The Cordial Spirit of the Home

Some History of The Technological and Cultural Roles of the Household Refrigerator

Very small by today’s standards…

Shelvador electric compression domestic refrigerator, an example of the first model to be equipped with internal shelves inside the door, streamlined design, by Crosley, U.S.A., 1930-1940. Science Museum Group.

One of the most fascinating things about our technologies is how they can be used in different and unexpected ways, emerging as cultural artifacts and reflecting a certain time and place in history. When advances in technology overlap with historical events and socio-cultural movements, the things we buy and their place in our homes become cultural markers. The refrigerator is a fitting example of this phenomenon.

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“The outward indication of the cordial spirit of the home is bourne out by the inspection of the culinary department, and especially the refrigerator”[1]
-McCray catalogue, 1909. 

The electric refrigerator emerged in the early 20th century as a life-altering piece of technology to delay food spoilage and is considered one of the greatest mechanical achievements of the 20th century.[2] The task of cooling food previously accomplished by iceboxes (literally boxes for storing food which contained ice), was taken over by electrified machines which replaced ice with chemical coolants. The invention of the refrigerator for home use has changed the way households procure, store, and prepare their food, and ultimately the very nature of what people eat.[3] Every house is built with space for one, and it is an expected piece of technology in the sphere of material domestic culture in the West. In 2018, the global refrigerator market was estimated at $64.17 billion USD[4], and a 2012 StatsCan report states that 99.8% of households in Canada own at least one[5]. Most North Americans, regardless of wealth or status, the size of their kitchen, or whether they live alone or in groups, have a refrigerator.

When the first electric household refrigerators appeared in 1920s[6], it was adopted for its practical functionality: to keep food fresher, longer[7]. Technologies however do not change and evolve in a vacuum; technological advances are enmeshed with historical events and the cultural changes which follow them. This paper will examine how advances in refrigerator technology have overlapped with historical events, social movements and cultural forces of the last century, and investigate how these overlaps have contributed to many faces of the refrigerator: from utilitarian appliance to cultural signifier and status object, often in the context of the kitchen as a primarily female domain. 

When the first domestic electrical refrigerators debuted in the early 1920s[8], the convenience of an in-home food preservation device was marketed to women. Early advertisements and trade catalogues feature images of the family sitting at the table while the busy housewife fetches food from the fridge, and the transition from the icebox to the electric refrigerator was demonstrated as a way to ease kitchen chores for housewives.[9] The icebox was kept in the coldest part of the house, usually the cellar, eliminating the need to walk up and down flights of stairs to fetch food[10], while the self-contained system of chemical coolants and a compressor to move the cooled air into the cabinet[11], allowed the electric refrigerator to be set up in the kitchen itself. This put an end to cumbersome deliveries of expensive and messy melting ice[12]. Food could be kept for longer periods, and it was no longer necessary to can, preserve, or pickle large amounts of food. The new appliances, made of metal and coated with enameled or tiled surfaces, were designed to be cleaned more easily than the wooden iceboxes which were breeding grounds for bacteria from aging foodstuffs and the dirty ice itself. Marketing refrigerators as time-saving appliances for women would begin a decades long strategy to ensure refrigerator sales went up[13], and stayed up, and from the 1920s on, companies such as Frigidaire and General Electric would employ a regular schedule of new innovations in design and technology to please busy housewives. Starting in 1923, the Bureau of Home Economics worked to codify middle-class household standards of cleanliness, nutrition, and thrift and aligning them with the American middle class and female identity, while encouraging spending on household goods to meet these standards. By cementing the housewife’s as solely responsible for food purchasing, cooking, and maintenance of the kitchen, appliances such as refrigerators, which contributed to the running of the kitchen, became a necessary item and inextricably tied to maintaining the values of a “good housewife”[14].

When the refrigerator was given a place of permanence in the kitchen, it became an openly visible part of the heart of the home. Before it was a ubiquitous part of kitchen design, the fridge was a novel object and that would bring the homeowner admiration from visitors[15], even if she wasn’t cooking herself. The first refrigerators available to consumers were costly luxuries priced into the high hundreds, and even the thousands[16], and available only to the upper classes.

As late as the early part of the 20th century, many of these households employed a small staff, including a maid and sometimes a cook. The onset of The Great Depression in 1929 gave rise to the “servantless household”, and even well-to-do families had to learn to get by with less.[17] As more families let their cooking help go and took on kitchen duties themselves, there was a steep increase in the adoption of refrigerators, and in the U.S., sales went from 4000 units in 1920 to over 400,000 by the end of the decade[18]. The refrigerator was still quite expensive and owning one signified relative wealth. It also became the centre of the domestic sphere for women who were now cooking more, and ownership was also a signifier of her commitment to the health of her family and the sanitary conditions of her kitchen.

As refrigerator manufacturers began working with automotive and chemical companies[19], streamlined technologies and the standardization of manufacturing methods caused prices to drop. A unit which cost $600USD in 1920 gradually dropped to a low of $150 in the 1940s[20], expanding the market and making the refrigerator an accessible product for most middle class households. By the mid-40s, 85% of households owned a refrigerator[21], and the refrigerator as upper-class status symbol began to find its way into a greater number of kitchens and into the lives of the ordinary housewife. She had lived through the Depression and was now entering the Second World War, and the values of economy, sanitation and nutrition first espoused by the Bureau of Home Economics in the 1920s became the gospel of the 1940’s housewife[22].

By the 1950’s the refrigerator had been firmly established as a necessary element of the “modern kitchen”[23] , with several reasons for the marked shift during this decade. First, the overall white, boxy design and cooling functionality of the refrigerator had not changed very much since the 1930s, and the industry turned to marketing executives and focus groups to encourage people to buy new refrigerators, even if the one they owned was still working[24]. They were banking on the desire of the post-war woman, fresh from her factory job during the war and back into her domestic space, to inject her home with the modernity of the new decade and escape the drab kitchen of her mother. The 1950s woman wanted to express her style and individuality, and the way to do that was with colour. In 1954, Frigidaire released appliances in shades of yellow, aqua, turquoise, green, blue, and the very popular pink.[25] Second, the 1950s ushered in a building boom of open-plan housing in suburban areas, which turned the kitchen from a closed-off space, to one in full view of the rest of the house and maybe more importantly, visiting guests[26]. Third, this post-war exodus to the suburbs gave rise to a new era of supermarket and automobile culture[27]. Daily visits to local markets within walking distance were replaced with weekly or even more infrequent car trips to the supermarket, and stocking the refrigerator became the norm. Lastly, marketing strategy positioned the refrigerator as not only an appliance, but a design element, and an object of pride for the home cook. Advertising campaigns were placed in women’s housekeeping magazines, directed at the new demographic of suburban housewives, women who saws themselves as fresh and modern, and wanted a kitchen to reflect this[28]. These were major changes, and the once utilitarian refrigerator became a sign of a woman’s good taste, and a signifier of her abilities to keep a kitchen that was both functional and beautiful. Suddenly the refrigerator is not just a product a woman owns, but part of a carefully planned narrative of who she is and how she is very different from women of the past[29].

The housekeeping magazines where these ads lived is a key component in the history of the refrigerator. Domestic manuals for women have been in almost constant publication from the mid 1500’s[30] and have branched off into many genres. Beginning at the turn of the century,  women’s magazines such as Good Housekeeping and Home & Garden have instructed women on every aspect of household management from decorating their new pre-fab home, to choosing the perfect colour of refrigerator. They were also the perfect place to position advertising, since the editorials of picture-perfect homes featured the newest and latest appliances in their pages. As the decades progressed through the 1960s and 1970s, these magazines allowed women to reimagine and visualize their lives as housewives in a variety of ways and supported the ideals of the “modern woman” in their pages[31].

While the woman-as-housewife narrative was still firmly established, other ideas were beginning to take hold. The success of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” in 1963 sparked second-wave feminism and the work of feminists such as Gloria Steinham carried feminist ideas over to the “women’s liberation” movement of the 1970’s. The women of these eras demanded more from life than the drudgery and thanklessness of household work, which led to an expansion of women in the workforce[32]. What did not happen was any decrease in the workload of women. The baby boom meant bigger families, and they still needed to be fed, but in new timesaving ways. The inclusion of more processed foods into the typical Western diet rose sharply during this period[33], and as a result, refrigerators became larger with larger freezer sections, to accommodate. The refrigerator would only continue to get larger; today North American refrigerators are the largest in the world[34].

It was also during the 1970s that the first patent was issued for refrigerator magnets[35], a development which turned the large, flat vertical space of the door into a message board, art gallery, and family command centre. In households with both parents working, the refrigerator was a handy place to put after-school instructions, but also became a space to perform “good parenthood”, such as displaying a child’s artwork or report cards. The refrigerator became an interface of the home it inhabits, and the domestic rituals within it[36].

By 1985, it was estimated that 105% of households in the United States owned refrigerators, a figure reflecting that many households owned two, and this number remains steady today.[37] While the mechanics of refrigerator cooling did not change, the 1980s brought the first generation of refrigerators boasting electronic features, such as lint sensors, door alarms, and temperature sensors, added to the most expensive high-end models[38]. Fancy and pricey, electronic features did not significantly improve the cooling properties of the appliance itself, but they began to catch the eye of the high-end consumer, and in 1983, a refrigerator boasting extra electronic features and costing $1699 was in the range of the upscale shopper[39].

In 1993, The Food Network premiered on American television, [40] putting household viewers in the kitchens of professional chefs where they could witness their use of the most high-end, professional appliances. The 90s saw the rise of stainless-steel finishes, glass doors, and professional-level Sub-Zeros[41], and foodie culture dictated that it is not enough to just cook; you need professional-level food and presentation, and this extends to your kitchen appliances. Your refrigerator cooled your food, but also said something about you, and “‘the strategic adoption of lifestyle options’ related to a planned ‘trajectory’ of a meaningful biographical narrative”[42].

This idea has continued to evolve, and result in a subculture of “trophy” refrigerators: very large appliances – up to 30 square feet[43] – possessing features like high-end finishes, sleek designs, internet connections and voice activated “smart” elements, among many others.[44] As luxury objects, they are designed to be an extension of the people who own them, signifying wealth, sophisticated design sensibilities and culinary prowess of their owners. The Big Chill Company’s $5795 Classic Fridge is designed to look exactly like an old icebox and, according to the company’s marketing materials, is the “epitome of industrial chic and the perfect complement to any elegant kitchen”[45]. The LG brand “The Internet Family” is a fleet of networked appliances[46] including a refrigerator with a web-connected flat-screen PC, power jack, speakers, video camera, microphone, and an $8000US price tag[47]. Refrigerators for the wealthy are still functional but are used in different ways. Side-by-side glass door refrigerators, without freezers, are used to store wine, bottles of juice for “cleanses”, vitamin waters, fresh produce, and are even installed in bathrooms to store expensive face creams[48].

If what we purchase is related to our values, it is as much about our wants as it is our needs. R.L. Kohls articulates this in his book “The Values Americans Live By”. The Western desire to exert personal control over our environment, and an inherent materialism which governs our decision making, leads to the acquisition of the biggest, the best, and the latest.[49] If homeowners possesses the means to deck out their kitchens with the same professional-level refrigerators we see on The Food Network and in lifestyle publications, and this is paired with the desire to emulate the food culture evident in today’s food-based media, we have the perfect recipe for consumption and performance, with a large, gleaming, stainless steel restaurant-style refrigerator to help tick the appropriate boxes[50].

One of the most fascinating things about our technologies is how they can be used in different and unexpected ways, emerging as cultural artifacts and reflecting a certain time and place in history. When advances in technology overlap with historical events and socio-cultural movements, the things we buy and their place in our homes become cultural markers. The refrigerator, as we have seen, is a fitting example of this phenomenon. Our refrigerators have existed in many forms over time: display shelves, home command centres, signifiers of good home economy, a demonstration of our personal style, a sign of culinary prowess, status objects for the wealthy, and of course, coolers for our perishable foods. Whether is it the “outward indication of the cordial spirit of the home” depends on how much stock we put in the words of a promotional pamphlet from 1909, or how much thought we put into considering the many roles of our refrigerator, and the other objects we include in our domestic spaces.

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Notes

[1] 1909. McCray Refrigerators in American Homes. Adam Matthew, Marlborough, Trade Catalogues and the American Home.

[2]K. Ellsworth, S. Magleby, & R. Todd. “A Study of the Effects of Culture on Refrigerator Design: Towards Design for Culture,” Proceedings of the ASME 2002 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 4: 14th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology, Integrated Systems Design, and Engineering Design and Culture. (Montreal, Quebec, Canada. September 29–October 2, 2002), 2.

[3] Jonathan Rees. Refrigeration Nation : A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017), 139.

[4] “Global Major Domestic Appliances Market 2005-2020, (Statista), 2021.

[5] “Spending Patterns In Canada: Table 7 — Household Equipment At The Time Of Interview, Canada And Selected Metropolitan Areas" (Government of Canada Publication, 2012).

[6] Rees, 141.

[7] Rees, 129.

[8] Rees 138

[9] Rees 120.

[10] Rees, 120.

[11] Rees, 36.

[12] Rees 128

[13] R.L. Blaszczyk. The Color Revolution. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012), 256.

[14] C.M. Goldstein. Creating Consumers : Home Economists in Twentieth-Century America. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 101.

[15] Rees, 142.

[16] Shelley Nickles. 2002 “‘Preserving Women’: Refrigerator Design as Social Process in the 1930s.,” Technology and Culture 43 (4) (10): 695.

[17] Nickels, 695.

[18] Rees, 148.

[19] Rees, 150.

[20] Rees, 148.

[21] Ellsworth et al.

[22] Goldstein, 282.

[23] Goldstein, 283.

[24] Blaszczyk, 256.

[25] Blaszczyk, 260.

[26] Blaszczyk, 258.

[27] Linda Civitello. Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People. (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011), 354.

[28] Blaszczyk, 256.

[29] J. Raisborough. Lifestyle Media and the Formation of the Self. (Palgrave: Macmillan UK, 2011), 31.

[30] Elaine, Hobby. Virtue of Necessity: English Women's Writing, 1646-1688. (London: Virago Press, 1988), 165.

[31] Catherine Clay, Maria DiCenzo, Barbara Green, and Fiona Hackney. 2018. “Women’s Periodicals and Print Culture in Britain, 1918-1939 : The Interwar Period,” The Edinburgh History of Women’s Periodical Culture in Britain. Edinburgh, Scotland. 2018: 207.

[32] Michael Pollan. “Out Of The Kitchen, Onto The Couch,” New York Times, July 29, 2009.

[33] Pollan

[34] Ellsworth et al.

[35] Carroll Gantz. Refrigeration: A History. (Jefferson: McFarlane and Company Inc.,2015), 206.

[36] Thomas Maschio. “The Refrigerator and American Ideas of ‘Home.’” Anthropology News 43, no. 5 (2002): 8. 

[37] Ellsworth et al

[38] “Home Appliances Are Slowly Adding Electronic Features,” New York Times, January 18, 1983: 65.

[39] New York Times, 65.

[40] Civitello, 373.

[41] Rosemary Sadez Friedmann. “Appliance Colors Tell Kitchen History.” Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), December 15, 2012.

[42] Raisborough, 29.

[43] Ellsworth et al.

[44] Margaret Blackman. “Focus on the Fridge,” Gastronomica 5, no. 4 (Fall, 2005): 37.

[45] Big Chill. 2021. “Classic Fridge”. Big Chill. https://bigchill.com/classic-fridge.aspx.

[46] Helen Watkins. “Fridge Space : Journeys of the Domestic Refrigerator.” Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) 2008: 2.

[47] Blackman, 37.

[48] Caity Weaver. “In The Kitchens Of The Rich, Things Are Not As They Seem,” New York Times, August 31, 2021.

[49] Kohls, 2-7.

[50] Ellsworth et al.

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