Prior to the arrival of European colonists to America, Native Americans had cooked big meals on open fires or hot stones. The colonists introduced a more permanent hearth in the kitchen. Early colonists who were in New England, lived in small farmhouses. The kitchen took pride and place of the house, with an eight to ten foot wide medieval style fireplace. The housewife lit fires using a tinder box, baked bread from home grown grain ground at a mill and preserving of food was a popular practice.

The eighteenth century saw improvements to the kitchen. Fireplaces were reduced in size and chimneys were given more efficient flues. Iron swinging cranes held heavy iron pots over the fire. Brick baking ovens equipped with iron doors were introduced. Adjacent to the kitchen, a smokehouse, a root cellar and an ice house (which was used to chill milk in the dairy for cheese and for butter making), and a poultry yard started emerging. Pewter plates and mugs were replaced by earthenware vessels. Pioneer women had to bear the brunt of hard labor, as cooking meals in primitive kitchens were the norm. However, due to the availability of servants it was not considered to be a difficult task.

As years rolled by, with fewer servants, kitchens became smaller. Women became fulltime dedicated mothers and housekeepers. Appliances were manufactured in standardized sizes. Mixers, blenders, toasters, ovens and rotisseries became the order of the day and not a luxury anymore. By the 1960s, family habits started changing. Spurred by the women's liberation movement, college-educated women seized the chance to become career women and have a family. Meals were no longer formal as in the past, with the whole family around the table at specific meal times, but became casual and help yourself from the well stocked fridge routines. When weather permitted, meat was often cooked outdoors on a charcoal grill. Broilers that were earlier confined to the bottom of the oven were relocated to the top to lessen stooping. Life was made much easier, as electric stoves now had timers and self cleaning ovens. The versatile food processor became a very useful item for chopping, slicing, grating and mixing.

Time being of essence, modern day cooking was not meal oriented but was more inclined towards cooking for several days of the week. To facilitate a quick hot meal, microwave ovens became essential for heating food.

Development of modern kitchens paved the way for modern cooking, which was all about not having to spend too much time in the kitchen making meals. There was no time to marinate food for hours. Instead, it is now possible to buy pre-marinated chicken where all you have to do is put it in the oven. Even the salads do not require fresh vegetables being cut but instead packs of salads are available at supermarkets. Due to time constraints ways and means were found to spend less time in the kitchen. Advent of ready to serve meals is the best invention for a busy household.

The downside of modern cooking is families do not get the opportunity to be able to enjoy cultural food as often as they would like to. In the process, a time would come when such cultural values will go away completely, unless measures are taken to retain these cultural gourmet specialties.

Summery: This article describes the emergence of modern cooking which runs parallel to the changes in the traditional kitchen. It also describes how newer, technologically advanced appliances were invented that provided ease of cooking and time saving abilities.