The surprising history of one of the kitchen designs most famous kitchens
Kellyvision has spent years helping people design and install their dream kitchens, and throughout that time one kitchen has always been above the rest. The Shaker kitchen is known for its distinctly minimal, clean edge design with classical proportions and a subtle elegance. But where did the Shaker kitchen get its name and who designed its iconic look? To answer that we have to delve back in time and visit one of the 17th centuries’ more interesting religious sects.
How the Shakers Began
The middle to the late 1600s was a huge time of social and religious upheaval. The English Civil War had ended and was followed by the execution of King Charles I and the rifts and divisions that caused the civil war had not yet healed. As the common man began to question the status quo and his place in society, religious orders began to splinter away from the Church of England in order to pursue different forms of worship. One of these groups were the Quakers and were known by many as The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearance. Preaching the Gospel, they stressed the importance of having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Shaking Quakers
They gained a strong following and during the religious persecution that marred much of Britain’s history, they fled to North America and set up towns where they were able to thrive. But not before the Quakers began moving away from more zealous expressions of spiritual worship causing the group to break apart again. Led by James and Jane Wardley, the Wardley Society was known as the shaking Quakers because of their passionate and exuberant worship services, during which they believed they received messages from the spirit of God. They preached that the end of the world was near and encouraged people to repent and renounce their sins before the second coming. As they grew in numbers, they became The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing but, unsurprisingly, the name Shaker stuck.
As more and more people joined the shaking Quakers, their group became the target of mobs, with members being stoned and imprisoned. And so, on a wet afternoon in 1774, they began their escape to the new world, landing and settling in Maine and New England. Before the start of the 1800s, they had set up thriving communities from New Hampshire to New York.
The Shaker Kitchen
But how does this relate to the shaker kitchen that millions of households in the UK and beyond know and love? Well, that comes down to the Shaker lifestyle. Practising communal living and preaching equality between men and women, the Shaker communities and the homes they lived in and the furniture they populated it with were simple and practical. The Shakers believed that everything should have a purpose and be unadorned, practical and easy to use. They believed that making something well was “an act of prayer and devotion” so each item epitomised simplicity whilst displaying understated elegance, care, skill and devotion in the pursuit of perfection. Something the kitchen designers here at Kellyvision can understand well.
Shaker Kitchen Colours
Originally built from cherry wood and maple and left natural or coloured with warm palettes of red, dark green and orange, the traditional shaker style kitchen was built around square framed doors with an inset panel. The walls were unadorned, in keeping with their beliefs. The same beliefs have kept this old traditional style in vogue for hundreds of years.
The End of the Shakers
Unfortunately, the Shakers themselves met their demise with the outset of the American Civil War, as they were pacifists, a stance that found them isolated from both sides during the long and bloody conflict. This, combined with their celibate lifestyle caused their numbers to fall dramatically. There are only two remaining Shakers left and they continue to live as their ancestors did centuries ago.
The Shaker Kitchen Design Continues
Whilst we no longer have their exuberant worshipping or pacifist ways, we thank them for their craftsmanship and style and hope Kellyvision’s kitchen designs, like those of James and Jane Wardley and their followers, continue to inspire generations to come.