Kitchen antiques are the utensils, vessels, furniture and equipment used in kitchens, sculleries, dairies and larders before the age of modern appliances. The field covers copper pans and moulds, brass and iron cooking implements, stoneware crocks, earthenware bowls, treen spoons and butter stamps, scales and weights, storage tins, bread boards and the dressers, tables and racks that furnished the room.
Country house kitchens were vast and highly organised, with batteries of copper marked with the family crest, while farmhouse and cottage kitchens relied on sturdy, practical wares. Many objects survive from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and their simple forms, honest materials and evidence of use are a large part of their charm. Collectors look for good condition, original surfaces, makers' names on scales and tins, and pieces with a known house or regional history. Scrubbed pine and sycamore tables, Welsh and Yorkshire dressers and plate racks are central to the traditional country kitchen look. Antique kitchen items are increasingly used to bring warmth and character to contemporary kitchens. Anything intended for food use should be checked carefully, and copper pans should be re-tinned by a specialist before cooking.
