A product as stupid as bottled water

[GuitarStv]

The fridge was invented in 1834, the dishwasher in 1886, the washing machine in 1851.  It's telling that you couldn't name something from even the last century.

But were practical in the home from the 50s/60s

You wouldn't count Babbage's Analytical engine as the first "home computer"

I wouldn't.  But I wouldn't call something mass produced and common in homes for 60 odd years 'futurist' either.  The biggest recent push (say the last 20 years) in kitchen appliances does seem to be largely useless stuff.

I like this challenge. Struggling to come up with anything useful, new on the appliance front though. Anyone?

For our kitchen anyways, its the tablet/cell phone and stand. Replaced a whole rack of books and frees up counter space.

Ooooh, there's one that I forgot.  We often use a tablet while cooking these days.  Is that really a kitchen appliance though?  It's just a digital version of a cook book, which I wouldn't have considered an appliance.

I'm beginning to believe that we reached peak useful kitchen appliance technology between the 60s and 70s.

[Le Poisson]

Of course it counts as an appliance - have you not seen this video???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6WuHzE-1fk

[Scandium]

The fridge was invented in 1834, the dishwasher in 1886, the washing machine in 1851.  It's telling that you couldn't name something from even the last century.

But were practical in the home from the 50s/60s

You wouldn't count Babbage's Analytical engine as the first "home computer"

I wouldn't.  But I wouldn't call something mass produced and common in homes for 60 odd years 'futurist' either.  The biggest recent push (say the last 20 years) in kitchen appliances does seem to be largely useless stuff.

I like this challenge. Struggling to come up with anything useful, new on the appliance front though. Anyone?

For our kitchen anyways, its the tablet/cell phone and stand. Replaced a whole rack of books and frees up counter space.

Well I don't own a tablet so can't judge that, but do use my phone or laptop for recipes. Yes it's useful, but saving a few square inches of counter space, or a few minutes looking stuff up, is not quite revolutionary in my mind. Not on the same level as refrigeration or the microwave.

Plus it is annoying that gadgets go to sleep and I have to wake them up again with dirty hands. A cookbook doesn't close itself if you don't use it for 1 minute.. Sometimes a printed sheet of paper is quite nice.

[Ashyukun]

The fridge was invented in 1834, the dishwasher in 1886, the washing machine in 1851.  It's telling that you couldn't name something from even the last century.

But were practical in the home from the 50s/60s

You wouldn't count Babbage's Analytical engine as the first "home computer"

I wouldn't.  But I wouldn't call something mass produced and common in homes for 60 odd years 'futurist' either.  The biggest recent push (say the last 20 years) in kitchen appliances does seem to be largely useless stuff.

I like this challenge. Struggling to come up with anything useful, new on the appliance front though. Anyone?

For our kitchen anyways, its the tablet/cell phone and stand. Replaced a whole rack of books and frees up counter space.

Well I don't own a tablet so can't judge that, but do use my phone or laptop for recipes. Yes it's useful, but saving a few square inches of counter space, or a few minutes looking stuff up, is not quite revolutionary in my mind. Not on the same level as refrigeration or the microwave.

Plus it is annoying that gadgets go to sleep and I have to wake them up again with dirty hands. A cookbook doesn't close itself if you don't use it for 1 minute.. Sometimes a printed sheet of paper is quite nice.

Pro Tip for touchscreen devices (most tablets and smartphones): Put it in a Ziploc bag before you start cooking or doing anything else where your hands will be getting dirty but you'll want to use it, and seal it up tight with as little air as possible. The touchscreen will still work through the bag and you can still see the screen just fine while it's protected from you getting your soon-to-be meal all over it.

I haven't used this while cooking in a while (we've gotten a bit boring and I know all of the recipes for what we tend to have by heart), but I use it nearly daily when I head out to the garage to work on things there. Unfortunately it's hard to take pictures through the bags (I tend to do that a lot as a reference before taking something apart) but you can still use it just fine- and it will still work even if you're wearing nitrile gloves as a bonus.

[Guses]

I'm beginning to believe that we reached peak useful kitchen appliance technology between the 60s and 70s.

I believe that the next technological revolution in the kitchen will be when we will be able to 3d print a steak ingredients on a molecular level.

Hopefully, they will have invented a Carbon minder so that we don't ever have to forget to buy some from the atom store.

[nobodyspecial]

True Mustachians know eggs need not be kept in the fridge. Tsk tsk.

Ideally they are kept in the chicken

How do you get the chicken to stop squirming while uncartoning and, subsequentially "repacking" your fresh bought eggs?

Not a problem with the new smartphone linked, internet enabled, wirelessly bluetoothed -  chicken minder (tm)

[expatartist]

During Beijing's worst pollution season in 2013, it was a thing to sell bottled air - one artist sold it for $860 a can http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/04/10/301504334/whats-it-worth-for-a-breath-of-fresh-air-in-china-about-860

[MrsPete]

The fridge was invented in 1834, the dishwasher in 1886, the washing machine in 1851.  It's telling that you couldn't name something from even the last century.

And the dishwasher wasn't invented to save work; it was invented by a wealthy woman who was tired of the hired help breaking her dishes. 

I think the real point is that all things reach a natural "end", when no more real progress can be made.  Kitchen appliances seem to have reached that end.  Not much else can be invented.

Of course, what's already out there can be "improved".  Timers, delayed starts, better insulation, energy efficiency -- these are all good improvements to what's already available.  Other improvements are just junk; for example, internet and TV access from your refrigerator door.  Or that interactive countertop/table.  That type of thing is overly priced and not much use. 

I'm a big fan of my microwave.

Eh, if I had to give up something significant in my kitchen, my microwave'd be at the top of the list.  But it probably IS the last big kitchen innovation.  My father brought one home for my mother around 1974 or 1975; I think that was about the time they became "a thing" in middle class homes.

True Mustachians know eggs need not be kept in the fridge. Tsk tsk.

Cheese doesn't need refrigeration; neither do a number of other things most of us choose to keep cold. 

However, most of these things DO last longer if they're refrigerated, and storing things safely/longer is a frugal choice.

Plus it is annoying that gadgets go to sleep and I have to wake them up again with dirty hands. A cookbook doesn't close itself if you don't use it for 1 minute.. Sometimes a printed sheet of paper is quite nice.

Yeah, I'm with you.  Once I decide I like a recipe, I type it up for my notebook, and I cook from a printed page.  I've ditched shelves and shelves of cookbooks, which were mostly being saved for the sake of 2-3 recipes each.  I have a few favorite books that I've kept. 

[Le Poisson]

Mrs Pete

Agree with you mostly - Momma has taken to printing out the most used recipes and taping them to the cupboards. I know it sounds like heresy, but it actually works really well. Our cupboard doors are now tiled with recipes. The bread corner is on the left where there is loads of space to knead dough. Cookies are on the right.

We got our first microwave when we moved in 1979. I remember Dad teaching us how to use it. It was amazing. Then we moved up to a convection microwave that cooked AND zapped, and were blown away all over again. We had a lot of 'interesting' meals as Mom explored these new technologies.

Today our microwave mostly is used as a range hood and to melt butter. We don't cook in it, but I might boil a cup of water to dissolve boullion in. Since our range hood is integral in the microwave, I guess that makes our microwave a big fan of our range.

[nobodyspecial]

I think the real point is that all things reach a natural "end", when no more real progress can be made.  Kitchen appliances seem to have reached that end.  Not much else can be invented.

Used to work for an engineering consultancy and a big % of our work was trying to invent features to add to tools/household appliances.
Once they are all identical, all work and all have all the costs engineered out of them - it's hard to compete.

When you have pitched "rfid tags in socks" so that the washing machine can detect a hidden red sock in your whites and warn you - and had it greeted as a cure for cancer by washing machine maker - you know it's time to leave.

[BarkyardBQ]

Filed for Bankruptcy

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/technology/2015/09/24/quirky-products/index.html

[nobodyspecial]

Filed for Bankruptcy

They weren't bailed out?
We need an egg minder that is too big to fail

[grantmeaname]

You mean one that holds 16 eggs?

[GuitarStv]

You mean one that holds 16 eggs?

Only two bites of eggs?

[Jakejake]

This whole topic reminds me of seeing potatoes sold at kroger - individual potatoes. Individually shrink wrapped. They were marketed as wrapped so they could be microwaved.

I stood in the produce section a while that day, working my way through the various stages of grief.

[FatCat]

This whole topic reminds me of seeing potatoes sold at kroger - individual potatoes. Individually shrink wrapped. They were marketed as wrapped so they could be microwaved.

I stood in the produce section a while that day, working my way through the various stages of grief.

I remember someone acting like this was the greatest thing ever. I've been microwaving potatoes for years with no shrink wrap.

The sad day for me was when I went to one small grocery and there were no regular unwrapped sweet potatoes because the grocery switched to selling only the pre-wrapped for the microwave ones.