On Cupboards and in Drawers: When is a Cupboard Not a Cupboard?

A door is not a door “when it’s ajar”; so when is a cupboard not a cupboard and why were tills in rather than on counters? How did the chest with drawers become the chest of drawers and where do ‘withdrawing’ cupboards fit into all this?  This lecture will answer these conundrums through an explanation of the development of cupboards and chests of drawers in terms of their use, social significance, and their construction and decoration from mediaeval times to the 18^th Century.