The 1970s kitchen had a personality all its own, full of avocado-green appliances, harvest-gold accents, and a particular collection of gadgets and gizmos that nearly every household owned. Some were genuinely useful, some were fads, and some were entertaining at dinner parties before being banished to the back of a cabinet. Together they defined how Americans cooked, stored, and served food in the decade. Many have since vanished or fallen out of fashion. Here are the twelve kitchen gadgets you’d reliably find in a 1970s American home, counted down one by one.
1. The Fondue Set
No 1970s kitchen was complete without a fondue set, the pot, the little color-coded forks, and the burner that kept the cheese or chocolate warm. Fondue was the height of entertaining fashion, and gathering around a communal pot to dip bread or fruit was a beloved dinner-party ritual.
The fondue set was often a wedding gift, used enthusiastically for a while and then relegated to a cabinet. It perfectly captured the era’s social, communal approach to entertaining. While fondue has had occasional revivals, the once-ubiquitous set faded from everyday use. For many, the long-forgotten fondue pot at the back of a cabinet is a quintessential symbol of 1970s home entertaining.
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2. The Electric Carving Knife
A marvel of convenience, the electric carving knife buzzed its way through the holiday turkey and the Sunday roast in countless homes. With its twin serrated blades vibrating back and forth, it promised effortless, even slices and was a proud kitchen possession.
The electric knife was a popular gift and a staple for special occasions, brought out with some ceremony to carve the centerpiece of a holiday meal. Its distinctive buzz was a familiar sound at the dinner table. While they still exist, electric carving knives became far less common as tastes and tools changed. The buzzing electric knife slicing the holiday roast remains a vivid and slightly comical memory of the era’s kitchens.
3. The Coffee Percolator
Before automatic drip machines took over, coffee came from a percolator, which cycled boiling water up through a tube and over the grounds, producing that distinctive bubbling sound and rich aroma. The stovetop or electric percolator was the standard way to brew coffee.
The percolator’s gurgling and the little glass knob on top where you could watch the coffee “perk” were familiar morning fixtures. Electric models sat on the counter ready to brew a full pot for guests. As automatic drip coffee makers became dominant, the percolator faded from most kitchens. Its bubbling sound and the ritual of watching the coffee perk are fondly remembered, and percolators have even enjoyed a small nostalgic revival among coffee enthusiasts.
4. The Avocado or Gold Stand Mixer
Sitting proudly on the counter was the stand mixer, very often in avocado green or harvest gold to match the era’s appliances. A workhorse for baking, the heavy mixer whipped, creamed, and beat its way through countless cakes, cookies, and holiday treats.
The colored stand mixer was a prized and durable kitchen possession, often lasting for decades and handed down through families. Its bold color made it a centerpiece of the coordinated 1970s kitchen. While stand mixers remain popular, the specific avocado and gold finishes are pure period flavor. That sturdy colored mixer, still humming along in some kitchens decades later, is a beloved survivor of the era’s distinctive style.
5. Tupperware and the Burping Lid
Storing leftovers meant Tupperware, the pastel-colored plastic containers famous for their airtight, “burping” seals. Often bought at a Tupperware party hosted by a neighbor, these containers filled cabinets and refrigerators across the country and were a point of household pride.
The act of pressing the lid and “burping” out the air to create a seal was a familiar kitchen ritual, and the matching sets in soft colors were a staple of the era’s organized kitchen. Tupperware parties were a social institution in themselves. While food storage containers are still everywhere, the classic pastel Tupperware with its signature burping seal is strongly tied to the decade. Those containers, often outliving the era by decades, are a fond kitchen memory.
6. The Crock-Pot Slow Cooker
The slow cooker became a kitchen sensation in the era, letting busy cooks toss in ingredients in the morning and return to a hot, ready meal. The Crock-Pot promised convenience and hearty home cooking with minimal effort, perfect for the changing rhythms of family life.
Often decorated with the era’s signature floral or earth-tone patterns, the slow cooker was a beloved convenience that produced stews, roasts, and dips. It fit the decade perfectly, offering home-cooked results for households with less time to cook. The slow cooker proved so useful that it never fully disappeared, but the original patterned models are distinctly of the era. That floral-printed Crock-Pot bubbling away on the counter is a warm memory of 1970s home cooking.
7. The Wall-Mounted Electric Can Opener
Convenience reigned in the era, and the electric can opener, often mounted right on the wall or sitting on the counter, was a popular gadget. With the press of a lever, it whirred around the lid of a can, a small luxury compared to the manual openers of before.
The electric can opener captured the decade’s enthusiasm for time-saving kitchen gadgets, and many came with built-in knife sharpeners. Mounted under a cabinet, it was a fixture of the modern 1970s kitchen. As tastes simplified and manual openers proved perfectly adequate, the bulky electric models became less common. The whir of the electric can opener is a small but distinct sound memory of the era’s gadget-loving kitchen.
8. The Pressure Cooker
For fast cooking before the slow cooker craze, and alongside it, the stovetop pressure cooker was a kitchen staple, hissing and rocking its weighted top as it cooked beans, stews, and tough cuts of meat in record time. It was both useful and slightly intimidating.
The pressure cooker’s distinctive jiggling top and the hiss of escaping steam were familiar, if occasionally alarming, kitchen sounds. Cooks valued it for cutting cooking times dramatically. Many households had one tucked away for big batches of beans or pot roast. While modern electric versions have revived the concept, the classic hissing stovetop pressure cooker is firmly rooted in the era. That rocking, hissing pot on the stove is a memory shared by many who grew up in 1970s kitchens.
9. The Hand or Electric Egg Beater
For whipping and mixing, the kitchen held an egg beater, either the hand-crank rotary kind with its spinning blades or a handheld electric mixer. Before every task was outsourced to a single appliance, these tools did the work of beating eggs, whipping cream, and mixing batters.
The rotary hand beater, with its crank and whirring blades, was a simple, reliable tool found in many drawers, while the handheld electric mixer offered a powered alternative. These gadgets were everyday helpers for baking and cooking. As multifunction appliances took over, the standalone egg beater became less essential. The hand-crank beater in particular is a charming, low-tech relic of the era’s kitchen, remembered by anyone who turned its handle to whip up a quick batch.
10. Jell-O Molds
The era’s love of gelatin creations meant nearly every kitchen had a set of Jell-O molds, often decorative copper or aluminum shapes used to create the wiggly, colorful, and sometimes bewildering gelatin salads and desserts that defined 1970s entertaining.
These molds produced everything from fruit-filled dessert gelatins to savory congealed salads, a hallmark of the decade’s cooking. Decorative copper molds even doubled as kitchen wall decor when not in use. The elaborate molded gelatin creation was a centerpiece of many a 1970s gathering. As tastes moved away from gelatin salads, the molds fell out of use, but they remain a vivid and slightly amusing symbol of the era’s distinctive approach to food and entertaining.
11. The Electric Popcorn Popper
Movie night at home meant the electric popcorn popper, a dedicated appliance that churned out fresh popcorn far better than anything else available at the time. Whether a hot-oil model or an early air popper, it was a beloved gadget for family snacking.
The popcorn popper made a special treat of an ordinary evening, and watching the kernels burst behind the clear dome was part of the fun. Families gathered around freshly popped bowls for television and games. The dedicated popper was a popular gadget before microwave popcorn changed everything. That whirring popper producing a fresh, buttery bowl is a cozy memory of family nights in the era’s homes, and the appliance has its devoted fans to this day.
12. Pyrex Bowls and Casserole Dishes
Finally, the workhorse of the 1970s kitchen was the set of patterned glass bowls and casserole dishes, most famously the nesting mixing bowls and lidded casseroles decorated with the era’s signature prints. They mixed, baked, served, and stored, doing it all.
These durable, colorful glass pieces were a staple of every kitchen, used for everything from mixing batter to baking the era’s beloved casseroles to carrying a dish to a potluck. Their distinctive patterns are instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up then. Prized for their durability, many have survived for decades and are now sought after by collectors. The patterned nesting bowls and casserole dishes are among the most enduring and beloved icons of the 1970s American kitchen.
Looking Back at the 1970s Kitchen
Taken together, these twelve gadgets capture a kitchen that loved convenience, color, and a bit of flair. The 1970s kitchen embraced time-saving appliances, communal entertaining, and bold coordinated style, reflecting the era’s enthusiasm for modern gadgets and social cooking. Many of these tools were genuinely useful; others were fads that burned bright and faded.
As tastes changed and multifunction appliances replaced single-purpose gadgets, many of these items disappeared from everyday kitchens. Yet for those who grew up with the buzz of an electric knife, the perk of a percolator, and the burp of a Tupperware lid, these vanished gadgets stir warm nostalgia. The 1970s kitchen, with its avocado appliances and cabinets full of gizmos, remains one of the most distinctive and fondly remembered rooms of the era.
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