First Prefab Kitchen

I was in London a few weeks ago and had a chance to see an amazing exhibit at the V&A Museum, "Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939," which traces the trajectory of the modernist movement in architecture, industrial design, fashion, dance, and beyond.

One of my favorite parts of the show is a full-scale replica of a Frankfurt Kitchen, the first prefab kitchen to be mass-produced in quantity. About 10,000 of them were installed in apartments in the 1920s and '30s (photo by Carlos Draisci):

There's a photo of the original kitchen on the V&A's Web site. Notice how the sink and countertop are seat-height so you can sit while preparing food. The cluster of handles you see in the lower right of the V&A's archival photo are small storage boxes for flour, sugar, and other goods, while the large strip of gleaming metal just past the stove on the left is a drop-down ironing board. Given the huge interest in prefab housing today, it's fascinating that this design was brought into production on such a large scale over 70 years ago.

The exhibition Web site offers a wealth of information on the Frankfurt Kitchen (including an eight-minute promotional video showing the kitchen action—not to be missed). The London show closed in July, but you can catch it when it comes to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, in Washington, DC, next March.