Kitchen Appliances

Refrigerator (Icebox)

Today’s refrigerators are run by electricity to keep food and drinks cool. Since electricity didn’t become available to farms until the late 20’s, early 30’s, they had to find other ways to keep their food cool. Their refrigerators were called ice boxes as they were essentially a box that held a block of ice and the food they wanted to keep cool. Blocks of ice were cut no smaller than 8 inches thick and transported in sawdust to help keep the ice from melting. Many houses had a small access door on the outside directly to the icebox so the iceman could deliver blocks of ice without having to go through the house since they both were often dirty.

Cream Separator

Dairying was becoming an important part of farm work. Milking the cows was a daily chore. The milk was sold to market but was also used at home to create other dairy products. Cream separators were used by farmers’ wives to skim the cream off of milk that would not only leave skim milk behind but also allowed the cream to be used for other products. This cream could be used for making butter, ice cream, or just selling the cream itself. Since farmers had to milk their cattle all season long, this allowed for more income they might have missed out on with just selling the whole milk itself.