Kettle Kitchen

The Kettle kitchen, from the Universal feature-film The Adventures of Ma and Pa Kettle, had all of the most up-to-date appliances that any home of the future needed in 1948.  An island, in the kitchen, housed much of the modern equipment.  Dishwashers did not become standard appliances until the mid to late 60s; but the Kettles had one.  Unfortunately, lazy Pa Kettle (Percy Kilbride ) let all of the appliances fall into disrepair and Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main ) ended up using the dishwasher to wash clothes by hand on a washboard.  The Kettle kitchen also contained a deep freezer that had ice cream frozen so solid that Ma needed an axe to break it apart.  Foot pedals operated the hands free sink, but Pa still managed to get himself splashed.

The most innovative appliance was the Infra-ray oven, probably intended to be some sort of an early microwave oven, it was supposed to cook food in seconds; and it incinerated Ma’s suckling pig roast.

This SketchUp model is still in development.  The period electric stove and a number of props are still needed to complete the picture.