7 Forgotten Things Found In ’80s Kitchens

The ’80s were a neon-tinted decade of decadence. As an elder millennial, I feel the decade’s over-the-top energy strongly shaped my childhood. Many of my core memories are ’80s-hued, anchored by the everyday backdrop of my home: clunky TVs, ugly carpets, and now long-forgotten kitchen gear. Of course, generational divides mean some forgo nostalgia when they see 1980s appliances, but for many, these forgotten gadgets evoke warm feelings. Homes where the phone cord was always too long, the fridges were mustard-yellow, and things were needlessly powered by electricity — like carving knives and can openers — were part of the Reagan-era experience.

While some of the design trends from the ’80s still hold up today, others seem quite gauche in hindsight. Often remembered as a decade of technological advances, the era’s home appliances, consumer electronics, and kitchen tools still seem quite ancient by today’s standards. And while you can find plenty of these relics on eBay and Etsy, most are consigned to distant memories and landfills. Whether you’re too young to have used these old-school household items or just want to indulge in some nostalgia, here are seven forgotten ’80s kitchen gadgets to revisit`

Long before cell phones replaced analog phones, households in the 1980s likely had a couple of corded phones. The kitchen wall phone was the family nerve center, a focal point for conversation and maybe even gossip. For some reason, the cord was often long enough to turn the whole room into a stage, like a coiled vine that could even stretch into other rooms. Tripping hazards aside, the after-school vibe was coming home, grabbing some snacks, and maybe calling your friends to gossip about school. No Snapchat or Instagram, heck, not even AIM or MSN Messenger was around to keep you in the loop, just an obnoxiously long corded phone.

Of course, that pesky plastic cord was always tangled, and you actually had to memorize numbers (or flip through a massive phone book) to make a call. I still recall the drama of trying to talk quietly while dragging that seven-foot-long cord into another room, as if moving six feet from the wall magically made the conversation private. Nowadays, if you doomscroll on Reddit, you’ll see thousands of upvotes for this forgotten ’80s kitchen trope, harkening back to a more innocent analog era.

The electric carving knife was a bit of a unicorn. It seemed to show up only once a year, when the whole family was already gathered, which is probably why it still feels so cinematic in memory. As a kid, I was fascinated by its high-pitched motor humming away as my father attempted to carve the turkey with surgical precision. The plug-in carving knife came out for the kinds of meals where everybody suddenly paid attention to the person at the cutting board, salivating in anticipation of a feast. Yet for some reason, they seem to have fallen out of favor among foodies and home cooks. Much like the aforementioned electric can opener, they are needlessly AC-powered gadgets.

If you grew up in a vegetarian household or are just younger, these mini meat buzz saws probably seem like quite the oddity. Or, you may have simply dismissed them as overkill and silly, much like a late-night infomercial gadget destined to slowly die in a drawer. But surprisingly, they have defenders in high places. On a recent Babish podcast, food god Alton Brown himself admitted he would choose an electric carving knife over an electric coil stove, in response to a “would you rather” type question. The man has plenty of memorable moments and hot takes, but I wouldn’t have expected him to defend this one. Perhaps these forgotten kitchen tools are due for a comeback?

For most able-bodied people, ’80s electric can openers belong in the category of “things that don’t need to be plugged in,” though they were likely a lifesaver for those with limited mobility. If this gadget doesn’t ring any bells, you’re probably 30 years old or younger, and that’s okay. But for our millennial, Gen-X, and boomer readers, you might have had direct experience with one back in the day. Consumer electronics companies like Black+Decker advertised its Spacemaker Counter Bright can opener in 1986, which sounds funny when you consider how little space a hand-cranked one takes up.

I remember the indelible sound of my family’s electric can opener, which, according to some Redditors on the r/Xennials sub, was also known as the “kitty summoner.” Whether opening cat food or cans of beans, these little machines were clunky and decidedly lo-tech, yet they had a certain mechanical gravitas and satisfaction when the lids were cleanly sliced off. But like so many other ’80s signifiers, these can openers — whether under-cabinet-mounted or sitting freely on the countertop — fell out of favor over the years.

In the 1980s, kitchen design briefly fixated on saving counter space, and under-cabinet-mounted appliances were pitched as the solution. If there is one gadget that perfectly captures this 1980s preoccupation, it is the under-cabinet coffee machine. The whole idea seems silly now, but it was marketed to ’80s consumers as a practical gadget: why let a coffeemaker squat on the counter when it could hang above the mess? If you consider the 12 inches below a cabinet wasted space, the appeal of these drip coffee makers makes sense. But for most coffee drinkers who love filter brews, a machine sitting on the counter is of little consequence. Of course, the best modern coffee makers on the market today are a bit easier on the eyes than their ’80s forebears, almost asking to be shown off rather than tucked away.

However, these new machines aren’t necessarily better, per se. What’s noteworthy about those forgotten under-cabinet coffee makers is their incredible durability. On the r/ButIfForLife subreddit, a user boasts that their aunt’s GE Spacemaker coffee machine from 1988 was still going strong as of 2023. That is pretty impressive, and it aligns with the notion some hold that consumer products were better built back then, despite tacky aesthetics.

I’ll never forget the day my father came home with our family’s first microwave. As a very young child, I thought the gargantuan faux-wood-panel machine was magic. The shiny black plastic and neon-green LCD display felt incredibly futuristic, though in hindsight the design is laughable. Why appliances back then came adorned with fake wood panels baffles me; it almost reads as a ’70s design hangover. Beyond the tacky aesthetics, the bottom line is that these clunky microwaves did their job: heating food in mere seconds or minutes. Forty-odd years later, the basic premise and functionality remain exactly the same, though you certainly won’t see any brown, imitation-wood-grain side panels on a microwave at Best Buy today.

And while it’s easy to hate on microwaves — over the years, I’ve encountered so many people who refuse to own one — many renowned celeb chefs, like Julia Child, have employed them for specific tasks. If you want to quickly melt butter, reheat some coffee, or even make a myriad of egg dishes, just nuke it! Whether you’re rocking a sleek, sexy new machine or still using a clunky workhorse from the last century, these machines have earned their place in the kitchen. But be thankful they’ve evolved and shed the now-forgotten, ugly ’80s look.

There is a very specific kind of kitchen yellow that can only be described as mustard, and for many, it’s considered rather ugly. It’s also a clear signifier of an aesthetic common to appliances from my childhood; the washer, dryer, and fridges in my home were adorned with this, shall we say, interesting color — officially known back then as Harvest Gold. For proof, you can see these golden beauties in the Sears catalog ads from 1984, for example, with a line from Kenmore showing machines that look even older than that. The ways in which these ugly mustard-colored appliances would clash with a sad millennial gray kitchen is a funny notion, pre- or post-upgrade. And yet, as bewildering as it is, some of these dinosaurs from the ’80s still actually work — again, proof that the manufacturing craftsmanship of yesteryear somehow seemed better.

When I spot these yellow giants today, I don’t cringe or laugh. The nostalgia is genuine. However, I can easily picture a Gen-Z reader sneering at the sight of one. We live in a hyper-curated era of mood boards and minimalist aesthetics, and appliances these days tend to reflect that, possessing more elegance than their golden-hued counterparts from back in the day.

It might seem archaic now, but as microwaves became increasingly popular, some people leaned heavily on them for their main cooking. In turn, the cookbook industry did what you might expect: it rushed to fill the gap by embracing the trend. By 1988, books like JCPenney’s “The Complete Microwave Cookbook” were in circulation, showing how quickly publishers decided microwaves needed their own culinary niche. You might still find the odd microwave-focused guide in a bookstore today, but the sheer novelty of nuking an entire dinner from A to Z feels pretty ’80s-coded.

While my mother never prioritized our clunky microwave over the stove, I think these niche cookbooks could have easily found their way onto our bookshelves — they were just a sign of the times. Making a full dinner this way, as a whole style of cooking rather than just a shortcut, is interesting, to say the least. I pass no judgment on the era of microwave-centric cooking, but I’ll stick to simmering a proper stew or tossing a pan of noodles over a nuked casserole any day.