A special group of storage furniture embraces the various forms of corner furniture, low or high cupboards that were made in pairs (just as in the case of several other old furniture forms) particularly for small rooms, in which they became fixed components of the interior scheme. Kitchen furniture and furnishings
Kitchen furniture and furnishings go back to antiquity. In the Middle Ages, the kitchen, with its fireplace, was the most centrally placed room in the home. Later, closed fireplaces were constructed in the form of stoves; and cupboards, sinks, and plate racks were fixed to the wall. The kitchen in a modern home, if not combined with a dining area, is a small room filled with equipment. On the other hand, institutional kitchens have expanded enormously. Outdoor cooking equipment, such as various forms of open-air grills, also forms part of modern kitchen furniture. Bathroom furniture and fixtures
Bathrooms in large private homes were not unknown in the 18th century, and splendidly equipped marble bathrooms are still preserved in several European palaces and mansions. But not until the 19th century did bathrooms in private homes become more commonplace. Fixtures generally include a toilet, bidet (in some countries), washbasin, bathtub or shower, mirror, and shelves or cabinets. In the 20th century the equipping of bathrooms became a separate industry with a wide variety of special forms of bathroom furniture and fixtures. The materials used are porcelain, enamel, plastic, wood, and stainless steel.
Specialized furniture
Office furniture in the widest sense of the term has undergone rapid developments since the mid-19th century. Such pieces as high desks used by clerks and large rolltop desks were replaced by carefully designed standard workstations with side cupboards, typewriter tables, filing cabinets, and office chairs with adjustable backs and swivel seats. In the late 20th century, office furniture was further revolutionized by the rise of the personal computer. From office furniture one passes naturally to the vast sphere of institutional furniture: theatre furnishings in the form of rows of connected seats, restaurant furniture, furniture for conference rooms, laboratories, workshops, and factories. Several of these specialized furnishings reflect past traditions. The way in which the British House of Commons is furnished, for example, derives without doubt from the pattern in which choir stalls were grouped in medieval churches; whereas the semicircular, often amphitheatrically designed assembly halls of the United States Congress and the parliaments of many European countries are developed forms of academies of surgery or other university auditoriums. Similarly, museums, libraries, and archives have their special furniture in the form of showcases, desks, special tables, and socles. Kinds of accessory furnishings
Accessory furnishings constitute important elements in the interior. Included here are clocks and other mechanical works, mirrors, textiles, screens, stoves, and fireplaces; and a number of smaller articles made by cabinetmakers, such as boxes, caskets, sewing tables, wastepaper baskets, lighting fixtures, frames, panelling, and floor surfaces. Clocks
Clocks are considered furnishings if the movement is enclosed within a case, which need not necessarily be of wood. Clocks can be divided into table clocks and tall-case clocks. There were two creative centres for table clocks, namely England and France. In 17th- and 18th-century France, the table clock became an object of monumental design, the best examples of which are minor works of sculpture. The actual movement is framed by a marble socle, and the clockface by a sculptural frame of solid bronze incorporating freely molded figures and ornamentation. Some of France’s best sculptors and bronze casters were engaged in the creation of decorative frames for clock movements. A French speciality, imitated elsewhere on the Continent, was the wall clock, or so-called cartel clock, the earliest examples of which were designed by a goldsmith and ornamentalist, Juste-Aurèle Meissonier. The clockface is the centre of an ornament, or rocaille-cartouche, cast in bronze, sometimes garnished with figures of symbolic significance; for example, Time, a man with a scythe, or a crowing cock. In England, where tastes were more bourgeois, the fine movements made by skillful London clockmakers were built into wooden cases, architectonic in composition and featuring pilasters (partly recessed columns) and cornices. Simple walnut cases could be adorned with metal ornaments and brass balls. The more expensive table clocks were concealed in cases embellished with inlaid wood or tortoiseshell.
Tall-case clocks were also made in France and England. French tall-case clocks are monumental and richly designed. In the reign of Louis XIV there were tall-case clocks of the boulle type with metal and tortoiseshell inlay work. Later, in the 18th century and especially during the Rococo period, the case that concealed the weights acquired more dramatic form: richly inlaid wooden surfaces were framed and adorned by magnificently gilded Rococo ornaments in bronze. The English tall-case clock was to a greater extent a piece of furniture, and the main features of its construction remained unaltered throughout the 18th century. The tall-case clock stands on a base, or socle, from which the somewhat narrower case for the weights rises up, crowned by the framework of the actual movement and clockface. The last-named section is in reality a table clock mounted on a weight case. Each individual section of the tall-case clock is thus clearly separate; each has its distinct function; and no attempt was made, as in France, to veil the independence of the individual parts. The weight case is provided with a door in which there may be a window through which the position of the weights can be observed. In the United States, urban centres spawned regionally specific styles of casework that made the tall-case clock one of the most expensive items in the 18th-century home.
During the 18th century, barometers became increasingly popular. The mechanism was provided with a decorative wooden framework intended to harmonize with the other furniture in a room. Mirrors
The use of mirror glass in furnishings arose during the 17th century. The discoloration of the melted glass because of silvering and the prohibitive cost and difficulty of manufacturing mirror glass of considerable size restricted the possibilities of large-scale application. The mirror gallery at Versailles was thus an outstanding technical achievement for its time. When Louis XIV strode through the gallery at the head of his court, the glass walls reflected the diamonds in his crown. This effect was imitated to a greater or lesser degree in all the courts of Europe. In the 18th century the wall mirror found its way into most interiors. The popularity and wide distribution of mirror glass was stimulated by the need for an increased amount of artificial light. During the 16th and 17th centuries, this need had been satisfied by placing candles in front of highly polished concave metal plates. By using silvered mirror glass, the light effect was multiplied. From then on, large mirrors hung over console tables were a necessary and functional part of rooms illumined by artificial light. Fabrics