About Antique Food Furniture

Pie Safe's

• If you've ever made homemade pies for your family, you'll understand the term "pie safe." These held cakes, breads, cookies and pies. Pie safes had pierced-tin panels in the front that ventilated the baked goods and prevented mold. The biggest purpose was to keep the goods away from flying pests and rodents. These safes were prominent in the households of the 1800s and early 1900s. Pie safes often had drawers and usually held three shelves.

Jelly Cupboards

• If you find a jelly cupboard or jelly safe, you'll notice it looks a lot like a pie safe. These also had tin in the two front doors with decorative tin that had small holes pierced in it for ventilation. Most people believe that the jelly safe was the predecessor for the pie safe. They were in homes in the early 1800s. Some of the jelly safes were natural while others had a milk paint finish.

Dry Sinks

• Dry sinks provided not just a spot for the homemaker to wash dishes but also to prepare food. These were in use all through the nineteenth century and were often lined with zinc. There were four styles of dry sinks. The first had the shallow zinc trough on a movable cabinet. Another had the zinc trough and connected to the wall and stood on two legs. The third inserted the trough in a cabinet with four legs. The last kind was a stone trough attached to a window sill. The trough held a dishpan filled with water when used for dish washing. Normally there were drawers beneath the sink. Often these sinks, like the one pictured, were painted by later owners.

Tea Trolley

• Tea trolleys made their way into society in the early 1900s and were popular until about 1950. The hostess used it to bring tea and treats to her guests in the sitting or living room. It was the epitome of convenience. Normally there were two shelves and four wheeled legs.

Baker's Cabinet

• The baker's cabinet was the heart of the kitchen. These offered a work area that folded out. They had small drawers and doors in the hutch area for all the cooking supplies. The baker's cabinet also stored the finished products. Often there were storage bins below such as the larger "sow belly" bins that hung down like the belly of a sow. They also had bread drawers and drawers for other supplies. The Hoosier Company reconfigured the traditional baker's cabinet around 1903 and ultimately made it even more functional. Because of this, the name Hoosier cabinet became synonymous with the baker's cabinet.

Ice Box

• Most ice boxes had three doors in the front. Behind the right door was where vegetables, meats and eggs stacked up on the wire shelves. On the left side were two more doors. The upper door hid a zinc-lined wall. This was where the homemaker put a block of ice. The lower door had another shelf. The walls were hollow and contained material to insulate the ice box. Often porcelain covered the interior area where food was kept. If you had an upscale model, there was a spigot to drain the water from the melting ice that collected in a catch pan. Cheaper ice boxes had a drip pan that were emptied. These were popular from the mid-1800s to around 1930.