Teakettles, toasters, coffee grinders, blenders and all the other appliances that, since the early 1900s, have changed our habits and customs related to cooking and eating.
[The electric kitchen / Small kitchen appliances from the origins to the 1970s. The Philips by Alessi project] When homes were first wired for electrical current toward the end of the 1800s a real revolution took place. The universe of the kitchen was radically changed, welcoming new equipment, teakettles, toasters, coffee grinders, blenders and all the other appliances that have changed our habits and customs related to cooking and eating.
“Why hide them?”, the text asks, “as it was immediately clear that the small electric machines could not be incorporated in the fixed furnishings of the kitchen, or even hidden from view: they demanded visibility”. In other words, small appliances became a focus for architects and designers, who developed the right forms for their functions.
The electric kitchen narrates all this and more, with an exceptional range of illustrations, starting with the “historic” utensils of the 1920s and 1930s, all the way to the more recent research of Alessi Workshop for Philips.