Since even prehistoric days, there is evidence that food preparation was carried out in specific areas set aside for the purpose. There is also evidence that the cooking fire was separate from the heating fire, and as civilization progressed kitchen areas became increasingly more separated from the living areas of homes, whether these homes were in the form of caves, tents or buildings of whatever type.

The equipment used in kitchens was largely manual in the form of knives, spoons and cooking pans.  Civilization developed in conjunction with wars and subjugation, and slaves were used to carry out the menial tasks.  This carried on even into 19th century America until the Civil War put an end to slavery.  That initiated the development of the majority of kitchen appliances.

Suddenly, American women, especially in the South, found themselves carrying out the menial tasks that were previously the work of slaves. This was not acceptable so labour saving devices to cut the work to a minimum were invented everywhere:  some effective but most useless.

After the Civil War an amazingly large number of patents were lodged for kitchen appliances and aids, including the electric mixer patent lodged by Rufus Eastman.  Paper towels and dishwashers of various designs appeared – though many were manually operated since electricity was a new power source, and there were numerous inventions to make peeling vegetables easier for the women of the Southern States that suddenly found themselves having to do the household chores themselves.

During the 20th century, labour saving devices proliferated due to the increasing availability of the new electrical power source and the electrical washing machine was invented in 1908 with the Mighty Thor, produced by the Hurley Washing Machine Co., and development continued until the first microchip controlled automatic machine became alive in 1978.

Irons, in respect of those that are used to iron clothes, commonly termed smoothing irons, have been used since the time of Ancient Egypt.  The Romans also used irons hated in fires to smooth their clothing and this was the means of heating irons until 1882 when Henry Seely invented the first electric iron.  This was powered by a carbon arc, created by applying a current between two carbon electrodes, and it was only in 1892 that the resistance iron, using current iron technology, was patented.  The steam iron came in the 1950s, and there have been no significant advances since then other than design and the use to which the steam is put.

A Buyer’s Guide to Kitchen Appliances.

When buying kitchen appliances there are many factors to take into consideration, depending on the type of appliance you are buying. Here are a few tips to consider when buying kitchen appliances.

1.  Make sure that know what you want.  Do not seek to purchase any appliance without a good idea of what you need. If you are looking for a cooker, decide if it will be gas or electric before you start shopping:  the store is the place to decide that.  Decide in advance if you want a freezer or a fridge freezer:  if you already have a good serviceable refrigerator, why purchase a fridge freezer?

By far the best way to make a good choice, and get the best value for money, is to purchase online with the help of a website such as ShopSuperMarket that provides you with a comparison of brands and products along with prices for the various options. You are able to make the best use of the internet to secure not only the product best suited to your needs, but also at the best price.