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CHESTS, CUPBOARDS AND DRESSERS |
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Chests or Kysts were the main form of storage in the early highland and island home, often with a fixed, small box tray to the right beneath which were sometimes placed hidden drawers. Probably the most essential chest in the home was the “Girnal” or meal chest in which the oat meal was stored for the brose and porridge. These were most often made of native pine many with dovetail joints to take the strain of the contents. |
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Large wooden cupboards were used as anything from a larder to the linen store, again made mainly in pine, with panelled doors and iron hinges. |
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The dresser was the great advance in storage and lifestyle, like the bed early ones were often in neuks, having been constructed as the building was formed. |
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Later dressers were constructed in pine showing greater craftsmanship. Plate racks being fashioned so that plates tipped forwards. Opinion varies as to why, the greater feeling is that it kept the dust of the plate surface but their is the equally convincing argument that in this way they reflected light back into the room. |
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The usual pattern in Scottish dressers ifs for there to be three drawers in the top, with one of these being the traditional porridge drawer. (Here porridge was allowed to cool and set and be cut into pieces for later consumption away from home - a possible origin of the term “piece” for a midmorning sandwich or snack. |
