Thanks to Lillian Moller Gilbreth’s inventions in the 1920s, today’s modern kitchen is designed to minimize the number of steps needed to complete common tasks. She patented inventions like the first step pedal trash can and shelves for refrigerator doors. Her crowning and most influential achievement came in the form of “Gilbreth’s Kitchen Practical,” unveiled at the 1929 Women’s Exposition. By the 1940s, it was known as the “kitchen triangle,” and the principle is still in use today.
