12 retro kitchen counter items from 1982 you might remember
About 4 percent of U.S. homes had a microwave oven in 1976, and by 1986, about a quarter did, IEEE Spectrum reports. In 1982, you were somewhere in the middle.
Twelve small appliances follow, all on kitchen counters around then. Some you owned. Some you wanted. A few you only saw on TV.
The Crock-Pot started as a bean cooker
Irving Naxon patented it in 1936 as the Naxon Beanery. It never caught on, the Smithsonian’s archive notes.
Rival bought it in 1970 and launched the Crock-Pot in 1971. Sales hit $2 million that first year and $93 million four years later, KCUR reports.
The microwave was still a status symbol
Percy Spencer’s Raytheon company filed the first patent in 1945. The first countertop Amana Radarange for homes came out in 1967 at $495.
By 1982, plenty of neighbors still didn’t have one. Microwave owners were a minority, and they knew it.
The Cuisinart made home cooks feel like chefs
Carl Sontheimer introduced it at the 1973 National Housewares Exposition in Chicago. Julia Child and James Beard endorsed it. Sales reached $50 million by 1977, and the company had six new models out by 1982, FundingUniverse reports.
Mr. Coffee had Joe DiMaggio
The drip coffee maker arrived in 1972 at $39.99, with baseball legend Joe DiMaggio as spokesman. It sold more than a million by 1974.
The toaster oven was a General Electric idea
GE’s Toast-R-Oven dates to 1956 or 1957, Chowhound notes. By the mid-1980s, Black & Decker’s Spacemaker version could mount under a cabinet to free up counter space, Click Americana shows.
The electric can opener ate counter space
It was bulky, and a lot of people had one. The under-cabinet fix, GE’s Spacemaker can opener, came out in 1983, a year after this list’s year. In 1985, the Los Angeles Times called them a “neat way to free kitchen counters of clutter,” Tasting Table notes.
The FryDaddy sat by the stove
Presto introduced the single-serving FryBaby in 1976. The bigger FryDaddy followed in 1977.
The hot-air popcorn popper was the healthy option
Presto’s PopCornNow was among the first poppers to use hot air in place of oil, in 1978. By 1979 and 1980, ads promised you could “pop non-stop,” Click Americana shows.
Ginsu knives came with a pitch
“But wait, there’s more!” started with Ed Valenti and Barry Becher in 1978. Their ads showed the knives cutting through a tomato, a garden hose, even a nail. NPR reported they sold about three million.
The electric knife came out for the turkey
Jerome Murray patented it in 1964. By 1971, about one in three U.S. families owned one, Chowhound reports. Its popularity faded in the 1980s, as high-quality German and Japanese knives arrived, one history notes.
The Osterizer had a long run
John Oster bought Stevens Electric in 1946 and introduced the Osterizer blender. Sunbeam bought Oster in 1960, the History Museum of Western Virginia says.
The Sunbeam Mixmaster was already a classic
Ivar Jepson’s 1930 Mixmaster is credited with popularizing the home stand mixer in the U.S., the Journal of Antiques and Collectibles says. By 1982, it was a hand-me-down.
The bottom line
In 1976, only 4 percent of U.S. homes had a microwave oven, and by 1986, about 25 percent did. By 1971, about one in three families already owned an electric knife.
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