When did microwaves become affordable?

After microwave ovens became affordable for residential use in the late 1970s, their use spread into commercial and residential kitchens around the world, and prices fell rapidly during the 1980s.

The FDA reiterates that food completely covered in aluminum foil should not be put in the microwave here The electric fields in microwaves cause charges to flow through metal. Thin pieces of metal like aluminum foil are overwhelmed by these currents, causing them to heat up so quickly that they can ignite.

Trash compactors, cooking centers, side-by-side refrigerators and dishwashers were the most memorable large appliances of the era. Countertop accessories included crockery cookers, 16-speed blenders, toaster ovens, microwave ovens and food processors.

Judged by changes in the consumer-price index, what $100 bought in 1975 takes about $354 to buy today. So that six-digit calculator would today cost about $49. Sears lowest-priced microwave oven in 1975 would today set you back $672.

It was almost 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) tall, weighed 340 kilograms (750 lb) and cost about US$5,000 ($51,408 in today’s dollars) each. It consumed 3 kilowatts, about three times as much as today’s microwave ovens, and was water-cooled.

It cost about $3,200 today. Consumer interest in microwave ovens grew. In the United States, about 40,000 units were sold in 1970.

The microwave goes mainstream In 1967, after nearly 20 years of selling the devices to commercial establishments rather than households, Raytheon finally developed something much closer to the countertop model found in kitchens across America today. The first household microwaves were heavily marketed to women.

In 1970, 40,000 microwave ovens were sold in the US, and by 1975 there were 1 million, according to research from Panasonic. In the UK they also took off in the 1970s thanks to the rise of ready-meals – today 56% of us are still using microwaves to heat up our ready-made meals.