There was a time when kitchen appliances in the uk meant a cooker, a wringer, a spin dryer if you were a bit flash and the latest gadget from the US, yes, a text4price/search.asp?search=fridge&x=38&y=14?>fridge! I can even remember my mum using a hand driven mincer – an elegant device that would be gripped to the side of the kitchen table and from which long strands of minced meat would drop to the bowl on the floor – I recall sitting transfixed as I willed ever longer strands to emerge.
The most fascinating gadget was a gigantic chrome text4price/search.asp?search=expresso+coffee+maker&x=38&y=5?> expresso coffee maker or rather, ‘percolator’ which would be wheeled out on special occasions – or, in our house, on one special occasion. Not that my parents didn’t have a social life, merely that the machine’s operational complexity was disproportionate to its functional benefit. You needed a white lab coat to appear to be fully in control and protective clothing to shield yourself from the various and unpredictable emissions of steam.
In the seventies, life became a bit easier in the kitchen appliances department. This was the age of the text4price/search.asp?search=electric+kettle&x=48&y=17?> electric kettle, the text4price/search.asp?search=toaster&x=18&y=0?>toaster and the pinnacle of affluence, the text4price/search.asp?search=fridge+freezer&x=31&y=9?> fridge freezer. Suddenly, the place to be seen was the cash and carry where you could buy enough meat, sausages, burgers and frozen veg to feed a regiment. Most of it sat unwanted in the bowels of the freezer until the inevitable seventies industrial dispute caused a power cut which meant you had to eat the lot in days or throw it out. I remain convinced the trade unions were in league with the cash and carry wholesalers – a wicked alliance of commies and capitalists!
The great washing innovation of the time was the tumble dryer. Imagine the joy of dry clothes without hanging. Truly, this was a golden age!
A decade later and we got text4price/search.asp?search=blenders&x=33&y=11?> blenders, text4price/search.asp?search=dishwashers&x=43&y=11?> dishwashers and text4price/search.asp?search=microwaves&x=36&y=6?> microwaves. Somehow I’ve managed to resist buying a microwave. They must be the ugliest gadgets ever invented – a big rectangular box with all the aesthetic appeal of a plastic er, box. Their appeal lies in their practicality. Eighties woman (she stilled ruled the kitchen) was a time poor, cash rich dynamo with no time for the domestic drudgery of cooking. They remain indispensable to most people and you can find our text4price/search.asp?ty=20&search=Small Appliances&pg=1&bf=2128?> best deals here.
text4price/search.asp?search=Dishwashers&x=36&y=6?> Dishwashers are a boon but I do occasionally miss the cameradie of the collective washing up session – a little mourned ritual of family life, never to return.
In the nineties we got text4price/search.asp?search=handheld+whisks&x=35&y=13?> handheld whisks, text4price/search.asp?search=bread+makers&x=32&y=10?> bread makers and yes – the text4price/search.asp?search=George+Foreman+Grill&x=30&y=6?> George Foreman Grill. Heavyweight boxer turned born again Christian becomes kitchen appliance mega star with the grill that drains away the fat.
And lastly, the noughties. Today, kitchen appliance chic is the text4price/search.asp?search=juicer&x=33&y=7?>juicerer, the text4price/search.asp?search=expresso+coffee+maker&x=26&y=9?> expresso coffee maker and, would you believe, the nutri-weigh dietary computer scale that enables you to measure the nutritional content of your food by portion size – the carbs, fat, sugars, fibre, sodium, protein and calories – undeniably impressive, if only for the health fanatic.
