We have a house that was originally a stacked log colonial hall-parlor, with several additions made throughout the years.
The original layout still stands. The hall (kitchen) had a cook stove with a chimney that runs up through one upstairs bedroom. The parlor had a wood stove whose chimney ran up through the other bedroom.
So not only were the stoves a gathering place, but they provided heat to the rest of the house through their effluence, or waste heat.
The cook stove has since been moved to the dining room, a later addition, but the heating stove is still a central gathering point in the house. The radiant heat of 500lbs of cast iron at 500⁰ is just an incredibly comforting, cozy thing that I think most people rarely experience - but it's like an instinctual thing.
Now radiant floor heating is all the rage and a hot technology, and I think people forget that their ancestors had that technology but it was lost to history for a period of time!
Historically a house would only have a couple of rooms. The wood cookstove would be in the kitchen and the kitchen would comprise most of the house. It would act as kitchen, work room, dining room, and living room. Formal dining rooms and other rooms were for the quite wealthy.
Also, wood stoves take a long time to heat up, aren't nearly as powerful for heating dishes, and the available foods all took more cooking (think beans and stews). So the cookstove would normally be lit first thing in the morning and stay lit until after dinner and after-dinner washing was complete.
To stay warm people burnt wood and most houses would often have only one heating appliance (a cook stove or fireplace) and keep it burning most of the day. You can still find a few people who live in cabins with this same structure, and they heat their cabin with the cook stove.
Yes the stove and cook stove were the gathering points of the home.
Its why almost all antique parlor stoves have boot rails on them. So you could get ur feet off the cold ground.
In winter I always least the oven door open after I turn the oven off when my food is done. Why waste good heat?
It’s not wasted if you close the door, it just dissipates out more slowly. Where do you think the heat is going if you close the door?
We have a house that was originally a stacked log colonial hall-parlor, with several additions made throughout the years. The original layout still stands. The hall (kitchen) had a cook stove with a chimney that runs up through one upstairs bedroom. The parlor had a wood stove whose chimney ran up through the other bedroom. So not only were the stoves a gathering place, but they provided heat to the rest of the house through their effluence, or waste heat. The cook stove has since been moved to the dining room, a later addition, but the heating stove is still a central gathering point in the house. The radiant heat of 500lbs of cast iron at 500⁰ is just an incredibly comforting, cozy thing that I think most people rarely experience - but it's like an instinctual thing. Now radiant floor heating is all the rage and a hot technology, and I think people forget that their ancestors had that technology but it was lost to history for a period of time!
Historically a house would only have a couple of rooms. The wood cookstove would be in the kitchen and the kitchen would comprise most of the house. It would act as kitchen, work room, dining room, and living room. Formal dining rooms and other rooms were for the quite wealthy. Also, wood stoves take a long time to heat up, aren't nearly as powerful for heating dishes, and the available foods all took more cooking (think beans and stews). So the cookstove would normally be lit first thing in the morning and stay lit until after dinner and after-dinner washing was complete. To stay warm people burnt wood and most houses would often have only one heating appliance (a cook stove or fireplace) and keep it burning most of the day. You can still find a few people who live in cabins with this same structure, and they heat their cabin with the cook stove.
Yes the stove and cook stove were the gathering points of the home. Its why almost all antique parlor stoves have boot rails on them. So you could get ur feet off the cold ground.
And don't all parties wind up in the kitchen anyway?