In this nostalgic two-parter we chart the transformation of the British kitchen from the 1950s to the present day. TV chefs including Phil Vickery and Ken Hom, and design experts and historians reveal the trends and social changes that shaped the look and design of our kitchens over the decades.
Celebrities Janet Ellis, Danny John-Jules and Jenny Eclair road-test the must-have gadgets of the day, from the Kenwood Chef to the Spiralizer, discovering which should grace our countertops and which should be shoved to the back of the kitchen cupboard.
Plus, we discover the adverts that sold us everything from flat-pack kitchens to the Breville sandwich toaster, and we reveal how the kitchen was represented in the sitcoms of yesteryear. The first edition tells the story of our kitchen in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Many British kitchens at the start of the 1950s were dull, cramped, mis-matched and relied heavily on one thing – elbow grease! We discover the kitchen was the place of hard graft in a decade when housewives spent an astonishing 57 hours a week on domestic work. Janet Ellis, Danny John-Jules and Jenny Eclair try to whisk egg whites using the rotary hand-whisk and discover it’s very hard work.
It was all a far cry from the colourful, spacious and gadget-filled kitchens we glimpsed on new US TV shows like I Love Lucy and at the Ideal Home Exhibition – but change was coming…
The 1960s witnessed a kitchen revolution thanks to rising incomes, advancing technology and exciting new fashions. Bright colours and patterns appeared on our walls and space-age equipment like Teflon saucepans, electric toasters and automatic kettles made life a whole lot easier.
Embodying this new age of labour-saving ease was the Kenwood Chef (invented by Mr Ken Wood) which claimed to do everything from stuffing sausages to peeling potatoes. Our celebrities find out if it really made things as easy as it claimed.
By the 1970s, our kitchens became brown, spice-racks appeared, and we fell in love Morecambe and Wise’s iconic breakfast sketch. And as many of us now owned our homes, we were intent on showing them off to the neighbours.
Innovations like the hostess trolley helped dinner parties go with a swing, while our famous faces get to grips with that terrifying invention: the electric carving knife. But new technology wasn’t for everyone. We discover how some turned their back on this gadget-filled kitchen and instead took inspiration from Tom and Barbara in The Good Life.
By the end of the decade, as more women went out to work, the kitchen increasingly became a place of convenience. Gadget-makers were quick to take advantage, introducing the Breville snack ‘n’ sandwich toaster, which our panel attempt to use without burning their mouths on molten cheese – easier said than done!
Begins Tuesday 30th July on Channel 5.
Read More
