I’ve long been fascinated with kitchens, the older the more interesting. I love to cook and often imagine how difficult it must’ve been in centuries past. While I appreciate intact or refurbished ancient cooking chambers – they help me tremendously while writing scenes for my characters – there’s just something inherently intriguing about these lost and forgotten, totally abandoned and derelict kitchens.
Although the house was inhabited until the 1950’s, it looks as if little was done to it in the 20th century. This kitchen range must have seen many decades of use. Photo by Virginia Knight on Geograph.org.uk
A kitchen range found behind a bricked up wall in the butcher’s shop, Market Lavington, Wiltshire, England. Photo from Market Lavington Museum – Click here for the rest of the story.
This is the kitchen of the property known as Cwm-trwsgl, believed to have been at one time the home of the manager at Prince of Wales quarry. The fireplace shows the remains of the old iron range. Photo by John Gibson on Geograph.org.uk.
Old kitchen range near to Vowchurch, Herefordshire, Great Britain by Jeremy Bolwell on Geograph.org.uk This is where a past resident or tenant cooked their brews, stews and scran, kept themselves warm in winter and lived their life. Try telling anyone today that this little corner is going to be the centre of their world and see what they say.
19th century Bessingham Manor kitchen, near to Bessingham, Norfolk, Great Britain. Photo copyright Evelyn Simak, Geograph.org.uk
More information and a link to 40 images of Bessingham Manor.
Abandoned mansion in Beirut. Photo by Craigfinlay on Wikimedia Commons.
![Oliver Hinkle, disabled miner, washing his hands in the kitchen. Kentucky Straight Creek Coal Company, Belva Mine. Abandoned after explosion [in] Dec. 1945, Four Mile, Bell County, Kentucky. (National Archives image)](https://lisanneharris.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/oliver-hinkle-disabled-miner-washing-his-hands-in-the-kitchen-kentucky-straight-creek-coal-company-belva-mine.jpg)
Oliver Hinkle, disabled miner, washing his hands in the kitchen. Kentucky Straight Creek Coal Company, Belva Mine. Abandoned after explosion [in] Dec. 1945, Four Mile, Bell County, Kentucky. (National Archives image)
The building received monument status in 1970. In the 1980s, the barracks were converted into a complex of apartments and offices.
I’ve never seen a stove/oven/pressure cooker contraption quite like this. Admittedly, I haven’t seen too many commercial kitchens. This is from an abandoned military barracks kitchen in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photo by Appeltaart on Flickr
Pressure cooker on stove of an abandoned military barracks kitchen in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photo by Appeltaart on Flickr
Window above sink and sprayer in an abandoned military barracks kitchen in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Photo by Appeltaart on Flickr
This image just breaks my heart. How hard the life and times for coal miners and their families? Would I have been strong enough to survive it? It’s not an abandoned kitchen, but it almost looks like one. This is Dillard Eldridge and his children in the kitchen of the twenty year old four room house for which they paid $9 monthly. Kentucky Straight Creek Coal Company, Belva Mine, abandoned after explosion, Four Mile, Bell County, Kentucky. (Wikimedia Commons image – Department of the Interior. Solid Fuels Administration For War. (04/19/1943 – 06/30/1947)
School Kitchen; ghost town of Pripyat near Chernobyl by Timm Suess on Flickr
View into the kitchen of an abandoned house somewhere in New Hampshire. Photo by miseriavalore on flickr.
The remains of a kitchen in a derelict house somewhere in New Hampshire. Photo by miseriavalore on flickr.
Lonely tea cup in an abandoned kitchen. Photo by eflon on flickr.
A derelict kitchen in Mundare, Alberta, Canada. Photo by sahlgoode on flickr.
Abandoned kitchen in Vastmanland, Sweden. Photo by Pelle Sten on flickr.
![This isn't actually a picture of a kitchen, but I find it wholly compelling. It was taken September 4, 1946 of a miner's children in front of the fireplace in Monroe Jones' four room house. This grate fire and the kitchen fire supply heat in winter. Kentucky Straight Creek Coal Company, Belva Mine, abandoned after explosion [in] Dec. 1945, Four Mile, Bell County, Kentucky. Department of the Interior. Solid Fuels Administration For War.](https://lisanneharris.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/miners-children-in-front-of-the-fireplace-in-monroe-jones-four-room-house.jpg)
This isn’t actually a picture of a kitchen, but I find it wholly compelling. It was taken September 4, 1946 of a miner’s children in front of the fireplace in Monroe Jones’ four room house. This grate fire and the kitchen fire supply heat in winter. Kentucky Straight Creek Coal Company, Belva Mine, abandoned after explosion [in] Dec. 1945, Four Mile, Bell County, Kentucky. Department of the Interior. Solid Fuels Administration For War.
