1. Electric Knife
The electric knife was once the ultimate kitchen gadget, marketed as the must-have tool for slicing meat, bread, and even vegetables with ease. In the ’60s, it was a staple on many kitchen counters, and it looked just as futuristic as it sounds. But today, with more efficient, sharper knives, the electric knife has almost entirely fallen out of favor. It’s bulky, often awkward to use, and, let’s be honest, most of us prefer a good old-fashioned serrated knife or a sharp chef’s knife for precision.
These days, there’s no need for an electric knife when modern kitchen tools can do the job with much less hassle. It’s one of those gadgets that might have seemed revolutionary at the time but now just takes up unnecessary space. Why spend time setting up and plugging in a bulky appliance when a simple, manual knife does the job better?
2. Avocado Slicer
If you lived through the ’60s, you probably remember the avocado slicer—an oddly specific tool designed to help slice avocados perfectly. It usually came with a serrated edge for cutting, a pitter for removing the seed, and a slicer to create neat, even avocado pieces. The thing is, an avocado is soft enough that a regular knife works just fine, making this tool both redundant and overly complicated. Plus, avocado slicers often had so many parts that they were harder to clean than they were useful.
Now, we tend to just use a simple knife to cut the avocado, and a spoon to scoop out the flesh. The slicer feels more like a novelty item that would only be useful to someone with a serious avocado obsession—of which there were fewer in the ’60s.
3. Jelly Mold
Jelly molds were all the rage during the ’60s, with kitchens filled with these colorful, often elaborate molds for making gelatin desserts. The idea was to impress guests with a gorgeous, wobbly masterpiece, but the reality often involved weirdly shaped gelatin salads with odd ingredients like canned fruit or mayo. While jelly molds might seem like fun retro nostalgia today, they weren’t exactly known for their delicious flavor combinations or practical purpose.
In the current age of sophisticated desserts and fresh fruit salads, the jelly mold is considered more of a relic of a bygone era. Today, no one’s scrambling to create a molded gelatin monstrosity when a simple, fresh fruit salad will do. It’s easy to look back on this trend and wonder why anyone thought it was a good idea to mix gelatin with, well, pretty much anything.
4. Milkshake Maker
While milkshakes are still a favorite treat today, the milkshake maker that once sat on many kitchen counters in the ’60s was an oversized appliance that rarely earned its keep. They were bulky, hard to clean, and often used only once in a while. Today, all we need is a blender to whip up a milkshake in minutes, and we can control the consistency to our liking.
The milkshake maker might’ve been considered a luxury item for the time, but in hindsight, it seems like a completely unnecessary appliance. For those of us who just want a quick and easy milkshake, grabbing the blender instead of dealing with a huge contraption makes much more sense.
5. Popcorn Popper
If you grew up in the ’60s, chances are you had a popcorn popper in the kitchen. This electric device was meant to make homemade popcorn, but it was bulky, hard to store, and often didn’t even do a better job than the stovetop method. Add to that the fact that pre-packaged microwave popcorn was around the corner, and the popcorn popper quickly became obsolete.
Nowadays, with the ease of microwave popcorn and air poppers that don’t require oil or excessive cleanup, the popcorn popper of the ’60s feels downright outdated. Why bother with an electric contraption when you can get perfectly popped popcorn in just a few minutes with minimal effort?
6. Canister Set with Matching Utensils
Canister sets were incredibly popular in ’60s kitchens, with matching sets of containers for flour, sugar, and coffee, often accompanied by a set of kitchen utensils, like tongs and scoops, to match. While it seemed like a great way to organize and keep your dry goods in check, they were bulky and took up a lot of counter space. Plus, they often weren’t even that functional—most of us would just open a cabinet to grab flour, anyway.
Today, we prefer sleek, space-saving solutions that allow for easy access to dry goods without the added hassle of dusting off a set of canisters. With modern-day containers that stack easily and store neatly, the once-fashionable canister set feels like a kitchen decoration more than an essential tool.
7. Instant Hot Water Dispenser
In the ’60s, the instant hot water dispenser seemed like a groundbreaking innovation. It promised to provide hot water on-demand at the turn of a dial, allowing homeowners to quickly make tea or coffee without waiting for the kettle to boil. But in practice, these dispensers often took up precious counter space, and their water quality was questionable at best.
Now, most of us are content with boiling water in a kettle or using a microwave. Instant hot water dispensers are still available, but they are far less common than they once were. It’s one of those things that seems like a good idea in theory but just didn’t hold up to the test of time, especially when you realize how simple it is to heat water the old-fashioned way.