Post-World War I: Growth of Gas & Electricity Use, Advent of Microwave
Flat top stoves were offered in the 1920s and 1930s (Burness, 2003, pp. 122). By the 1930s, gas stoves were covered with white porcelain enamel. The stove no longer dominated the kitchen and was easier to clean (Cohen, 1982, p. 21). Stoves had an oven on one side and a cooktop on the other, with a storage area beneath the cooktop and slender curved legs, as in the first photo below. In the 1930s, manufacturers hired designers to make products like stoves more appealing. Norman Bel Geddes, a New York City theater set designer, designed the boxy Oriole stove in white enamel, to appear sanitary, and with no legs, so housewives wouldn't have to clean underneath it (Rubin, 1998, p. 35). The Oriole stove is in the second photo below. A new $135 stove, bought in 1940, is in the third picture below.
By the 1920s, even many hard-pressed families had gas ranges. In Zanesville, Ohio, where 70% of homes earned less than an amount considered comfortable 90% had a gas range (Cowan, 1983, pp. 182-183). In 1922 in nine small towns within 150 miles of Kansas City, 59% of lower, upper, and "better" class households had a cookstove, with over 50 brand names among the nearly 400 homes surveyed. Of the stoves and ranges, 53% used oil, 14% gas, 75 gasoline, 8% electricity, and 9% were "fireless" (Frederick, 1922, pp. 1-2, 65). Gas stoves meant the end of coal dust all over the kitchen (Cowan, 1983, pp. 182-183). “Now you’re cooking with gas” was a big advertising slogan in the 1930s (Cohen, 1982, p. 21). According to a 1926 Household Magazine article (Kiene, p. 12), if natural gas was not available, a stove still had to be fueled by wood, coal, gasoline, or kerosene. As of 1930, 14 million households cooked with gas, 7.7 million used coal and wood, 6.4 million used oil, and .875 million used electricity (Cowan, 1983, p. 91).
By 1930, electric stoves started to compete effectively with gas stoves because of the electromechanical thermostats introduced in the 1920s (Cowan, 1983, p. 94). Electric stoves gained popularity quickly in the 1930s. The heat source for an electric stove was not an open flame; it heated more quickly; it was easier to control temperatures; and there was no danger of leaking gas. However, houses had to have enough electric current to run the stove (Cohen, 1982, p. 22). (The photo above, taken between 1940 and 1946, shows an electric range in an American farm kitchen (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/owi2002050861/PP/).
Before the entry into World War II, one-third of households still cooked with wood or coal. While those who were better off acquired new stoves, like those above, many others had to make do with what they had--particularly during the Great Depression. This next row of photos shows stoves in use in Montana in 1937 (burning manure) and New England in 1939. The third photo shows a woman feeding "barnyard lignite" into a stove in 1940.
By the 1940s, kitchen stoves were more streamlined in appearance. The last row of photos (below) shows a kitchen from a prefabricated emergency housing made to ship to Great Britain under the World War II lend-lease program. The middle photo shows the stove and work area in a post-war model kitchen in a 1949 video designed to demonstrate the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics's research on kitchen design. (See the 13 1/2 minute video at https://research.archives.gov/id/1783 or look for A Step-Saving Kitchen on YouTube.) The USDA had a laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland where they applied ergonomics and scientific management to design efficient kitchens (https://www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/ipd/apronsandkitchens/exhibits/show/kitchen-plans/kitchens).
By 1978, 99% of households had a range (i.e., stove and oven), with 48% using natural gas and 53% using electricity. As of 2015, 91% of homes had a stove/oven unit; however, the use of electricity had increased to 61%, while the use of natural gas had fallen to 33% (Energy Information Administration, 2017, Table HC3.1).
The microwave oven was a major cooking innovation in the twentieth century. In 1945, Dr. Percy Spencer, an engineer for Raytheon, discovered the principle of microwave cooking. He was standing in front of a microwave tube when he noticed that a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted while his jacket stayed cool (Rubin, 1998, p. 38). Raytheon developed and patented a microwave oven, which was a large, expensive unit for institutional use (Appliance Design, 2002, Amana Milestones). The first microwave oven weighed 750 pounds, was over 5 feet tall, and cost more than $3,000 (Rubin, 1998, p. 38). Oven-sized microwaves, like the Tappan electronic oven, were available for the home in 1955 (Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Zap It!, undated; Krause, 2003, p. 189). The last photo below shows a 1955 Tappan brochure. In 1967, Amana introduced the first successful portable countertop microwave oven with 115 volts (Appliance Design, 2002, Amana Milestones; Rubin, 1998, p. 38). In 1975, Amana was the first to market touch-controlled microwaves (Appliance Design, 2002, Amana Milestones). By the 1980s, buyers were attracted by lower prices and smaller sizes (Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Zap It!, undated). As of 2009, 96% of American homes had a microwave (Energy Information Administration, 2017, Table HC3.1).