At one time, say the late 1950s through to early 2000s, kitchen sizes did start to grow a little from the small, barely functional corner of the house that developers deemed enough.  I well remember the one we had in a new house in 1958 – there was a sink with cupboard underneath and wooden draining board, two formica work tops, and one set of wall mounted cupboards.   We didn’t have a plumbed in washing machine either – my mother was deleriously happy when she was bought a new washing machine that would not be called semi automatic – that just meant the spin dryer was attached as part of the whole machine, instead of having a single tub washer and separate spinner.  Somehow families found these adequate and with larger sideboards for storing crockery and cutlery, made the best of these combinations.  In the 1970s upwards came the explosion in the size and design of the domestic kitchen/utility area.  Today’s massive space guzzling kitchen / living spaces would make the 1970’s housewife dizzy with excitement!