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Letterfrack reconstruction kitchen

The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) produced a number of model kitchens and homes during the 1950s and 1960s, as part of their efforts to promote rural electrification to Irish women. They showcased domestic electrical products, but also demonstrated the rational layout of a modern fitted kitchen.
 
In 1956, the ESB collaborated with the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA), the Department of Agriculture and the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland to design a model farm kitchen for the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) Spring Show. It was designed by architect Eleanor Butler and combined modern appliances and materials with a traditional layout, including a kitchen, scullery and living room. After the exhibition closed, the kitchen was installed in a mobile van and toured around the country for five years.

This reconstruction of the kitchen section was constructed for the Kitchen Power exhibition by Phillip Carey, final year BSc (Hons) Furniture Design and Manufacture student at Galway-Mayo institute of Technology, Letterfrack campus.
 
The National Museum of Ireland – Country Life would like to thank Phillip Carey, Paul Leamy, Dr. Marion McGarry, Dermot O’Donovan and Dr. Susan Rogers, GMIT Letterfrack.
Inside the new ESB/ICA farm kitchen, Thurles, County Tipperary, Irish Independent, February 1958. Courtesy of the ESB Archives and the Irish Independent
The reconstructed model kitchen in the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, July 2019 Image: Courtesy of Joseph O’Brien

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