The furnishings and fitting of the kitchen reflect the state of the art in technological development
in the 18th/19th century: a cast-iron cooking range that needed less combustible material than
an open fire; the water pump at the blue stone sink, which helped reduce the daily toil in the
kitchen by dispensing with the need to fetch water from the fountain. The coffee mill and coffee
roaster hint at the luxury drinks of the times. Coffee, tea and chocolate had previously only been
available to the nobility, but became an established part of middle-class life in the 18th century.
Nevertheless, domestic chores still involved hard labour, as the heavyweight smoothing irons
would suggest.