Brilliant kitchen gadgets that changed the world

Cooking innovations

Kitchens have changed pretty dramatically over the years. And with new technologies, changing habits and evolving food trends, an endless stream of gadgets and appliances have hit the shelves through the decades. Starting in the 1920s, we've zipped down memory lane to bring you the kitchen tools that have defined cooking through the ages.

1920s: automatic toasters

After the First World War, kitchens were changing in America, Britain and beyond. With more women filling the workforce than ever before, the need for nifty, time-saving cooking devices was paramount. Enter the automatic toaster. A pop-up toaster that could brown bread on both sides at once was patented early in the Twenties and, by 1926, it was on shelves under the name ‘Toastmaster’.

1920s: KitchenAid

The KitchenAid was another slick gadget that sped things up for time-poor women. Mixing dough and batter by hand can be arm-aching work and – for those who could afford it – the new KitchenAid, an automatic stand mixer, meant waving goodbye to this toilsome task. It was invented in 1919 but, by 1927, the company had introduced their “model G” mixer: a lighter and more compact version of its predecessor that sold like hot cakes.

1920s: the AGA

The AGA was an iconic contraption born of the 1920s – and again, its aim was to make cooking less fiddly, fussy and time guzzling. The AGA’s inventor was Swedish physicist Dr Gustaf Dalén, who lost his sight in an accident: upon spending more time at home, he realised that his wife was fatigued and frazzled from using her unwieldy cooker. His solution was the AGA, a cast-iron oven that stayed hot continuously – it was a quick hit, arriving in Britain and beyond in the late Twenties and rising further in popularity throughout subsequent decades.

1930s: electric blenders

The 1930s continued in much the same vein as the 1920s, with more and more time-saving gadgets popping up on kitchen counters. Stephen J. Poplawski is widely credited with inventing the world’s first electric blender, used for mixing malt drinks and milkshakes in diners across America, in the 1920s. But it wasn’t until the stylish Waring Blender was introduced in 1937 that it became a true kitchen essential. This vintage snap shows the classic model being used a little later, in the 1950s.

1930s: electric ovens

Faster, more economical and easier to wipe down, the electric oven was a kitchen game changer, and it was actually invented back in the 19th century. However, it wasn’t until the 1930s that they began to crop up in more and more British and American kitchens. In Britain in particular, the birth of a National Grid in the Twenties meant that, in this decade, more households were connected to power than ever before. Here, a class of schoolgirls gather round an electric oven in 1936.

1940s: refrigerators

Fast-forward to the Forties, and a post-Second World War technology boom was transforming kitchens at a more rapid pace than ever before. The first home refrigerator was introduced way back in the 1910s, but it was the preserve of the very wealthiest in society. In the following decades, though, companies like Whirlpool pioneered more efficient, economical designs and some 45% of Americans owned a refrigerator by the 1940s. They were mostly boxy and compact with little freezer compartments built in to boot.

1940s: Tupperware

It’s hard to imagine life without Tupperware now: those handy and ubiquitous storage tubs that fit neatly in fridges like Tetris blocks. Invented in 1946, they were a sleek solution for leftovers and packed lunches, and a godsend for working women still trying to uphold household duties. There were (and still are) even Tupperware parties (pictured here), where hosts would hawk the products to their friends and family.

1940s: speed peelers

Oh, the humble potato peeler. Imagine how much longer your roast spuds would take without this simple bit of kitchen kit. The painstaking task of peeling potatoes was made a lot easier with the invention of the Zena Rex speed peeler (pictured centre) in 1947. Still on the market today, it was dreamt up by Alfred Neweczerzal and is considered an icon of Swiss design.

1950s: automatic kettles

The busy 1950s housewife didn't have time to wait around watching pots boil – and so Russell Hobbs came to the rescue. Though electric kettles had existed since the late 19th century, the brand introduced a model that would simply switch itself off when done (like modern-day kettles do) in the mid-Fifties. The progressive appliance was marketed as "the kettle that watches itself" and was promised to be super safe, as well as time and electricity-saving.

1950s: dishwashers

The history of the dishwasher is longer than you might think. The first automatic dishwasher was invented right back in the 1890s by an affluent American woman named Josephine Garis Cochran, who wasn't satisfied with the speed at which her servants cleaned her dinnerware. Early dishwashers were usually top-loading, but the design we're familiar with today began to take shape from the Twenties, with manufacturers like German heavyweight Miele leading the way. The post-war boom saw to it that – by the Fifties – they were increasingly commonplace in kitchens in the US and across the pond.

1950s: deep-fat fryers

It’s easy to see why this appliance appealed in the Fifties. The deep-fat fryer created moreish, filling food fast – think fluffy triple-cooked chips and golden fried shrimp, reminiscent of the ever-popular diners of the era. They were made for domestic use in the late Forties and became ubiquitous in homes through the Fifties and Sixties. They lost favour in the Eighties as people became increasingly concerned with eating more healthily.

1950s: non-stick pans

A Fifties innovation that took up decidedly less space was the non-stick pan. It was the brainchild of French engineer Marc Grégoire, whose wife challenged him to create a non-stick pan using the Teflon polymer she'd seen him use to coat his beloved fishing gear. He concurred and he succeeded, creating the Tefal brand in 1956. Other brands followed suit and soon non-stick pans were a household staple.

1960s: pressure cookers

Touted as a super-speedy and super-healthy way of preparing food, pressure cookers work by sealing in heat and cooking ingredients using the resulting steam. It's no surprise then, that their popularity burgeoned through the Swinging Sixties, when second-wave feminism had taken hold and women were spending increasingly less time in the kitchen. This retro ad hails the MIRRO-MATIC pressure cooker as the "perfect answer to problems of speed and important savings".

1960s: the microwave

The mother of all time-saving devices, the microwave was actually invented by chance. Percy LeBaron Spencer, an engineer who worked with magnetrons, was conducting a test in the 1940s, when he realised that radiation had caused the chocolate bar in his pocket to melt. He soon set to work on an early version of the modern microwave and they were in commercial kitchens by the end of the decade. It wasn't until the 1960s that microwaves were built to sit neatly on domestic kitchen countertops but, after this, the rest was history.

1960s: Teasmade

The need for speed and ease continued right through the decade, and Teasmade was another company that thrived in the Sixties. Their automatic tea-making machine – which included a settable clock for hot beverages on demand – was a cult product in the 1960s and into the 1970s, with other companies jumping on the bandwagon too.

1970s: fondue set

Few kitchen gadgets scream “Seventies” more than the fondue set. Though fondue was eaten in prior decades (and the moreish concept of chocolate fondue was invented in the Sixties), its popularity really peaked through the 1970s. Fondue parties – where friends would gather to eat the indulgent Swiss meal of oozing hot cheese and dipping bread – were commonplace, and fondue sets with a communal hot pot and long forks shot off the shelves.

1970s: slow cookers

According to the Washington Post, women were entering the workforce in vast numbers come the 1970s and the Crock-Pot, which took on its modern design and its time-tested name in 1971, was marketed directly to them and their families. The popularity of the handy slow cooker soared and sales had risen to $93 million by 1975. The virtues of the Crock-Pot are touted in this 1974 Reader's Digest advert.

1970s: food processors

Another time-saving hero, this multi-tasking domestic gadget was invented as we know it in the 1970s, and became a quick hit. For the first time, arduous and time-consuming tasks like chopping, grating and slicing could all be done by one compact machine – and fast. The sleek Cuisinart model was an early success, along with other offerings from savvy brands like Braun, turning the food processor into a kitchen must-have.

1980s: SodaStream

While the SodaStream – a carbonating machine making plain old water into pop – was invented a few decades earlier, you'd be hard-pushed to find a kitchen without one by the Eighties. According to The Guardian, some 40% of Brits owned a SodaStream in this era. "Get busy with the fizzy" was the catchy line that rang out from TV ads through the decade.

1980s: salad spinner

Brits and Americans in the Eighties were becoming increasingly health conscious and limp lettuce simply would not do. Credit for the invention of the salad spinner is typically given to French inventors Jean Mantelet and Gilberte Fouineteau, who pioneered versions of the device in the 1970s. By the Eighties, the salad spinner was a countertop staple.

1990s: bread makers

Panasonic (then Matsushita Electric) invented the very first domestic bread maker in 1986 – you simply poured the dough mixture into the device and, hey presto, the comforting smell of freshly baked bread filled your kitchen in no time. The appliance's popularity skyrocketed in the Nineties and it's estimated that 25 million Americans owned a bread machine in this decade.

1990s: George Foreman’s Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine

From heavyweight superstar to grill-master, George Foreman launched his Lean Mean Grilling Machine in the mid-1990s. The countertop grill was sleek and easy-to-use, and the promise that it ousted fat tapped into the psyche of the health-conscious Nineties cook. Foreman's slogan – "it's so good I put my name on it" – became as famous as the cult product itself, too. He's pictured here promoting the product at Macy's in 1998.

1990s: coffee pod machines

In the early 1990s, an appetite for barista-quality home brews was growing and one man took it upon himself to make it possible. John Sylvan, co-founder of Keurig, introduced the first "K-Cup" coffee pods and brewing systems in the late Nineties, and American coffee-lovers haven't looked back since. Across the pond, the popularity of Nespresso coffee-capsule machines, patented back in the 1970s, was burgeoning too.

2000s: juicers

Juice cleanses have been popular since the 1970s, but they came back with a vengeance in the early Noughties, and have stuck around ever since. Old manual squeezers just couldn’t cut it and a whole range of high-powdered juicers and smoothie makers hit the shelves. The Magic Bullet was a frontrunner.

2000s: electric steamers

The steamer was another kitchen gadget that sated Britain and America's appetite for uber-healthy meals in the Noughties. Electric steamers weren't new to the shelves, but they flew off them in the 2000s, with celebs and articles waxing lyrical about the benefits of steaming rather than boiling veg: steaming is thought to retain more nutrients than other methods of cooking, and it remains popular today.

2000s: sous vide

Sometimes referred to as boil-in-the-bag, the sous vide (pronounced sue-veed) cooks vacuum-sealed bags of food in temperature-controlled water. A gentle and precise way of enhancing flavours and ensuring tender meat, the method has been used by high-end restaurant chefs for decades, but domestic appliances became popular in the 2000s. Credit for popularising the method is generally given to famed chef Thomas Keller, whose 2008 book Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide showed Noughties cooks the ropes.

2010s: spiralisers

Spiralisers became all the rage in the early 2010s as health-conscious cooks ditched pasta in favour of courgetti noodles and vegetable ribbons. For many, this gadget is now gathering dust in the back of a cupboard, but there’s still a large online community of food bloggers dedicated to creating spiralised recipes.

2010s: air fryers

Healthy chips may sound too good to be true, but the air fryer has promised just that since its launch in 2010. Using just one teaspoon of oil, the device circulates super-hot air around food to give it a crispy texture similar to deep frying. Invented by Philips, the device received lots of praise at the prestigious 2010 IFA consumer electronics show.

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