I can recall visiting my grandparents on their farm when I was a young child. Seems to me that the only kitchen appliances they had were a range, an electric toaster, and a refrigerator/freezer. Their smaller appliances were an electric mixer and a blender.
My grandmother seemed to spend most of her day in the kitchen, cooking the meals and canning fruits and vegetables while my grandfather tended the animals and crops.
Seems to me that’s all anyone that I knew had in the way of kitchen appliances. If you wanted coffee, it was percolated in a pot on the stove-top. If you wanted to open a can, you used a manual can opener. The day’s garbage was fed to the pets, or thrown in the garbage can.
I look around my kitchen today and see my range, refrigerator/freezer, two microwave ovens, a bread machine, an electric coffeepot, a food processor, three slow-cookers, a George Forman-type grill, an automatic dishwasher, a hands-free battery operated can opener, a blender, an electric mixer, an electric waffle maker, and a toaster oven. (Note: some of these are tucked away in kitchen cupboards.) I COULD have, but don’t want, a trash compactor and a garbage disposal.
I’m really glad that technological advances have provided for all of these conveniences. I don’t think I would have the time or energy to live the way my grandparents did!