Pioneers of the modern kitchen

Humans have been cooking for thousands of years. But the spaces we cook in have evolved beyond recognition – from the campfire to the sleek fitted kitchen. It’s been a remarkable journey shaped by countless ingenious minds. Blum Inspirations now shines a spotlight on six of these pioneers: François de Cuvilliés, Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler, Maria Susanne Kübler, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth and Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky.

Kitchens without smoke: François de Cuvilliés the Elder 

The year is 1735, Cooking was still mainly done over an open fire – and with it, there was constant smoke, soot and the ever present risk of flames. Kitchens of the era were so perpetually blackened by smoke that they became known as “Schwarzküchen” – black kitchens. François de Cuvilliés the Elder set out to change that. He developed the Castrol stove – a name derived from the French word casserole, meaning “cooking pot” and one that says it all. The Castrol stove was the first stove to completely enclose the fire and was a masonry construction covered by a perforated iron plate on which pots were placed. The design also included a flue system.

The first installation of the Castrol stove was in the Amalienburg, a hunting lodge designed by de Cuvilliés, on the grounds of the Nymphenburg Palace Park in the west of Munich. An architect first and foremost rather than an inventor,de Cuvilliés is best remembered today for a number of German Rococo buildings he designed. Because his clientele were the upper classes, it would be some years before his stove concept found its way into ordinary people’s kitchens. However, the principle proved so effective that it’s still in use today, giving us clean, smoke-free kitchens. 

Electricity in the kitchen: Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler

More than 150 years after François de Cuvillié’s invention, the next step towards the modern kitchen came from a man from Voralberg: Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler unveiled the first electrified kitchen in 1893 – complete with the world’s first electric cooker. The achievement earned him a gold medal at the Chicago World’s Fair. However, it would take several more decades for electricity to become common in kitchens. The necessary infrastructure simply wasn’t widespread enough at the time – Schindler was well ahead of his time.

His fascination with electricity extended well beyond the kitchen, though. As early as 1881, he purchased an Edison power generator in Paris and illuminated the first incandescent bulbs ever seen in Austria, in the village of Kennelbach. 

The foundation of home economics: Maria Susanne Kübler

The writer Maria Susanne Kübler left her mark on the kitchen in a different way: With her 1850 book "Das Hauswesen" (Housekeeping), the Swiss born author published what became the standard housekeeping guide of its day for housewives. The book was reprinted 17 times and remained a popular practical guide well into the early 20th century, especially in German-speaking areas. Beyond recipes, "Das Hauswesen” also offered advice on vegetable gardening and nursing the sick. Kübler was not only a housewife and writer – she spoke four languages and worked as a translator and teacher.

While her book did not present groundbreaking discoveries, it helped spread practical knowledge to a wide audience. From today’s perspective, what stands out most is how sparsely kitchens were furnished at the time. As Kübler describes in her book, a kitchen might have a cupboard, a dresser, a sturdy table with a drawer, chairs, a stool and a small mirror. Yet, in her description of the dresser, she was already outlining the predecessor of today’s larder unit – an element that would eventually become a fixture in almost every kitchen.

Father of scientific management: Frederick Winslow Taylor

At first glance, Frederick Winslow Taylor seems to have had little to do with kitchens. A true polymath, the engineer became known as the inventor of high-speed steel, he was among the first to research metal cutting and he even finished fourth in the men’s individual golf event at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. He is also regarded as one of the most important founders of scientific management, a school of thought often referred to as “Taylorism”.

Scientific management looks at work processes, taking a range of different factors into account, with the aim of achieving the best results with the resources available. Although Taylor’s findings were rooted in industrial production, his principles proved applicable to many other areas – including the kitchen. Before long, this would begin to shape kitchen planning as we know it today. 

Inventor of the kitchen work triangle: Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth

Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth’s biography is packed with remarkable achievements: She was one of the first female engineers in the United States to earn a PhD, worked as a university lecturer, served as an advisor to multiple US presidents and is regarded as “The First Lady of Engineering”. In the 1940s, she made a decisive breakthrough with what she called "circular routing": She developed a solution that later became known as the "work triangle” – a layout principle designed to cut down the journeys between the key areas of a kitchen. This principle is still used in kitchen planning around the world today. 

Gilbreth often tested her work processes and inventions in her own busy household – she had 12 children. Her son Frank and daughter Ernestine later wrote a semi-autobiographical novel about their family life, “Cheaper by the Dozen”, which was even adapted into a Hollywood film. Gilbreth was also an inventor. She is credited with inventions such as the electric mixer and the pedal-operated waste bin. 

The Frankfurt Kitchen: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky

Drawing on the principles of Frederick Winslow Taylor, the Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky designed what became known as the "Frankfurt Kitchen". It is considered the forerunner of the modern fitted kitchen and was designed around 1925 for the large-scale social housing project “Neues Frankfurt” (hence its name), which comprised more than 10,000 flats. Because the kitchen was produced in such large numbers, it could be manufactured cost-effectively. The "Frankfurt Kitchen” is compact and designed for a single person, which makes it feel rather confined. Efficiency was prioritised over space. Everything in the kitchen was meant to be within easy reach. A distinctive feature was a set of “kitchen-chutes” (“Schütten”) – small removable drawers with a spout – to store kitchen staples. However, this idea did not catch on in the long run. 

Schütte-Lihotzky was a pioneer in other respects, too. She was one of the first women to study architecture in Austria back in 1915 and one of the first to practice the profession. Today she is regarded as one of the most important figures in modern architectural history, with streets and squares in both Vienna and Frankfurt being named after her. She died just before her 103rd birthday and was laid to rest in a grave of honour at Vienna Central Cemetery. 

Blum requirements research

Blum follows in the footsteps of these pioneers. The fittings manufacturer gathers empirical insights through internal studies, product testing, kitchen usage observations and experiments using AgeExplorer® – a suit that simulates the effects of ageing. Trend analysis and customer feedback provide additional sources of information. Drawing on the findings from this research, Blum develops functional furniture ideas that create real added value, as they address the needs and requirements of actual users and integrate seamlessly into everyday routines.