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