The link between the kitchen and the image of a professional housewife was established in the first half of the twentieth century when industrial efficiency pervaded every aspect of society, including the privacy of the home. However, the initial application of efficiency principles in the home had been realised at an earlier stage by the introduction of more efficient means of communication between 'upstairs' and 'downstairs' in nineteenth-century upper-class households. The subsequent shortage of servants propelled all kinds of initiatives, not only collective district kitchens and apartment hotels, but also efficient kitchen designs fit for lonesome heroines, being middle-class housewives. The efficiency of step-saving kitchen designs, however, was thwarted by the position of the kitchen in the back of the house and the omission of a separate supplier's entrance. The absence of a separate supplier's entrance to the kitchen in combination with a provisioning system of daily door-to-door delivery forced housewives to run up and down the hallway to answer the door for suppliers and bill-collectors. In a period roughly between the late 1960s and the early 1980s the traditional floorplans of middle-class houses were restructured, inspired by the then-modern ideal of open plan living. The creation of spacious living freed women from their isolated position in the kitchen. Not only the outlook of kitchen cabinets was adjusted to the homey style of the living, but also kitchen duties were adjusted and integrated into a shared homelife on the ground floor. In this family theatre actors competed for visibility and applause.