| Salesman: "This machine will cut your workload at | | | | ovens, sandwich grills, pasta makers, ice cream |
| home in half!" | | | | makers, yogurt makers and the like. This reached a |
| Housewife: "In that case, I'll take two!" | | | | zenith with the advent of the food processor. Seen |
| An old joke, but as the 21st century unfolds, it | | | | as a sort of companion to the home computer (a.k.a. |
| becomes truer than ever. Compared to previous | | | | the "word processor", since nobody could think of |
| generations, people today can find working in the | | | | any other use for a computer in the days before the |
| kitchen easier and even fun. The gadgets that | | | | web), these kings of the counter top combined |
| compete for precious counter space in kitchens | | | | blender, grater, masher, slicer, dicer and a few more |
| across the country are ready to slice, dice, peel, | | | | things all in one package. |
| blend, bake and grill in ways that would have amazed | | | | Right on the heels of the food processor was the |
| the great-grandparents of their owners. | | | | bread machine. As the nation longed for a healthier, |
| A century ago, the idea of kitchen appliances simply | | | | more natural diet, something that could mix, knead |
| didn't exist. There were hand-operated vacuums, and | | | | and bake a staple foodstuff such as bread was seen |
| many homes had only an icebox, a washtub, and a | | | | as ushering in a new way of thinking about what we |
| sink with cold water, usually operated by a pump. | | | | eat. Unfortunately, while many homes have bread |
| Often the pump was outside the back of the house, | | | | machines today, few actually get any use. The loaf |
| or in the street for communal usage. With the | | | | pans are smaller than commercially sold loaves, the |
| advent of electricity, the idea of labor-saving devices | | | | mix makes the bread much more expensive, the |
| slowly took hold. Fifty years later, iceboxes were | | | | machine needs cleaning after each loaf, and nobody |
| replaced by refrigerators, which did away with having | | | | wants to actually have to slice bread anymore. So |
| ice delivered. Toasters became one of the first | | | | not every step forward has been fully embraced by |
| devices anywhere in the home to use power. One | | | | the masses. |
| early counter top machine seen in many homes was | | | | The future for kitchen appliances however, looks |
| the electric can opener. Seen at the time as a | | | | brighter than ever. In a world where the can opener |
| frivolous novelty, nowadays it's hard to imagine | | | | looks quaint alongside the modern no-stick grill, the |
| opening cans without them (especially since nobody | | | | next big revolution will be the interconnecting of all |
| can remember where the old-fashioned hand crank | | | | these devices to a home intranet. By the end of this |
| opener is). Following close behind it was the | | | | century, most western kitchens may be a network |
| coffeemaker, taking over from the percolator that | | | | hive of activity, as devices share information |
| used to sit on a burner of the stove. And its close | | | | between themselves, larger equipment such as the |
| cousin, the teakettle. Machines like the blender were | | | | oven and fridge, and even across the Internet. No |
| first developed for commercial use, and quickly found | | | | doubt new machines will be introduced, some bizarre |
| their way into domestic service. | | | | hybrids of what we already have, some as unknown |
| The next big advance in kitchen technology was the | | | | to us as a microwave would have been in 1907. Our |
| microwave oven in the 1970's. It was to kitchens | | | | great-grandchildren will chuckle to themselves as they |
| what the VCR was to the living room - revolutionary | | | | ponder all the effort we put into buttering our toast |
| in itself, it can now be seen as the beginning of a | | | | or stirring our coffee each morning. Are you ready |
| whole wave of gizmos to be lined up beside the sink. | | | | for the kitchen of the future? |
| Soon afterwards, the market exploded with toaster | | | | |