• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.693-707
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• 2005

This study investigates the over time changes in the ownership of kitchen items, electric or non-electric, and examines the patterns of the usage and ownership of the items after categorizing them as followings: cooking appliances, kitchen appliances directly related to storing food, food processing kitchen items, and dining items. The research findings are that refrigerators and rice cookers, among the electric items, had spread to almost every households by 1990s and at the same time about thirty non-electric kitchen items had been used. Refrigerators had been used by more than 100% of the households by 2000, and on top of that, twenty or more electric kitchen items such as Kimchi fridge and freezer had been used. In the case of non-electric kitchen items, approximately 50 to 70 sorts of them are used, which indicates an increase than in 1990s. Rice cookers and gas stoves, among cooking appliances, are recognized as the essential item, and they are actually frequently-used items. As to kitchen appliances related to storing food, each household owns one of the refrigerators and Kimchi fridges, and again they are both the frequently-used. As far as food processing kitchen items are concerned, each household owns at least one or more blenders and hand blenders, six or more knives, and five or more pans. Each household owns seventeen or more rice bowls and soup bowls and twenty-four or more plates. Small plates are more frequently used than large ones.