Toasters ThroughTime

1 TOASTER, 1700-1800

Wrought iron curved into hearts and swirls lends a decorative folk art touch to this 18th-century American colonial swivel toaster. Slices of bread are meant to sit between the arches, which transfer their design onto the bread as it toasts in the fireplace.

2 ESTATE STOVE COMPANY TOASTER, 1925

A celebration of patented technology with function-forward design, this toaster gives users a peek into its highly visible inner workings while it toasts enough bread to feed the whole family.

3 THE BLUE WILLOW TOASTRITE, CIRCA 1927

Interest in willowpatterned chinoiserie ceramics — popular since the 18th century — rises in the 1920s when this toaster debuts. Pan Electric Manufacturing Company anticipates that consumers who already have collections of their popular Blue Willow tableware might see this matching toaster as a suitable addition.

Ask Katherine White, curator of design at The Henry Ford, to tell you a thing or two about toasters, and she’ll share some secrets about how they stylistically connect to design trends of the times. What better way to gain a bit of perspective about what happens in the kitchen and beyond than by looking at the evolution of one of its most popular appliances?

4 TOASTMASTER MODEL 1A1, 1929-30

A toaster doesn’t need to be aerodynamic, but in the 1920s-’30s, the streamlined shapes of automobiles and airplanes are mimicked in the styling of everyday objects. The chromed casing and sleek curves signal this WatersGenter Company toaster’s modernity to consumers.

5 THE HOTPOINT GAZELLE, 1932

Designed by Raymond Patten, the Hotpoint Gazelle from Edison General Electric Company features numerous art deco elements — bold geometrics like sunbursts and diamonds, layered shapes and chrome. Presented on a pedestal, this toaster is positively architectural.

6 WESTINGHOUSE MODEL HT.69-1, 1960-69

The popular stylings of the Atomic and Space ages collide in this Westinghouse toaster featuring intersecting gold spheres and stars on an otherwise minimalist appliance.

7 THE EMPIRE TRAVLTOAST, CIRCA 1974

This funky harvest gold travel toaster from SAFCO is pure 1970s aesthetic. Designed to plug into a car’s cigarette lighter socket, it seems at home in a counterculture nomad’s Volkswagen bus as easily as a vacationing family’s station wagon.

8 POP ART, 2005 Postmodernist architect and designer Michael Graves’ Pop Art toaster is a signature object in his illustrious partnership with Target. The Black & Decker toaster’s form is shaped by the act of “popping up,” and its representational colors — blue for touch and yellow for dials — are the model for a series of kitchen appliances.