I have read most of these comments and found them useless. By way of background, I have lived in 16 towns, five states and two countries. Early in the Russian

I have read most of these comments and found them useless. By way of background, I have lived in 16 towns, five states and two countries. Early in the Russian-Ukraine war, I watched a video about housing in rural Ukraine. It was a learning experience. If you draw a rectangle horizontally on a piece of paper, you have the basic first floor. Draw another horizontal line down a bit from the top line and about 60% of the horizontal distance. This is the kitchen counter. Above it are open shelves for dishes, pots and pans etc. In the space left of the counter was a large cabinet for storing food stuff. Coming down the left wall were coat hooks a shelf for hats and a bench for sitting on and storing boots underneath. In the middle of the room was a Stamtisch or as my family described it - a Trible table - just a plank table and in our case it could seat 20 people. In the Ukraine what I saw were benches, not chairs. At the right most part of the room was THE bathroom and space for a washing machine and dryer. In the main part of the room behind one row of benches w on a cushioned surface was a cleverly built place to sit - but not exactly. The seat slid forward toward the Stammtisch and the back would come with it - anchored at several positions by a pin. Come night and the whole thing slid forward to form a bed for four people with two at one end and two at the other end. Beneath this room (which had a 6" concrete floor) was the storage room. And below that room was the root cellar where perishables like potatoes, eggs, fruit, and sausage hanging from the ceiling and urns for pickles and sauerkraut or other foodstuff that could be preserved in brine. This room also served as a bomb shelter. There was a very large cookstove on the main floor with closable gates in the ceiling to the attic. The children slept there and the space was accessed by a metal staircase. From the videographer's work you could hear the laughter. The heat was provided (on the first floor) by what I have seen in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont was a Russian stove fed by any manner of fuels. They still make these stoves in the US and Finland. They are very efficient. The walls of these houses that I saw, after the bombing in Ukraine were of brick and mortar with the outside/inside plastered and for the most part roofs gone but much of the walls and horizontal surfaces heavily damaged but still standing. I oft think about what my ancestors lived in when they arrived on these shores in the first quarter of the 16th century. I don't think they were unhappy. The house I grew up in, when we moved in, had gas lighting, a coal fired furnace, cooking stove and huge (to me) a coal fired round tub of some 48" for washing clothes. The five of us children washed dishes and removed the ash from the furnace, stove and wash tub. The house had a 48" thick stone foundation tapering to 18" at the second floor. In subsequent years, owners have made some nice changes. But kept the original design of the house.