Major Kitchen Appliances of the Future That Never Arrived
People make predictions all of the time. Making guesses and examining patterns is human nature. We are hardwired to consider our surroundings and project new possible arrangements. Yet even informed guesses can fail in the face of time and unexpected realities. A popular entertainment of the mid-twentieth century was "Home of the Future," the envisioning of what offices and homes might look like many years down the road, and they are examples of both our habit of guessing and our capacity for failure. Famous examples of this were the World's Fair, the films "Design for Dreaming" and "A Touch of Magic," and even some theme parks and traveling exhibits, each of which depicted a vision of a technically advanced and superior future, wherein multiple daily tasks would be much easier through the employment of fascinating tools. Guesses about the evolution of major kitchen appliances were commonplace, though some of them seem rather strange today.
A 1943 LIFE magazine, for example, included a photo essay about its own predictions regarding major kitchen appliances of the future. They expected that sinks would no longer have faucet handles, but rather foot pedals to control the flow of water, in the hopes of better protecting plates and other glassware. They imagined that the entire room, in fact, would be a kind of major kitchen appliance, being able to mechanically alter itself such that anything not in use could be replaced by counter space. They predicted that drawers would be replaced by wall panels, and that mixing units for grinding and whipping would not be portable objects but instead a built in utility with swappable attachments. They envisioned a heating device, somewhere between a microwave and an oven, specially built to receive containers of food and heat them without the use of a pot. They imagined a toaster built directly into the counter, a permanent fixture. All cabinets would slide rather than swing.
"Design for Dreaming," the film, predicted major kitchen appliances like an ultrasonic dishwasher and an IBM recipe storage machine with view screen. Whirlpool Appliances' travelling exhibit, "Miracle Kitchen," prophesied a mechanical maid, a la The Jetsons, and a toggle for mood lighting.
In fact, many of the elements predicted by these Home of the Future showcases have come true. Microwaves, electronically controlled ovens, automatic dishwashers, computer screens and remotely controlled major kitchen appliances, have all become available if not commonplace. Still, the major kitchen appliance predictions of the past are almost as interesting and alien as today's own predictions of the future.
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