw out 30% of everything in them. What I do really need and don’t have are oversize cabinets or drawers to store party stuff properly. Like big trays and bowls. Nothing really accommodates them, so I hope to work that in.
Karen C says
Having moved, I got rid of extra mixing bowls, baking pans rarely used, so we just have what we use. I have the extras stored in the barn and only once wanted something stored in there. I cook three meals a day and the only thing I miss is counter space in this 1900 house. I’ve learned to live with less of it though.
mary hershelman says
Aren’t kitchens something like 80% bigger than they were in 1940 and we cook 80% less. They are constantly featuring kitchens in our local paper’s real estate sections that are 800 sq. ft….that’s as big as my house…it’s getting a little ridiculous. All that space to literally make coffee and run….what am I saying? Starbucks has that covered.
Diane says
I live in a farm house built in 1924. I moved here 3 years ago from a home my husband and I built in town at the height of the building boom..2003. You can imagine, the trepidation at leaving my traditional 2-story in town , for what my in-laws jokingly referred to as the style “early depression”. Kitchen cabinets were the original wall cabinets with additional ones added on the bottom. I love them so, that we commissioned a cabinet maker to build me more uppers to supplement. (I’m a more is more kinda gal). There is a great difference between how much china I could get by with on a day to day basis, and how many sets of china I wish to own…lets not get into dessert and teas sets.
Steph says
Hm. Wouldn’t this same house probably have a butler’s pantry between the kitchen and dining room where all the dishes and serving pieces be kepts? And a food larder in the basement?
It only takes 2-3 cabinets to store my mixing bowls and pots & pans. Oddly enough, my 3 bedroom home has exactly 7.5 linear feet of base cabinets! Spooky!
Wendy M. says
I love a good vintage marketing campaign! Today I think it would be difficult to estimate kitchen size based only on number of occupants, because there are so many families relying on take-out/eating out and their kitchens are rarely used. The size of the kitchen now seems to make a statement about the “grandness” of the house, not about how much it is used.
Our house was designed by the original owners and she was ALL about storage space (and electrical outlets, but that’s a different conversation.) Consequently, I have an amazing amount of cabinets, including three full pantry closets. I’ve filled them all, as I love to cook and entertain. The only thing that isn’t used on a very regular basis is the china- but I’m so happy to be able to have it in a cupboard instead of having to unpack it every time I need it, like I did in our last home!
Patty says
“Like”
ChrisH says
“Like”
Olivia says
My house was built in 1951, the kitchen has not been changed and I have plenty of cabinet space. It’s a three bedroom with an eat in kitchen. There are 3 full size and 2 short uppers, plus 3 lowers and a sink base with built in dishwasher. With a small, but deep, pantry I have plenty of storage. My only complaint is there is not enough counter space for food prep and the coffee maker, microwave and toaster take up a lot room. The stove is on the opposite wall from the cabinets and stands alone so we have a kitchen cart/island next to it just to have a place to chop food.
Patty says
Study? I’d bet this was written by the ad department. One kid per bedroom – in the 30s? That wasn’t even the norm in a lot of homes in the 60s or 70s. Interesting read but I would not rely on the scientific accuracy of the info.
Just another Pam says
But…but…Patty, it’s scientific! This is an upgrade from the 4 out of 5 doctors smoke Camel’s advertising.
All joking aside I agree with you. It was obviously marketed to a particular part of society that lived a particularly luxurious lifestyle unattainable by a large segment of society just as the 200,000+ dollar kitchens are today. My paternal grandparents built their house around then and not only did they not have a dining room they had to accommodate the only heat and cooking source in the house in that kitchen. Though they were “in town”, a very central to the area economy town at that, everyone had a garden, everyone canned and stored their own food and most didn’t even have indoor plumbing in that part of town until the early ’60’s. It was the final gasps of the Great Depression with recovery accelerated by WWII when ‘science’ really became an advertising tool.
We all know the iconic photo of the “Migrant Mother” taken by Dorthea Lange in 1936, 3 years before the scientific kitchen design ad was published he family didn’t even have shelter much less an ability to have such luxuries just like millions of others.
http://www.history.com/photos/the-dust-bowl/photo10
Patty says
When my dad used to say “looks like something out of the 30s,” it wasn’t a compliment. The six kids in his family slept in the big open second floor of their house – 2 big rooms. If that house were to go on sale today, I probably couldn’t even afford to go see it. An architect “updated” it in the 70s and incorporated the smoke house, etc. It has a privacy fence and gate around it to keep noisy people out.
Sandy says
My thoughts exactly. Only rich kids had a room to themselves in a decade when family size was much larger than today.
Chris says
What an interesting article! It sparked my interest, since the Westinghouse study was released the same year my house was built!
We are having a yard sale, so sorting and culling my kitchen supplies has been a recent project. I got rid of the wine glasses that my husband’s old girlfriend sent us for a wedding gift. (We don’t drink wine, and really – every time I looked at them, I made a pruney face. Someone else can enjoy them!) I did put the springform pan in the garage sale box. In 15 years, I haven’t made a cheesecake, and now that I’m a Weight Watcher, I’m not likely to. These were easy decisions.
Now… casseroles. I do tend to make big batch recipes and freeze several meals at a time. So I do use those extra pyrex dishes. I have some seasonally decorated water glasses that I really enjoy switching out when the time comes. That gives my spirits a lift, so I’m going to say they aren’t a real requirement, but they are keepers.
When we did our retro make-over of our kitchen a year or two ago, my husband added a little skinny cabinet next to the stove, to store cookie sheets and cooling racks. That was a WONDERFUL move on his part. No more fighting with shifting pans in the drawer under the stove! They used to fall back behind and make me crazy! This little skinny cabinet lives in previously unused space and has made a huge difference in my Kitchen Attitude!
All in all, I’d say that if I went down to bare-bones necessities in my kitchen, I could empty out about a third of my cabinets. But I do use the stuff I have, just not every day. And the cheery seasonal stuff makes me smile a lot. I don’t “need” it, but I do enjoy it very much.
Paige Pitcher says
in a way, this makes sense. The more bedrooms you have in a house the more likely you will have more people living in the house and need that much kitchen. I have a nice roomy kitchen in my rancher (built 1953) and it has a cool diner style banquette that I use all the time for meals. I turned my formal dining room into a home school room. The size of my kitchen fits my needs just fine. If it were any smaller, it would be cramped, if it were any larger, it would be a waste. Soon it will be turned into a red and sky blue kitchen wonderland from a yellow, avocado green and orange eyesore. As soon as I can figure out how to remove 50 year old wallpaper.
Allen says
I like Yellow, Avocado, and Orange and don’t consider those colors an eyesore.
Robin, NV says
I suppose it depends on how the colors were used but I agree with Allen. Look up John and Trixie’s kitchen remodel. They proved that avocado can be cool. I’m adding lots of yellow and orange to my kitchen remodel. I went with turquoise as a third color rather than avocado but my house is from 1962, so it seemed a more appropriate choice.
TerriLynn says
My home’s previous owners didnt bother to remove the wallpaper, they just painted over it. Which is what I am doing. I dont have the energy or patience to deal with that big of a project right now.Although, it would be sooo much better if I did!