Should You Add a Bit of Shaker to Your Kitchen?
by Majjie | Fri, 06/06/2008 - 11:15
Virtually every kitchen supplier in the country uses the word “shaker” to describe one or more of their kitchen ranges. But what does it mean exactly? Most of us will have heard of Shaker style but where did the term come from,
and has it retained the original meaning, in terms of kitchen units? I don’t think it has ... but a kitchen which includes some Shaker styling is certainly worth considering.
Who Were the Shakers?
The Shakers (the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing - to give them their correct title - or the Shaking Quakers) were a religious movement in America. Originally a splinter group from the English Quakers, the Shakers were founded by Ann Lee. She was imprisoned in the UK for her controversial views, before she emigrated to the USA and set up a rural community whose main living was made from farming; the first village being established in 1774. At the height of their popularity there were around 6,000 members (around 1850) but the numbers then declined ... possibly something to do with their strict adherence to celibacy (new recruits were either adopted children or adult converts) ... and in 2006 there were only 4 remaining members living in Sabbathday Lake Village, Maine. Some of the original villages, notably at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, have been turned into museums.
Shaker style is mainly preserved through copies of their furniture (original pieces fetch huge sums of money), although other artefacts like storage boxes have also been copied in recent years. Shaker communities, though, were notable for many other things: in particular, the architecture of their buildings; but also for music (largely unsung ... sorry!); for producing medicinal herbs; for pioneering the sale of seeds in paper packets and for inventions such as the circular saw (1810) and a rotary harrow.
Shaker Style
The philosophy of shaker style, evident in everything they made or built, can be summed up in two frequently quoted phrases: "whatever is fashioned let it be plain and simple and for the good" and "beauty rests on utility". As part of their strong religious convictions, the Shaker craftsmen made items for the glory of their god and accordingly strived to make them to the highest levels of workmanship, using pure and simple lines without any ornamentation. They were also interested in making the items durable and, above all, useful. All their possessions were shared and would have been well used.
The original communities were, of course, strongly influenced by English country styles but by 1820, and with many new converts, a recognisable Shaker style had been developed. This style built on both the English tradition and on native American folk art, and added in a large slice of Shaker philosophy. Free standing pieces of furniture were mainly made in local native woods; maple, cherrywood, oak, pine, birch and chestnut. Built-in furniture was often painted cream, or off-white, whilst it was the buildings themselves that were painted in the typical shaker colours of muted aqua blue, russet, dark ochre and leaf or dark green. One of the most characteristic features of Shaker rooms was the peg rail around the walls, on which were hung wall cupboards, baskets, clothing, hats and, of course, the chairs. This left the room looking tidy and also made it easy to clean. The characteristic ladder backed chairs were, in fact, the only pieces of furniture that were popular at the time. They won an award in a Philadelphia exhibition in 1876 and went into mass production - the only original Shaker furniture that wasn't hand crafted. At that time, the other furniture pieces were more likely to be considered plain and unfashionable; their simplicity and grace went unrecognised.
There are obvious similarities in style, with both the Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the Modern Movement. The motivations behind the Arts and Crafts movement were quite different, though. Founder, William Morris, was reacting against the over-ornate, mass produced, poor quality goods of the Victorian industrial age. He had a reverence for hand crafted goods, and for the people who produced them, as well as a huge interest in pre-industrial mediaeval styles. He wasn't against decoration, as such (think of the wallpaper), he just thought that furniture, in particular, should be "fit for purpose". Some of the architects of modernism, on the other hand (notably in Scandinavia), were influenced by Shaker style and philosophy.
The Shaker Kitchen
There was a revival of Shaker style, for UK kitchens, back in the early 1990s. A kitchen in beech, with dark green doors, from B&Q I think, was hugely popular and featured the characteristic peg rail. Other kitchen companies kept to off-white and cream doors, thinking these more authentic for fitted furniture, but the doors were usually teamed with beech or beech effect end panels and accessories. More upmarket versions were usually entirely in a painted finish. There was, at the time, an aspiration to re-create the authentic shaker vision with the restrained, simple look ... although the chipboard carcasses of modern kitchen units probably don’t entirely meet the durability criterion of the Shakers and the choice of colours and the mix of painted and wood finishes wouldn't have been found in a Shaker home.
Since that initial revival, the term shaker (without any capital letter) has come to refer to just the door style of a kitchen - a very plain, square panelled door with fairly sharp, well defined edges; no fancy profiles or curves. There are two distinct versions: one with a vertical groove where the frame elements of the door ... the rails and styles ... join; the other plainer, with no grooves, just very square profiles. You may also find doors with grooved centre panels (to look like tongue and grooved board - but rarely actually made from separate pieces) described as being shaker style. These days, shaker doors are produced in virtually any colour and in gloss finishes, bearing no relationship to the original look. Very plain, maple shaker doors became ubiquitous in the early 2000s and until recently were a firm favourite with nearly all property developers ... teamed with black granite. Walnut is a new favourite, although it can be a bit dark for some kitchens.
This door shows the grooved shaker style - it's from the Second Nature kitchen collection.
This painted kitchen was made by Baker Street Cabinetmakers. The furniture is truly Shaker in style with proper butt hinges to the doors ... the handles, however, are definitely modern. The original craftsmen would probably not have gone to the trouble of making that curved door, either. A square corner would have been quite utilitarian.
You will also now see so-called shaker doors teamed with fancy cornices and all sorts of beadings and mouldings - the original Shakers definitely would not have approved. In their 2007 brochure, MFI even had a door with a raised
and fielded, profiled centre panel called "a new generation of shaker door"... which really has nothing whatever to do with Shaker style. Fired Earth brought out a more authentic shaker kitchen last year, in painted and cherry wood finishes and including a peg rail ... which is still going strong. But, as far as I know, no other UK kitchen company has revived the truly authentic look.
This is the Fired Earth shaker kitchen - the small drawers and the unobtrusive small handles are very typical of original Shaker style:
Your Kitchen
Unless you've fallen in love with the true Shaker ethos ... I wouldn't go the whole hog and have peg rails to hang your chairs on. The clean lines and simplicity of shaker styling, though, does fit well with a modern look. In fact,
plain, square panelled doors lend themselves to many different styles and I'm not above combining them with fancy cornices and turned columns myself ... to give a more classical style ... in spite of that imagined disapproval from the original craftsmen. If you want an unfussy look, then do consider allowing some Shaker influence into your kitchen design.
and has it retained the original meaning, in terms of kitchen units? I don’t think it has ... but a kitchen which includes some Shaker styling is certainly worth considering.
Who Were the Shakers?
The Shakers (the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing - to give them their correct title - or the Shaking Quakers) were a religious movement in America. Originally a splinter group from the English Quakers, the Shakers were founded by Ann Lee. She was imprisoned in the UK for her controversial views, before she emigrated to the USA and set up a rural community whose main living was made from farming; the first village being established in 1774. At the height of their popularity there were around 6,000 members (around 1850) but the numbers then declined ... possibly something to do with their strict adherence to celibacy (new recruits were either adopted children or adult converts) ... and in 2006 there were only 4 remaining members living in Sabbathday Lake Village, Maine. Some of the original villages, notably at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, have been turned into museums.
Shaker style is mainly preserved through copies of their furniture (original pieces fetch huge sums of money), although other artefacts like storage boxes have also been copied in recent years. Shaker communities, though, were notable for many other things: in particular, the architecture of their buildings; but also for music (largely unsung ... sorry!); for producing medicinal herbs; for pioneering the sale of seeds in paper packets and for inventions such as the circular saw (1810) and a rotary harrow.
Shaker Style
The philosophy of shaker style, evident in everything they made or built, can be summed up in two frequently quoted phrases: "whatever is fashioned let it be plain and simple and for the good" and "beauty rests on utility". As part of their strong religious convictions, the Shaker craftsmen made items for the glory of their god and accordingly strived to make them to the highest levels of workmanship, using pure and simple lines without any ornamentation. They were also interested in making the items durable and, above all, useful. All their possessions were shared and would have been well used.
The original communities were, of course, strongly influenced by English country styles but by 1820, and with many new converts, a recognisable Shaker style had been developed. This style built on both the English tradition and on native American folk art, and added in a large slice of Shaker philosophy. Free standing pieces of furniture were mainly made in local native woods; maple, cherrywood, oak, pine, birch and chestnut. Built-in furniture was often painted cream, or off-white, whilst it was the buildings themselves that were painted in the typical shaker colours of muted aqua blue, russet, dark ochre and leaf or dark green. One of the most characteristic features of Shaker rooms was the peg rail around the walls, on which were hung wall cupboards, baskets, clothing, hats and, of course, the chairs. This left the room looking tidy and also made it easy to clean. The characteristic ladder backed chairs were, in fact, the only pieces of furniture that were popular at the time. They won an award in a Philadelphia exhibition in 1876 and went into mass production - the only original Shaker furniture that wasn't hand crafted. At that time, the other furniture pieces were more likely to be considered plain and unfashionable; their simplicity and grace went unrecognised.
There are obvious similarities in style, with both the Arts and Crafts movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the Modern Movement. The motivations behind the Arts and Crafts movement were quite different, though. Founder, William Morris, was reacting against the over-ornate, mass produced, poor quality goods of the Victorian industrial age. He had a reverence for hand crafted goods, and for the people who produced them, as well as a huge interest in pre-industrial mediaeval styles. He wasn't against decoration, as such (think of the wallpaper), he just thought that furniture, in particular, should be "fit for purpose". Some of the architects of modernism, on the other hand (notably in Scandinavia), were influenced by Shaker style and philosophy.
The Shaker Kitchen
There was a revival of Shaker style, for UK kitchens, back in the early 1990s. A kitchen in beech, with dark green doors, from B&Q I think, was hugely popular and featured the characteristic peg rail. Other kitchen companies kept to off-white and cream doors, thinking these more authentic for fitted furniture, but the doors were usually teamed with beech or beech effect end panels and accessories. More upmarket versions were usually entirely in a painted finish. There was, at the time, an aspiration to re-create the authentic shaker vision with the restrained, simple look ... although the chipboard carcasses of modern kitchen units probably don’t entirely meet the durability criterion of the Shakers and the choice of colours and the mix of painted and wood finishes wouldn't have been found in a Shaker home.
Since that initial revival, the term shaker (without any capital letter) has come to refer to just the door style of a kitchen - a very plain, square panelled door with fairly sharp, well defined edges; no fancy profiles or curves. There are two distinct versions: one with a vertical groove where the frame elements of the door ... the rails and styles ... join; the other plainer, with no grooves, just very square profiles. You may also find doors with grooved centre panels (to look like tongue and grooved board - but rarely actually made from separate pieces) described as being shaker style. These days, shaker doors are produced in virtually any colour and in gloss finishes, bearing no relationship to the original look. Very plain, maple shaker doors became ubiquitous in the early 2000s and until recently were a firm favourite with nearly all property developers ... teamed with black granite. Walnut is a new favourite, although it can be a bit dark for some kitchens.
This door shows the grooved shaker style - it's from the Second Nature kitchen collection.
This painted kitchen was made by Baker Street Cabinetmakers. The furniture is truly Shaker in style with proper butt hinges to the doors ... the handles, however, are definitely modern. The original craftsmen would probably not have gone to the trouble of making that curved door, either. A square corner would have been quite utilitarian.
You will also now see so-called shaker doors teamed with fancy cornices and all sorts of beadings and mouldings - the original Shakers definitely would not have approved. In their 2007 brochure, MFI even had a door with a raised
and fielded, profiled centre panel called "a new generation of shaker door"... which really has nothing whatever to do with Shaker style. Fired Earth brought out a more authentic shaker kitchen last year, in painted and cherry wood finishes and including a peg rail ... which is still going strong. But, as far as I know, no other UK kitchen company has revived the truly authentic look.
This is the Fired Earth shaker kitchen - the small drawers and the unobtrusive small handles are very typical of original Shaker style:
Your Kitchen
Unless you've fallen in love with the true Shaker ethos ... I wouldn't go the whole hog and have peg rails to hang your chairs on. The clean lines and simplicity of shaker styling, though, does fit well with a modern look. In fact,
plain, square panelled doors lend themselves to many different styles and I'm not above combining them with fancy cornices and turned columns myself ... to give a more classical style ... in spite of that imagined disapproval from the original craftsmen. If you want an unfussy look, then do consider allowing some Shaker influence into your kitchen design.
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