QUIZ: Can You Name These Vintage Kitchen Tools?
With each new year, there’s a new array of products that are supposed to make everyone’s lives easier. While the flashier of these gadgets usually involve new ways to make a smartphone or new accessories to go with them, it’s also true that they’re always trying to innovate what people use in the kitchen as well.
Although new products in this arena are usually fodder for infomercials rather than the subject of grand launch events, it’s nonetheless true that the kitchens of today look vastly different from those of decades past. So let’s see which of them still shine through in this crazy new world. Let’s see how many you can name! Let us know how you did in the comments!
What is this metal tool with large handles?
A. Pancake Iron
B. Biscuit Press
C. Hand Juicer
D. Seasoning Mixer
Answer: Hand Juicer
Although the most primitive juicers require people to press and twist cut fruits into a spiked panel, this one exists at a level of technology between that and the electric juicers they have now. To use it, the fruit is held and pressed inside this large cup, after which the juice is poured out from the little spout.
What was usually stored in this metal box
A. Tea
B. Sugar
C. Flour
D. Bread
Answer: Bread
Although it’s hardly impossible to get a bred box now, they don’t quite have the same decorative flair as retro boxes from the mid-20th Century. While it’s hardly impossible to store flour or sugar in here instead, canisters that carried these goods tended to be labeled as such in the old days.
What has been mounted on this kitchen cabinet?
A. Recipe Card Holder
B. Juicer
C. Can Opener
D. Seasoning Dispenser
Answer: Can Opener
Although there are still low-tech can openers that work roughly the same way this one does, they’re typically hand-held tools rather than something that needs to be mounted on a wall or door. However, it seems that this Swingline can opener from the 1960s was made under a different design philosophy.
What is this sharp kitchen utensil?
A. Shell Awl
B. Meat Thermometer
C. Ice Pick
D. Barbecue Spit
Answer: Ice Pick
Although people generally get their ice cubes molded in plastic trays nowadays, it’s become so easy to take that practical item for granted that many people wouldn’t even imagine people used to do it another way. Once upon a time, ice came in a big block that people had to chip away at with an ice pick. Nowadays, mentioning this tool at all often implies that it’s being used as a weapon.
Its use is in its name, but what is it?
A. Cheese Clamps
B. Nutcracker
C. Bread Pliers
D. Egg Breaker
Answer: Nutcracker
Although it doesn’t look like the more festive nutcrackers in military outfits that are typically seen around Christmas, that is nonetheless the purpose these little metal tools serve. As long as they get the job done, it doesn’t really matter how pretty they are.
This is obviously a bowl, but what kind of bowl?
A. Salad Bowl
B. Pasta Bowl
C. Mixing Bowl
D. Punch Bowl
Answer: Punch Bowl
Although it’s still possible to find the occasional party that had a special punch made for it, most libations at these events either have a bartender working it or tend to rely more on a wide array of ready-made options. As such, there’s not as much call for punch bowls like this ornate specimen as there used to be.
It shouldn’t be unrecognizable, but what is it called?
A. Hand Mixer
B. Gear Whisk
C. Hand Blender
D. Cream Whipper
Answer: Hand Mixer
Although the turning heads of the hand mixer remain a fixture of similar devices today, they’re typically electric and involve bulkier units. But in the decades before those machines were invented, people just had to crank one of these when they needed to beat eggs, whip cream, or mix cake ingredients together.
They don’t make them like this anymore, but what is it?
A. Rice Cooker
B. Toaster
C. Electric Kettle
D. Coffee Frother
Answer: Toaster
Over the years, companies have standardized toaster design enough that most people expect to see a short, rounded metal design that doesn’t look like anything else. But back in the old days, some toaster designs could not only be bulkier but also a little more artistic. Although it’s hardly impossible to recognize this as a toaster thanks to the knobs, the difference in design philosophies doesn’t make it so easy at a glance.
There are many like it, but what is this very old tool?
A. Orange Peeler
B. Cherry Pitter
C. Apple Corer
D. Melon Baller
Answer: Cherry Pitter
Although they came in all shapes in sizes even in the old days, some of the oldest cherry pitters have this bulky, table-mounted design. They’re better suited to smaller cherries that are used in jams and pies than the larger ones that top sundaes. The cat also wasn’t included.
What is this sieve-like tool?
A. Milk Mixer
B. Pressure Cooker
C. Food Mill
D. Grain Grinder
Answer: Food Mill
When people make purées or hummus, they typically use an automatic food processor. However, those spreads were just as popular before that appliance was invented, which required the use of a manual food mill like this. Those little holes at the bottom were intended to strain out fruit seeds during the milling process.
What is used to power this stove?
A. Electricity
B. Natural Gas
C. Wood
D. Coal
Answer: Coal
Although vintage wood-fired ovens have long been an option for home cooks of decades past and are still the premiere option for making authentic Italian pizza, it was also common to see coal ovens like this one throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries. Of course, the hazardous coal gas, its environmental impact, and the ease of alternative options in the decades since have made coal stoves go the way of the dodo.
This looks purely decorative, but it has a job. What is it?
A. Garlic Press
B. Tea Infuser
C. Egg Coddler
D. Spice Jar
Answer: Egg Coddler
Although it’s not an egg style that many people request anymore, coddling an egg involves cooking it for a short time while it’s submerged in hot water. To do so without damaging the egg, cooks would use a small jar with a loop on it called an egg coddler.
What is this implement adorned with wires?
A. Apple Slicer
B. Fish Deboner
C. Oven Filter
D. Egg Slicer
Answer: Egg Slicer
Whether they look like it or not, the wires in this egg slicer are sharp. This allows the tool to cut eggs in the right way to make a Cobb salad, but it also means that it should definitely be handled with care. And that’s truer the older it gets.
The image on it is a lobster, but what is it?
A. Seafood Cracker
B. Surf And Turf Platter
C. Juicing Pan
D. Jell-O Mold
Answer: Jell-O Mold
Although it wouldn’t be quite accurate to call Jell-O molds completely extinct, it’s also true that they were once so much more prevalent in America’s kitchens. It seems that people wanted to turn almost anything into a gelatin dish back in the 1950s, which could often lead to some concoctions that seem frightening in retrospect.
What is this heavy-duty retro appliance?
A. Coffee Grinder
B. Herb Processor
C. Pasta Maker
D. Meat Grinder
Answer: Coffee Grinder
The noise of modern coffee grinders may be a little annoying, but most coffee drinkers would much rather use them than have to crank the grinder by hand. Of course, that was the only option a lot of people had for a long time, which led them to use table-mounted appliances like this.
What job did this installed device from 1978 do?
A. Dishwasher
B. Microwave Oven
C. Food Processor
D. Trash Compactor
Answer: Trash Compactor
While most kitchen appliances are related to the cooking and preparing of food, this one’s all about what happens after that food is eaten. A lot of waste is generated in the kitchen and trash compactors like this wood-paneled wonder from the ’70s is intended to make that waste easier to manage.
This is a hand grinder, but what is it supposed to grind?
A. Meat
B. Herbs
C. Nuts
D. Pepper
Answer: Nuts
Although nuts may not be the only thing this vintage cranking tool is capable of grinding, it’s intended to be tough enough to get through the hard little protein alternatives. There are easier ways to do this now, but people had to work for their ice cream toppings back then.
What is supposed to go in this pot?
A. Cream
B. Tea
C. Coffee
D. Cocoa
Answer: Coffee
This porcelain pot was made in the 1930s and while it looks a little bit like a tea pot, it’s actually a drip coffee pot. Back in the old days, the two items didn’t look that different from each other.
What is supposed to go in these bowls?
A. Chips and Dip
B. Soup
C. Sugar and Spices
D. Rice
Answer: Chips And Dip
Although its sickly green hue is very stuck in the aesthetic standards of the time, this fancy bowl set was probably a welcome addition to many parties when it first came out. The dip would go in the top bowl, while the chips to scoop it up with would surround it in the other bowls.
What are these?
A. Pancake Flippers
B. Decorative Wall Ornaments
C. Trivets
D. Cookie Shapers
Answer: Trivets
When home cooks want to protect their tablecloths and counters from hot pans, they use a tool to interpose between the two surfaces. This is called a trivet, and while modern ones tend to be larger cloth squares, these older ones are smaller and made of sturdier stuff.
