The history of home and household appliances is centred on three specific periods in history.  The first was the industrial revolution when an increase in the size of buildings for factories was necessary.  The technology that allowed factories to be built bigger and higher also allowed homes to be bigger, and the ‘tenement’ or ‘flat’ was invented when housing units were increased in size upwards, just as the textile mills and other factories were.

This brought with it improvements in heating, and the beginnings of climate control. It also led to advances in lighting and furniture and the 19th century brought us the carpet sweeper, fans and furniture casters. Apart from the industrial revolution, there was a movement in the USA and in the UK that was to lead to a massive upsurge in inventions intended to make domestic chores easier and quicker to carry out.  That was the Abolition Movement that eventually led to the abolition of slavery.

Almost overnight American women found that they had to carry out the domestic work themselves. The cleaning, cooking and everything else that is needed for the smooth running of a household had hitherto been carried out by slaves, and those households that either refused to pay slaves to continue working for them, or were unable to afford the wages, did the work themselves.

The first rotary washing machine was patented in 1858, and advances in carpet cleaning led to the first vacuum cleaner in 1869 while, after that surprisingly, Bissell invented the carpet sweeper.  The dishwasher came along in 1876 followed closely by the gramophone, vacuum flask, zipper and finally, in 1899, the first true motor-driven vacuum cleaner.  Most of the housewife’s tasks were taken care of by the carpet sweeper, vacuum cleaner and dishwasher.

The final period was that of electricity and magnetism that allowed just about every manual device to be run by electricity. The 20th century saw a massive eruption of household appliances such as electric ovens, advances in washing machines and dryers, more effective dishwashers, refrigerators and freezers, and coffee makers, electric juicers and food processors.  Just about every household task could be carried out with the press of a button or the flip of a switch.

It is not over yet, and the new technology is miniaturization and computerization. Home appliances are becoming smaller but more efficient, and pre-programming is now the name of the game.  Home and household appliances have come a long way since cooking on open ranges where the smoothing iron was also heated, and carpets were hung over a line and beaten clean.

It is much easier now – but is it better? That is a matter of personal opinion!

A Buyer’s Guide to Home and Household Appliances

When buying household appliances of any kind you should have a clear idea in your mind of what you need.  Not what you might want, but what you need.  Once you understand what is essential in the appliance you have to buy, then you can equate what you want with your budget.  That is because most people want more in an appliance than necessary, so here are some tips to help you.

1.  An appliance with all the bells and whistles might seem good to have but do you need it? Are you going to use 50 washing machine settings, or can you get by with 10? Do you need all these temperature options on your iron?  You can save a lot of money if you buy what you need, or what you are going to use.  A survey has shown than nobody uses even half of the features on either their washing machine or their iron.