Credited to Finland. Earlier designs existed elsewhere: an American patent application of 1876, a dish rack above the sink shown by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in Germany in 1926, and United States patents of 1929 and 1932. Gebhard's cabinet was never patented. Finland's claim rests on her 1944 to 1945 design, which was manufactured from 1945 and became the standard form.
How it began
Maiju Gebhard (1896 to 1986) led household work at the Finnish Work Efficiency Institute, Työtehoseura. She had calculated that a Finnish woman spent 30,450 hours of her life washing dishes. In her 1930 handbook for smallholders she had already proposed a rack for drying dishes on the wall above the dishwashing table. The cabinet itself was developed under her leadership in 1944 and 1945. She started from a tabletop drying rack used by Swedish homemakers.
How it works
Gebhard's idea was to put the rack behind cabinet doors above the sink, so that dishes could be placed there still wet and the water would drip straight into the sink. She saw that the bottom of the cabinet had to be open so that air could circulate and dry the dishes. The first cabinets were entirely of wood, with slats at the bottom for plates and racks above for glasses, cups and pots.
How it spread
Production began in 1945 at Työtehoseura's workshops in Vilppula, in two widths, 135 cm and 100 cm, and the institute also sold blueprints. Enso-Gutzeit began large-scale industrial production in 1948. Plastic-coated wire shelves replaced wooden slats in 1954, and cabinet dimensions were standardized in 1982. In 1972 an Israeli engineer, Nathan Manor, patented a related retractable tray assembly.
Where it stands today
Dish drying cabinets have become a standard fitting in virtually every Finnish home. Since the late 1990s the racks have been made of stainless or powder-coated steel. Gebhard estimated that the cabinet halved the time spent on dishes. Her stated motive was to save women time and effort in housework.
