A kitchen is a public area dedicated to cooking, food storage, and food preparation. Kitchens are normally equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold water, a refrigerator, worktops, cabinets for storage, a pantry, dishwasher, and other electric appliances. Sometimes, kitchens are also used for dining or entertaining. I consider the kitchen as a main public area.
Kitchens in Ancient Greece were located in a central patio; wealthy people had kitchens in a separate room with a small storage room in the back. Food was cooked over an open fire. In Rome, small houses had no kitchens, cooking was normally done in large public kitchens. Wealthy Romans had large and well-equipped kitchens in their villas in a separate room with a fireplace on the floor or a wall. In the middle ages, the kitchen was located near the main fireplace. Wealthy homes normally had one kitchen based on the food prepared in them.
The evolution of the kitchen is linked to the invention of the cooking range or stove and the development of water infrastructure capable of supplying running water to private homes. Early stoves fired with coal or wood used one fire to heat several pots. The first U.S. patent on a gas stove was granted in 1825. The first electrical stove had been presented in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but it was not until the 1930's that the technology was stable enough and began to take off. Before and after the beginning of the 20th century, kitchens were frequently not equipped with built-in cabinetry, and the lack of storage space in the kitchen became a real problem. Floor cabinets and wall cabinets when introduced completely changed the design and functionality of kitchens
