Nearly three-quarters of a century before “Hot Topics” on The View, women sat around a small table and talked. Not on television, but among themselves. They needed to. Secrets were exchanged or complaints made. Perhaps about an inattentive husband or an unruly child as they sipped coffee and nibbled finger sandwiches. Maybe even sipped a much needed cocktail or two. They sat around this smaller table where they had dutifully served their husbands and children breakfast earlier that morning expressing their thoughts and having someone to listen to them. This smaller table provided intimacy. It kept secrets confined within a limited space.
The table was compact and used for a variety of different reasons. Mainly as a dining room table and often bought with a matching set of chairs. The dinette, as it was called, became very popular during the 1930s. During the Depression, it was too expensive to go out for a night on the town. Families were adapting to the financial crisis by turning inwards and entertaining more in their homes. Dining rooms were becoming smaller. People didn’t sit down to formal meals anymore and most families only used their dining rooms for a brief period each day. Architects and designers began questioning the need for a such a room. But Americans weren’t ready to let go. They wanted to keep some element of formal appearance.
The dinette occupied less space than a traditional dining room suite. It was designed so it could be outfitted with other multi-functional pieces of furniture. New to the American décor, it became so popular that it was the best-selling piece of furniture of the time. It could be made with two drop leaves -- collapsible when not in use and placed to the side of the room. It could even be turned to the side and used as a type of side board. The dinette was used to share family meals, for children to diligently complete their homework, for wives and husbands to discuss looming issues. It was a work table or multi-functional table. A plethora of uses then as we have now. What hasn’t changed it the need for women to sit around a small table and talk.
Gilbert Rohde's five-piece dinette set for Troy Sunshade comprised of a circular table with black top, bright chrome trim and tubular base, with four chairs upholstered in black vinyl. (David Rago/John Sollo Auctions.)
Eero Saarinen / Knoll Tulip dinette table with walnut top and two matching armchairs upholstered in red fabric. (David Rago Auctions.)
Still popular several decades later, Paul Evans designed this dinette table in brushed and polished chrome with marble top.
A Philippe Starck dinette table with square frosted glass top in four fin-shaped metal legs.
