Although cooking was still mostly done in a basic space, by moving the cooking and food preparation space to a more isolated part of the house, thus reducing smoke in the living and dining area, the common living area or room where food could be shared became a more comfortable place to sit in. It increasingly became a space that became the primary social area of the house. By the 16th century, tiled heating was used more commonly, allowing the kitchen to be placed even farther away from the living area. Heating could now be transported across the house and the heating source could also be placed at different locations rather than dependent on the kitchen. More homes now even had a separate building used for the kitchen, while poor homes still had to rely on a combined kitchen and dining area with a form of stove sometimes used for cooking. For wealthy rooms, as they could afford to have another room or even building for the kitchen, this increasingly led to social barriers where kitchens were regulated for servants' or slaves' work.
Other major changes occurred throughout major cities in the late 19th century. The first was water pipes began to be incorporated with homes, initially to help remove waste, but this was found to be useful for bringing water to kitchens, as it provided clean water to help clean and prepare foods. The second development was the creation of gas pipes in cities. These were created to help cities provide lighting for streets, but with gas and its prevalence now provided a new fuel that could be used for firing stoves. Gas-powered stoves became now more common and replaced the wood and coal fired stoves, helping cities to also become relatively cleaner by producing smoke that was less sooty. Stoves were also closed, forming designs that began to shape our modern ovens.
Kitchens also began to change in their social outlook. For wealthy classes, kitchens were still working areas that were often a good distance away from the dinning areas. For middle classes, kitchens were next to or near dinning areas. For the middle class, therefore, as kitchens became cleaner due to better burning stoves and availability of water, kitchens began to become a new type of social space. People began to place tables and other furniture to use kitchens as social gathering spaces, while dinning rooms were used more for more formal dinners.
==Technology Evolution==