Using your research, provide a brief history of the development of kitchen equipment. Kitchens have been around since people started cooking with stoves, which was around 221 B. C. Stoves fired by wood and charcoal emerged at that time. Up through the Middle Ages, only wealthy people could afford separate cooking areas within their homes. Larger homes and wealthy families typically had the kitchen area separate from the main building to prevent fires from destroying their homes. Around the late nineteenth century, gas stoves became popular. Thereafter, more people had a safe cooking option inside the home.

Around the mid-twentieth century, kitchens with built-in, compact cabinets providing space for storage and cooking became available. Efficient water pipes and powered kitchen equipment, such as electric stoves, began to be used in commercial kitchens.

The invention of the first refrigerator was in 1834. However, commercial refrigerated equipment was not widely used until the mid-1900s. Commercial kitchens now may have walk-in refrigerated units and reach-in or roll-in refrigerators. Walk-in refrigerated units are like a room, and they have compartments to hold food items needed for production or service.