By Mary Bellis 

By definition the kitchen is a room used for food preparation that is typically equipped with a stove, a sink for cleaning food and dish-washing, and cabinets and refrigerators for storing food and equipment. 

Kitchens have been around for centuries, however, it was not until post-civil war period that the majority of kitchen appliances were invented. The reason was that most people no longer had servants and housewives working alone in the kitchen needed culinary help. Also the advent of electricity greatly advanced the technology of labor saving kitchen appliances. 

History of Kitchen Appliances

Large Kitchen Appliances

Dishwasher
In 1850, Joel Houghton patented a wooden machine with a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dishes, it was hardly a workable machine, but it was the first patent. 

Ovens or Stoves
The first historical record of a stove being built refers to a stove built in 1490 in Alsace, France. 

Refrigerator
Before mechanical refrigeration systems were introduced, people cooled their food with ice and snow, either found locally or brought down from the mountains.

Small Kitchen Appliances

Blender
In 1922, Stephen Poplawski invented the blender. 

Eating Utensils
The history of forks, sporks, knifes, and spoons. 

Electric Mixers
The first patent that can claim to be for an electric mixer was issued on November 17, 1885 to Rufus M. Eastman. Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972), the mother of 12 children, also patented an electric food mixer (at a later date). 

Peelers
The nineteenth-century created numerous kitchen use inventions: toasters, potato mashers, apple/potato peelers, food choppers and sausage stuffers were all invented. Over 185 patents for coffee grinders and over 500 patents for apple/potato peelers were patented in the 1800s. Early peelers were made of iron and the patent number and other information was included in the casting. Peelers ranged from the familiar and simple round swiveling rod with a knife blade that peeled skin, to contraptions full of gears and wheels that could peel, core, slice and section. There were separate peelers designed for different fruits and vegetables; there were even peelers that removed the kernels from ears of corn. 

Original article from: http://inventors.about.com/od/kstartinventions/a/kitchen.htm