At her school interview, my daughter was asked to name the most important technology of the modern age. I’m proud to say she answered ‘sewerage’. Some historians now claim the washing machine was, in economic terms, a far more revolutionary innovation than the internet or the mobile phone: it was this which enabled women to enter the workforce.
Yet in the past 30 years, aside from the microwave, progress in home appliances seems slow. Dyson’s washing machine went nowhere. In some ways this kind of innovation is difficult: few people replace their washing machine every two years as they do their mobile phones.
In the kitchen, counter space is limited; many people have had disappointing experiences with nine-day wonders such as yoghurt or ice-cream makers which, once consigned to gadget purgatory at the back of the cupboard, leave their owners cynical about such novelties.
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