The History of the Refrigerator

Refrigerators are often something we take for granted. Each day, we bring home groceries expecting this useful kitchen appliance to keep it cool or frozen. Yet, the majority of us don’t give a moment’s thought of how people did it back before times of electricity when they didn’t have such a luxury. Consider for a moment, the Egyptians around 500 B.C., who made ice by setting them out at night in wet pots. It was work to keep those pots wet in order to succeed at their task.

As time progressed, ice was often collected by servants in the 18th century. It was common for the English to place it in icehouses, where ice was then was wrapped in salt, sheets of flannel and then stored still summer. These ice houses were ahead of their time with double-insulated walls and double doors that trapped warm air from coming in.

People then moved onto using ice boxes, which harvested and distributed ice for businesses and homes. This was the first documented time that ice was used to refrigerate food, and was around the early 19th century. These ice boxes, usually wooden boxes lined with tin or zinc, were insulated with cork, sawdust or seaweed. This made it possible to keep the food from spoiling and pioneers knew it left them room for innovation.

In the early 1800s, a Londoner named Michael Farady discovered a way to liquify ammonia to cause it to cool. This is the basis of most refrigerators today. In short, most cooling systems take a gas and release it into a liquid, which then turns to heat—and back to a gas. This is what happens in your refrigerator and even your air conditioner. While the ammonia worked well back in the day, it was highly toxic and is not still used today.

When warm winters caused a shortage of ice, pioneers had to look for look for mechanical options that produced its own ice. Commercial refrigeration, what we know it as today, was just starting to be explored. In fact, it was around 1911 that the first commercial refrigerator arrived in Fort Wayne, Indiana and was invented by a French monk. By 1916, over 2 dozen refrigerator models were available to Americans.

Yet, it wouldn’t be until the 1920s or 1930s that Americans would get introduced to a freezer as part of their refrigerator. Refrigerators with ice compartments began to show up in stores. Now people could make their ice from tap water using ice trays. Back then, a regular refrigerator cost around $700. Today, you can expect to pay $1100—on the low end of the price range.

While ice might have been wonderful, it wasn’t until the 1950s or 1960s when automatic defrost or ice makers arrived. Now, families didn’t have to make their ice at all. The appliance was self-serving to them. This was efficient and made making meals much easier and quicker. Models began to fly into the markets as people kept buying them and they are still as popular today.

One of the most notable inventors of the refrigerators was Albert Einstein, who would win awards today for his scientific thinking. He was ahead of his time as he invented a cleaner, greener refrigerator and reduces global warming. Many refrigerators are made reflecting this eco-friendly style today, which makes them so popular.

It’s hard to imagine life without ice cream, cottage cheese, milk or anything else. It’s also hard to imagine how long refrigerators have actually been around—nearly 150 years, if not more. It would be a haul to go to the grocer every day to get fresh meats or not have anywhere to store leftovers. The next time you open your refrigerator, think about someone in the 1920s who is just discovering how to make ice or someone in the 1800s who is just inventing the appliance you have learned to love. It will have you appreciating it a bit more.