The way we cooked
From wood smoke to ranges, dry sinks to suites of matching appliances, the evolution of a room can be seen in seven historic New England kitchens.
The 1821 Phillips House in Salem, owned by Historic New England, was renovated extensively in 1911, but its kitchen, with many fixtures dating from the 1880s, was left in late-Victorian style. The coal stove has several cooking and warming ovens, the soapstone sink has the original plumbing, and the cabinets are filled with turn-of-the-century gadgets. One of the Phillips family’s prized possessions was a wooden icebox that Anna Phillips had inherited; she built a pantry around it. The Phillips House, 34 Chestnut Street, Salem, 978-744-0440, historicnewengland.org. Open Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (winter hours), through May; admission $5 for adults and free for Historic New England members.
The galley-style kitchen in the 1938 Walter Gropius house in Lincoln, now owned by Historic New England, was designed for minimal steps between workstations for maximum efficiency. White metal medical-supply cabinets have simple handles that are still popular today. The sink’s
On display at the New Hampshire Historical Society, the 1957 Sintros kitchen reflects the innovations of its era: an open plan, a unified color scheme, and matching appliances. The pristine turquoise kitchen, part of the current “America’s Kitchens” traveling exhibition, was the Sintros family’s “show kitchen,” used only for special occasions. The workhorse kitchen was in the basement of their Andover, Massachusetts, home. The New Hampshire Historical Society, 6 Eagle Square, Concord, New Hampshire, 603-228-6688, nhhistory.org. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and, in December, also Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (“America’s Kitchens” exhibition runs through January 17); admission $5.50 for adults.
The early-1800s kitchen at the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Providence (each of the kitchens on this page is there) includes an open hearth for cooking with wood and a dry sink, a cabinet with a recessed top for water pitcher and basin. A reflector oven is also on display -- basically a hand-turned rotisserie that is placed in front of a fire.
The museum’s 1885 Victorian kitchen includes a copper hot-water tank that is connected to the coal-heated stove and a “possum-belly” table with both a work space on top and a warm, draft-free compartment underneath where dough could rise. The black-tin “security safe” was designed to keep foods out of the reach of pests.
The coal-fired stove in the museum’s early-1900s tenement kitchen has a rudimentary temperature gauge that ranges from “warm” to “extremely hot.” There’s a wooden icebox and a kitchen sink with running water -- but no sewer connection. Used water was collected underneath and then tossed out the window.
A 1943 demonstration kitchen at the museum is modeled on the exhibitions that were used to teach cooking techniques at country fairs. Vintage linoleum sets the stage for fixtures from the era: a Hoosier cabinet and a 1937 refrigerator that would still have been state-of-the-art during World War II. The stove holds the latest canning technology: a pressure cooker.
Culinary Arts Museum, 315 Harborside Boulevard, Providence, 401-598-2805, culinary.org. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; admission $7 for adults. Rachel Travers writes frequently for the Globe Magazine. Send comments to magazine@globe.com. 
