Old-Fashioned Tools
What do you use in the kitchen? From food choppers to peelers and measuring cups and spoons, there are plenty of everyday cooking tools you probably take advantage of. Yet, before modern gadgets came into the picture, people had a collection of specialized tools—think hand-cranked mixers and breadboxes. While you might still see these retro devices here and there, these 20 vintage kitchen gadgets have largely disappeared from use.
1. Rotary Egg Beaters
You're probably thankful for your electric mixer, but before it became popular, rotary egg beaters were the go-to, which featured metal whisks and a manual crank. Sure, it was heaps better than beating ingredients with a fork, but using one still required plenty of effort.
2. Hand-Crank Ice Cream Makers
Making homemade ice cream used to involve a lot of elbow grease. Like many gadgets we'll cover on this list, traditional ice cream makers were fitted with a crank that allowed you to churn the mixture. Since your arm would tire pretty quickly, families often made everyone take turns!
3. Butter Churns
Whereas now you'd probably just head to the supermarket for a stick of butter, back then, many households made their own. How? Using a butter churn, which, yep, again used either a wooden plunger or some other hand-operated mechanism to separate butterfat from cream. Phew!
Jean-François Millet on Wikimedia
4. Cake Breakers
How would you cut your freshly baked cake? Well, you likely have a special knife that can slice the perfect pieces without accidentally crushing the loaf. In the past, though, a cake breaker was used: equipped with long, thin prongs that resembled an oversized metal comb, it could cut cakes without applying too much pressure.
5. Manual Meat Grinders
You might still see these at your local butcher's, but they've now gone largely out of use—thanks, in part, to the manual crank, which promised a heck ton of tedious work. Though useful for preparing homemade ground beef or sausage, you probably prefer the pre-packaged ones at the grocery store nowadays.
6. Butter Molds
Believe it or not, not only did you have to manually churn butter once upon a time, but presentation mattered, too. That was where the butter molds came in, and they allowed you to shape freshly prepared butter into intricate shapes and patterns. You wouldn't even bother doing all that extra work now!
7. Vintage Apple Peelers
As annoying as manual cranks are, you might actually wish this was still in use, especially if you're not keen on peeling apples with a knife. Traditional apple peelers had a rotating blade that—you guessed it—removed the skin as you turned the handle. Certain models could even slice or core the apples!
8. Hand-Crank Flour Sifters
If you needed to sift flour, you'd likely use a sieve. The fancy way bakers used to do it, though, was with a metal flour sifter, which had rotating blades to help break up clumps. Of course, we now live in an era where you could just buy pre-sifted flour...
9. Soda Siphon Bottles
Before sparkling water became widely available, soda siphons were the way to enjoy carbonated drinks at home. These unique containers used pressurized carbon dioxide to dispense fizzy water through a nozzle—but most won't think to do all that manual work just for some bubbles.
10. Vintage Egg Poaching Pans
When you wanted a poached egg back then, you had to use an elaborate pan which featured several small cups that could be suspended above simmering water. Convenient as they were, cleaning them out was a nightmare. You'd probably rather stick to your ordinary saucepans!
11. Fondue Pots
You know those fondue pots you see at a fondue restaurant? Well, back in the 1960s and 1970s, these bowls were fashionable additions to American dinner tables. For those who didn't enjoy hosting (or storing the bulky equipment), however, they'd likely be happy that these dedicated sets are no longer household staples.
12. Hand-Crank Nutmeg Grinders
Want fresh nutmeg? You once had to use a small grinder just to get some of this spice. Though they came in handy for bakers who regularly prepared baked goods, nowadays, a multipurpose fine grater or a jar of pre-ground nutmeg usually does the job.
13. Vacuum Coffee Makers
How do you make your daily cup of Joe? You probably turn on the coffee machine, stick the pod in, and wait. Simple. Vintage vacuum coffee makers, though, used a much more complicated process, and operating and cleaning the equipment required extra attention. Unsurprisingly, these brewers still appeal to specialty coffee enthusiasts!
14. Electric Carving Knives
If you grew up during the 1970s or 1980s, you might remember seeing an electric carving knife brought out for holiday dinners. Featuring two serrated blades, this nifty knife was designed to slice through practically anything. Neat as it was, it also required more prep and careful handling that most modern home cooks would rather not deal with.
15. Cookie Presses
Vintage cookie presses were the hot item for holiday bakers, as they allowed you to create decorative cookies using interchangeable disks that offered plenty of variety. And though you might still find this gadget in the wild, many now prefer simply portioning dough onto a baking sheet and using cookie cutters.
16. Presto Hot Doggers
Ever wondered if, instead of a regular toaster, you had one specifically for hot dogs? Funnily enough, folks from the '70s will likely remember the Presto Hot Dogger, which was, well, a countertop device designed for cooking hot dogs. Given that it wasn't really versatile, though, you can probably see why it went out of use.
17. Breadboxes
Back then, home bakers used to keep a breadbox around to keep their loaves fresh. They've since become largely obsolete, considering that store-bought varieties are often pumped with preservatives that guarantee "freshness" for weeks. Unless you regularly bake your own at home, you likely don't have much use for this.
18. Stovetop Sandwich Irons
Making toasted sandwiches once involved a dedicated iron, which pressed together to seal the sandwich. You might still see panini presses around, but toaster ovens and ordinary frying pans have made these older versions pretty unnecessary.
19. Mechanical Cherry Pitters
Sure, you could just chew and spit out the pit, but why do that when there was a device that could do it for you? These vintage cherry pitters did exactly what they said on the tin: they pushed the pit through the fruit while leaving most of the cherry intact. Modern cherry pitters still exist, of course, but you wouldn't use them unless you needed a big batch.
20. Electric Percolators
Before automatic drip coffee makers became widespread, electric percolators were a familiar sight in many American kitchens. Though they weren't quite as cool as vacuum coffee makers, they still made a mean pot of coffee. Vintage percolators are now primarily for collectors and hardcore enthusiasts.
Karolina Grabowska www.kaboompics.com on Pexels
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