Now we're cooking with gas!

What do you think the kitchen of 2020 will look like?

Take a guess.  If you went back to 1900, you and I would not be able to cook supper in a 1900 kitchen. If we went back to 1920, just 20 years later, you and I could cook supper easily.  My grandmother had a job between 1900 and 1920 teaching women how to cook with the new gas stove.

I had forgotten that when I was growing up folks used to use the phrase "Now we're cooking with gas" to mean modern and progressive.  Then Julie and I were watching an old Collete Corbett movie and when she said it,  it all made sense. (Photo of a kitchen in 1900)

So, what do you think the kitchen of 2020 will look like (clue: if transported ahead to 2020 you couldn't make supper) ?

Comments

[Kassia]

Perhaps the 2020 kitchen would be a combination of the "retro kitchen aesthetic" (antique food preparation items such as the microwave, blenders, toasters etc) and custom voice activated appliances that prepare food to order.

[Deb]

Whatever's contained in the kitchen of 2020, I believe I'll be able to make the occasional supper after a short bout of training. Thinking back to what my three grandmothers said about going from coal stoves to gas stoves...cooking became easier to plan, took less time and meals had more consistent taste. [Coal] You needed to be sure you ordered enough coal to be delivered (to last until the next delivery) and, unless you had plenty of money to pay the coal man, you needed to be sure someone was home and physically able to get the coal from the street into storage. You then had to get the coal (often from the basement) to the kitchen to toss in the iron stove, wait for it to get hot enough to cook, and then put in the food and seriously stay in the kitchen to move it around and watch that it doesn't get overcooked/burned/completely ruined. Afterwards, you either kept the coal going for heat in the house or put out the coal when you left the house (or waited for it to cool so you could clean the stove). [Gas] You make a few contacts and the gas company connects the pipe to your home and it delivers gas 24/7...as long as you pay the bill in a reasonable timeframe.

With a busy lifestyle, I've (unfortunately) moved to inexpensive restaurants and microwaves for daily meals. Growing up with the space program, watching too many episodes of Dr. Who, and having done research for a speech paper about 3-D mold design/modeling, I thought by now we'd have astronaut packets of freeze-dried MRE or, even better, Star Trek-like food replicators.

Therefore, I'm expecting that the everyday kitchen in 2020 will...
...not have a sink nor a dish washer, but a box-like, closed door device that does both types of tasks.
...have a refrigerator, still with the ice cubes and water, but updated--such as the 2001 ICL Ltd. prototype of a computerized version with flat panel display and bar-code reader allowing you to scan a product, thus building a shopping list to be uploaded to the local grocery store for delivery.
...have a micro/convection/conventional oven or simply replace it with the food/meal Replicator.

What I still haven't figured out: kitchens were smaller in the past and so storage was a premium. We've built bigger kitchens, more cabinets, and still don't have space.

[Erik]

Wow. My grandmother worked for Boston Gas teaching women how to cook with a gas stove. We have a picture somewhere of her putting on a demonstration at the old Boston Garden (more entertaining than the Celtics). I have no idea what the kitchen of 2020 will be like. I'd like to see it completely powered by hydrogen (through solar power not natural gas) The one thing that will remain constant for some unknown reason is that people will still gather in it at parties.