The 20th Century

1900

EGG BEATER

Dover Stamping Company produces one of the first welldesigned rotary egg beaters in the mid-1800s. Eagerly adopted, this new labor-saving tool

1915-1930

Freestanding kitchen

Hoosier are praised as convenience, helping make food preparation place to store foodstuffs a workspace as well. Porcelain enamel work surfaces are found to be more sanitary and easier

1920s

“THE KITCHEN WORK TRIANGLE”

Pioneers in industrial efficiency, Lillian and Frank Gilbreth create their own scientific management theory, run a consulting business, co-write books and raise 12 children together. But after Frank’s untimely death in 1924 and the subsequent refusal of companies to work solely with Lillian, she pivots, adapting her experience in developing motion studies to a field deemed more socially acceptable for women — applying time-saving methods to the home. A century later, her layout optimization — the triangular placement of stove, sink and refrigerator known as “the kitchen work triangle” — remains the standard kitchen configuration.

California fruit grower cooperatives first use the term Sunkist in 1907, all part of a national campaign to market a perishable crop — oranges. Growers also cooperate to keep wages low by luring Chinese, then Japanese and by 1914 Mexican nationals to tend groves and pick and pack fruit for shipment east in the United States.

1927

CRATE LABEL, SANTA ROSA BRAND VENTURA COUNTY LEMONS

A colorful label promotes highquality lemons grown near Arroyo Santa Rosa in Ventura County, California. Growers had first grafted lemons onto seedlings in nearby Santa Paula in 1878. The arrival of a railroad in 1887 — and expanding lemon, orange and walnut groves in 1893 — prompts growers to organize.

Despite the Great Depression, Americans buy 10 million refrigerators during the 1930s. By the end of the decade, more than half of American kitchens have an electric refrigerator.

1934

GENERAL ELECTRIC “MONITOR-TOP” REFRIGERATOR

Electric refrigerators are more reliable, spacious and easy to maintain than iceboxes. They also keep food fresher longer, which means fewer shopping trips for perishables. General Electric introduces the first refrigerator with an all-steel (versus wood) cabinet in 1927. Dubbed the “Monitor-Top” by consumers who associated its top-mounted compressor with the distinctive turret of the 1860s warship USS Monitor, this model helps make General Electric an industry leader.