kitchen benches with tables image
cal_blam
I need to install a small drop leaf breakfast bar, I only have basic hand tools and electric drills, sanders etc. I am hoping to find a simple plan I can use (or adapt a plan from a bench/table). Not fussed about fancy routed joints.
I was going to drill a wooden strip into the wall with some nice stainless brackets and then attach the drop leaf to that. Then varnish to match the kitchen benchtop.
Anyone know of anywhere I could find a free plan/DIY guide to doing this?
Also are there some special drop leaf hinges that i can use on the underside that would save making special joints etc? I think I have seen something on a caravan hardware website that may be useful but don't know where to find these retail. I am in Melbourne Australia so local knowledge most appreciated. Cheers, Cal.
Answer
I don't know about a DIY plan, but IKEA sells tabletops that are made for drop leaf designs - and they are really cheap. I mean, $60, all finished cheap. They look really nice too.
http://www.ikea-usa.com
What kind of 14th century kitchen would a peasant have?
Audra
If you lived back then, what would the kitchen look like and where would you keep all of the food? Would there have been an oven or stove [obviously not modern] or something like it? Just curious!
Answer
One point about medieval life that is often overlooked is that not all peasants were the same. Some were much better off than others, and owned more land, and could afford a better lifestyle. in 'Life in a Medieval Village' Frances and Joseph Gies write:
'All the village houses belonged to the basic type of medieval building, the "hall" as did the manor house, the barns, and even the church, a single high-ceilinged room, varying in size depending on the number of bays or framed sections. In peasant houses, bays were usually about fifteen feet square.
The house of a rich villager might consist of four or even five bays, with entriy in the middle of a long side. small service rooms were probably partitioned off at one end: a buttery, where drink was kept, and a pantry, for bread, dishes, and utensils, with a passage between leading to a kitchen outside. A large hall might retain the ancient central hearth, or be heated by a fireplace with a chimney fitted into the wall.
A middle-level peasant probably lived in a three-bay house, the commonest type. A cotter (peasants without land) might have a small one-or-two-bay house. Dwellings commonly still lodged animals as well as human beings, but the byre was more often partititioned off and sometimes positioned at right angles to the living quarters.
Interiors were lighted bya few windows, shuttered but unglazed, and by doors, often open during the daytime, through which children and animals wandered freely. Floors were of beaten earth covered with straw or rushes. In the centre a fire of wood or of peat burned on a stone heearth, vented through a hole in the roof. Some hearths were crowned by hoods or funnels to channel the smoke to the makeshift chimney, which might be capped by a barrel with its ends knocked out. The atmosphere of the house was perpetually smoky from the fire burning all day as water, milk, or porridge simmered on pots on trivets or in footed brass or iron kettles. At night a fire-cover, a large round ceramic lid with holes, could be put over the blaze.
The family ate seated on benches or stools at a trestle table, disasembled at night. Chairs were rarities. A c upboard or hutch held wooden and earthenware bowls, jugs, and wooden spoons. Hams, bags and baskets hung from the rafters, away from rats and mice. Clothing, bedding, towels and table linen were stored in chests. A well-t-do peasant might own silver spoons, brass pots, and pewter dishes.
The peasant's basic need was subsistence, which meant food and drink produced from grain. The main necessities of life were bread, pottage or porridge, and ale. Most peasant bread was made from 'maslin' a mixture of wheat and rye or barley and rye, baked into a coarse dark loaf, consumed in great quantities by men, women and children.
For the poorer peasant families, pottage was favored over bread as more economical, since it required no milling and therefore escaped both the miller's exaction and the naturla loss of quality in the process. Peas and beans supplied protein and amino acids to both pottage and bread. A little fat bacon or salt pork might be added to the pottage along with onions and garlic from the garden. In spring and summer a variety of vegetables ws available, and some crofts grew fruit trees. Nuts, berries and roots were gathered in the woods.
A middling family probably owned a cow or two or three ewes, to provide a supply of milk, cheese, and butter. Most households kept chickens and pigs to furnish eggs and occasional meat. Slated and dried fish were available for a price, as were eels, which also might be fished for.
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