Summary

Gas, KFB, Supreme, metal and white enamel stove of elongated rectangular form on 4 legs. It is constructed of a metal frame with white enamel panels. It was made by KFB in Australia.

Solid fuel stoves continued to be manufactured for the Australian consumer throughout the early decades of the 20th century. In urban areas solid fuel was eventually replaced by gas or electricity.

Access to power supplies impacted significantly upon the market for gas and electric stoves. Though cooking in electric ovens was advertised from the outset as 'cleaner and more efficient', in the 1920s only 34% of all houses in Victoria were wired for electricity. Gas was available to many more Australian homes and consequently gas stoves, which were cheaper to purchase, cheaper to run, and required no installation fee, sold in greater numbers than electric stoves.

In the early 1920s, electric stoves were being imported into Australia. High tariffs meant these stoves were incredibly expensive; coupled with installation and running costs, it is not surprising that in 1923, only 0.1% of the population owned an electric stove. Despite the fact that over 80% of homes in Australia were wired for electricity by 1947, an estimate of electric stove ownership for 1955 indicates take up to be low: 36% of homes in Brisbane, 25% in Sydney and 24% in Melbourne. (Dingle 1998)

Physical Description

Metal and white enamel stove with side door and 4 legs.

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