KitchenAid Stand-Up Stand Mixers is 100 Years Old

That legendary stand mixer got its start in 1908 when Herbert Johnston, a Hobart engineer and one of the company’s founders, was watching a baker mixing dough by hand and believed there was a better way to mechanically perform that tiresome task. His creation, which received U.S. patent number 1,264,128 on April 23, 1918, was labeled simply as a “Mixing Machine.” He shared credit for the invention with Thomas F. Rataiczak.

As the story goes, Hobart Manufacturing Company was testing a new product for home use in 1918. Based in Troy, Ohio, the maker of commercial foodservice equipment wanted to break into the retail market with a smaller version of its “food preparer”—an 80-quart stand mixer it produced and sold to professional bakeries. When company executives asked a housewife what she thought of the product, she reportedly replied, “I don’t care what you call it, it’s the best kitchen aid I’ve ever had.”

And so was born the KitchenAid, which started making its way into homes across America the following year. The stand-up brand of stand mixers marks its 100th anniversary this year and is now considered the iconic staple for what a well-furnished kitchen should include.

A rather famous KitchenAid is featured in one of the exhibits at the Smithsonian museum. This particular unit was seen by millions of people when it occupied a prominent position in Julia Child’s kitchen, where she taped “The French Chef” and other television series. Child’s beloved KitchenAid is still on display in her kitchen ... In 2001, the Smithsonian packed up her workplace—butcher block, stockpots and stand mixer—and then reassembled it at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

Full article at:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/100-years-kitchenaid-has-been-stand-brand-stand-mixers-180972838/#aZ3iuSBKxZLCcXb5.99