Nothing says autumn quite like a big, warm kitchen that’s ready to receive company, whether it’s dinner guests looking forward to your special pumpkin soup or the entire 6th grade soccer team hungry for after-practice snacks. In many modern homes, the kitchen is the social center of the house, but this is never more true than it is in autumn, when the cooler air and earlier dusk each day chase us indoors.

Let’s take a look at this kitchen, through the lens of the Sheffield Guidelines to Interior Design: function, mood, and harmony. First, the function the kitchen in general has changed over history; it wasn’t always the most popular room in the house. In Colonial America, the kitchen in middle- and upper-class homes was often in the basement, with a door that opened to the backyard, and was used only by cooks and maids. Over time, the kitchen became the place where the lady of the house could let down her formality, and from there, it evolved to what it is today: the gathering place for the family and friends.