There are so many ways which the kitchen has changed just in our lifetimes alone. But, go back even further and the kitchen becomes another world entirely, full of devices to process food from scratch and a whole other way of looking at things like shopping and washing. They seem quaint to us today, but make no mistake that most kitchens haven’t contained these items in decades! Here are 10 things you really don’t see in the kitchen anymore.

Butter Churns

Now its more of a science project for most families, but once upon a time butter was made in the kitchen in small batches for the absolute freshest taste possible.

Pies Cooling on the Windowsill

Now we use cooling racks in a closed kitchen, although back then baked goods were often cooled on the windowsill or on a table in front of an open window.

Crockery Pots

From flour to lard to sugar, most things were once kept in crockery pots. Stoneware bowls were also much more common than any type in many frontier homes.

Pie Safes

Another hold over from the the old days are pie safes. The perforated tin fronts let steam escape while keeping pies and baked goods out of sight of insects and children.

Shopping basket
Before shopping bags most people used baskets to collect food from the market (or eggs from the chicken coop or veggies from the garden).

The way we cook is so different than in our grandparents’ time and before. Instead of filled with appliances that processed ingredients, old time kitchens were filled with implements intended to be used on ingredients pulled straight from from the field or dairy, using minimal technology to get the job done.

Butter Bowl

Before sticks of butter or fancy glass containers were standard, most people scooped their homemade butter into a crockery bowl and covered it with a saucer or piece of cloth before placing it in the cupboard or on a shelf.

Cast Iron Muffin Pans

Much heavier than most people today would consider strictly necessary for making muffins, cast iron muffin pans have nearly gone extinct. The corn-shaped pans are especially cute and are often considered a collector’s item.

Hearth Cooking Tools

Using a fireplace to prepare food meant a whole host of specialized equipment to turn and remove food safely, like a spit for roasting meat or a salamander for turning baked goods.

Towel Drying Racks

Long before paper towels, cloth towels were in the kitchen on a daily basis. A small rack to dry them on only made sense as you can imagine how many were used in a day! The one above is hanging near the stove, probably to help the towels dry off quicker to be reused again.

Washtub Instead of a Sink

Before each kitchen had a sink, the wash tub or basin was the only place to wash your dishes. It was probably also where you washed much of your food and where dirty dishes were stacked before wash time.