From fire at the beginning of time until now, the list of must-have gadgets grows

At the same time that swarms of people have become disciples of a woman who extols the power of throwing things away, there’s also a tsunami of kitchen stuff which hip cooks say no kitchen should be without.

Instant Pots, air fryers, sous vide machines, pod coffeemakers – to some, these machines are costly counter clutter. But to millions, they’re heralded as Rosie the Robot leaping from “The Jetsons” into real life, freeing them from the pesky demands of the kitchen yet allowing them to still appear to be cooking.

Various inventions throughout history have promised a revolution in the kitchen. Let’s look back at some highlights.

1 million years ago: Fire

The control of fire was an important development because it enabled early man to try that Paleo Diet they’d been hearing so much about. Also, outdoor fire eventually led to what may be the single greatest social and culinary development in human history, the football tailgate. The downsides were burned dinners that sometimes led to burned-down kitchens.

1700s: Stoves

Wood-fueled freestanding cookstoves eliminated the need to carry pots to the fire and allowed for cooking at times other than during football season. All that an 18th-century woman had to do was produce enough children to keep the wood chopped to fuel it, and dinner was served.

It would take more than 100 years for the next big development, electric stoves, to become widely available, and even longer to invent ones with such complicated electronic controls that one little power surge would mean buying a whole new range.

1803: Apple peeler

The Instant Pot of the 19th century, this hand-cranked cast-iron contraption was trumpeted as a game changer in the crucial area of apple preparation, since 19th century cooks evidently did nothing but peel apples and order their kids to bring more wood for the stove.

The cook bolted the peeler to a table, stuck an apple on a post and turned the handle, rotating the apple against a blade to remove the peel. This development would help cooks peel apples faster than by hand, leading to speed-peeling briefly becoming an Olympic sport.

1922: Blenders

Without them, we would have no frozen concoctions to help us hang on.

1970s: Specialized appliances

This was the golden decade of specialized appliances, with the arrival of microwave ovens, food processors, Crock-Pots and electric drip coffeemakers. But, wait, there’s more: hot-air popcorn poppers and home deep fryers like the FryDaddy came along, too.

And let us not forget hot dog cookers (“cooks six hot dogs in 60 seconds!” the ads claimed), electric can openers and electric fondue pots, which were invented a little earlier but proliferated during the ‘70s like paisley bell-bottoms.

The Age of the Single-Tasker Appliance was in full swing, and avocado green countertops were getting crowded, but so deeply were people attached to the appliances that stands of electrical outlets proliferated at tailgate locations to accommodate them.

2010: The Instant Pot

A Canadian man introduced the appliance that sparked an international cult, the Instant Pot, saying that he wanted to automate the entire cooking process or achieve total world domination, whichever comes first.

Air fryers arrived the same year, promising lower fat fried chicken and threatening to create a generation that doesn’t know what real-by-God fried chicken is like. Because the two appliances don’t share functions, up-to-date 21st-century cooks need both. Concerned about counter space? Get rid of that pesky stove you’re not using.

2014: The Foodini

The first 3D printer that could produce both sweet and savory foods brings the “Star Trek” food replicator to reality. Used solely by restaurants at the moment, the machine prints edibles from pre-filled food capsules at the push of a button.

So, don’t get too attached to that Instant Pot, because, before too long, using it will be just too much work when you have Rosie the Replicator.

This story was originally published February 5, 2019 at 11:27 AM.