Atomic Kitchen: Gadgets and Inventions for Yesterday's Cook

by Brian S. Alexander

Conscious cooks in the 1950s equipped their drawers and cupboards with the latest and greatest specialty doohickies, thingamajigs, and must-have products. From the Saucy Stovetop Butter Melter to the Chop-o-Matic, if there was a vegetable to chop or meat to be carved, there was a device to make it better and easier! ATOMIC KITCHEN presents a gallery of gadgets, features, and cooking devices that appeared—and in some cases, disappeared—during the creative cooking 1950s. Accompanied by illustrations of vibrant, original packaging and vintage advertisements, you’ll marvel at the ingenuity of the minds that brought you the Weenie Wheel, Bean-X Bean Slicer, Cookie Gun, and much more.

Genres: Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jim]

i read this in 2010 and gave it four stars. read yesterday - January 2018 - and thought it deserved only two. the positive [art of the book is all the advertising copy of future kitchens. not really anything awe inspiring, i grew up w/half of what is shown. the negative to the book is the editorial, the captions are placed randomly as often as not they don't match the photo and the writing is not interesting.

[Megan Close Zavala]

What’s not to love about this book? Lively and beautifully illustrated with just enough history to make it educational as well as entertaining. The only criticism is that a lot of the random facts peppered throughout look as if they are captions but in fact are independent from the illustration they accompany.

[Judy Egnew Ness]

Delightful photos, ads, and descriptions of all the things in our childhood kitchens!

[Kookie]

GREAT pictures, dry text.