Design Postcards: the fitted kitchen

This simple yet radical 20th-Century innovation changed the home forever. And if was designed by a woman, of course.

As 2025 dawns I am working on two kitchen campaigns – one for a new product launch with B&Q and the other a styling assignment for a three-day event for Smeg, so it seems fitting to write about the work of Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, an architect, who I came across during my research and who designed the first fitted kitchen in 1926.

This is part of an ongoing series of postcards from the design world which are sent out as and when I find something interesting to share. You can sign up for free to make sure you never miss them. Or by taking a paid subscription, you can also read all of my more in-depth pieces – the first of which is coming on Wednesday and is 30 interior design tips that will improve your home decor no matter what your style. A full subscription (which also includes access to my live monthly design clinic) costs £7 a month or £75 annually and gives you full access to the archive. See my recent Year In Review post, which gives access to some paid posts I have unlocked.

image from the V&A Museum

Now, back to fitted kitchens, the first of which was the Frankfurt kitchen which was created for a social housing project. It was the first time a kitchen had been designed to a unified concept and at low cost.

Created during the housing shortage following WW1, the idea was to create kitchens that didn’t take up too much living space, because at that time the typical worker lived in a two-room apartment – with one room the rarely used parlour, and the other for cooking, dining, bathing, living and even sleeping.

Margarete created a small, separate room with a sliding door to keep the functions of housework (cooking etc) distinct from those of living (relaxing with company). She also carried out detailed studies to work out how long each job in the kitchen took so she could optimise workflow and maximise storage and prep areas.

“The problem of rationalising the housewife's work is equally important to all classes of the society. Both the middle-class women, who often work without any help (servants) in their homes, and also the women of the worker class, who often have to work in other jobs, are overworked to the point that their stress is bound to have serious consequences for public health at large,” she said in 1926. There was also a school of thought that since women often needed to go out to work, efficiency at home was even more important.

Her plan was based around the kitchens of railway dining cars, which were narrow but efficient. So the door was in one of the short walls, with a window and a workspace beneath it in the other. The oven was on one long side with cabinets and sink opposite.

This layout was also designed to minimise the number of steps needed and there were labelled storage bins for flour, sugar and rice as well as an integrated, removable rubbish drawer.

Since it was a completely new design, it was installed complete with the stove and became the first fitted kitchen. It was painted blue – long regarded as the colour of hygiene, as flies are said to avoid that colour. The worktops were made from beech which is resistant to stains.

Around 10,000 of these kitchens were installed, although they didn’t please everyone. Many felt they were not flexible enough and there was only room for one person at a time – but they became the model for the modern kitchen. Of course, many were thrown out during the 1960s and 70s and very few originals still exist. The Victoria & Albert Museum has one, but it’s not currently on display.

From 1930, Margarete lived and worked in the Soviet Union, later in Istanbul. She was a resistance fighter against the Nazis and travelled back to Vienna in December 1940. In January 1941, she was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned. In 1945, she was liberated by American troops.

If you have enjoyed this Design Postcard, do consider becoming a paid subscriber which allows you to join my monthly live design clinic, post comments and read lots of interior design information and soak up inspiration.