Hasta La Ideas

As any homeowner or renovator of today knows, putting in or redoing a kitchen is a massive expense. It was no different in the 1950s. Poggenpohl had advanced the concept of the all-in-one kitchen, but as comparatively prosperous as 1950s America was, not every Tom, Dick and Harry could afford to put one in.

American companies knew this, of course, and urged homeowners to do it piecemeal if necessary, replacing one outdated component at a time. While German companies could sell European customers on the idea of having an overall design aesthetic, American companies wooed customers partially by shaming them for owning old things while dangling new, improved ones in front of them. The keywords were “convenient,” “attractive” and “modern.” The American housewife, the thinking went, should let technology do the heavy lifting, should own a kitchen that was beautiful and the envy of the neighbors, and above all, should own things that were new.

Thus we have propaganda videos of the era urging homeowners to embark on “Kitchen modernization programs”:

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