I’ve built a ton of kitchens and I’ve hated every one. The modern idea of what a kitchen is perfectly describes how alienated we are from the people that came before. We treat kitchens like an aesthetic showcase, we have all manner of marginally useful gadgets, we display class.

Our ancestors would have found entertaining in the kitchen shocking. Informal to a perverse degree. Guests would be treated to a beautifully appointed parlor, a cheerful but unnecessary fire, a table and chairs designed for intimate conversation.

Today you rarely get past the kitchen. Today you are expected to belly up to a gruesome kitchen island, or shift on your feet while people move about you, surrounded by and beset by APPLIANCES and the litter of kitchen work.

Why do we have such trouble knowing what the rooms in our houses are for?

A kitchen is a work space. It is the private heart of your home. It is for family to engage in shared work. It is for those closest to you, informal and magic. The dog should sleep there. It is a step away from the barn and the other tremendous work your ancestors did.

The informality of our culture is a Trojan horse. It feels egalitarian but is actually disrespectful and shallow. You should have elevated spaces, aesthetic hierarchies in your home. A gift to give people you want to know better but who have not earned your heart yet.