7 Home Features That No Longer Exist
“They don’t make them like they used to.” You’ve likely heard this common refrain or even said it yourself before. Maybe it was a grumble about modern disposability, but perhaps it was a wistful reflection on how many parts of daily life have changed.
Old houses in particular can be full of reminders of how life once looked. Over the years, some domestic features that made sense for their eras have faded away as habits, technology, and tastes evolved. Here are seven once-common house fixtures that have all but disappeared.
Laundry Chutes
For generations of kids, a laundry chute was less about dirty socks and more about fun. Who didn’t dream of sliding or sending toys down one like a secret passage? For the people in charge of the household chores, though, they were the ultimate convenience. Laundry chutes first appeared in the United States sometime around the late 1800s. They were inspired by similar systems in wealthy Victorian-era homes in England, which were an evolution of industrial chutes used for mail and coal.
While laundry chutes were initially common only in upper-class houses with staff, by the 1930s, they had become a beloved fixture of middle-class homes, too. But by the mid-1960s, their popularity was on the decline. Rising construction costs in the 1970s further pushed builders to cut out extras, and as modern washers and dryers migrated upstairs into their own rooms, the need for basement-bound chutes all but disappeared.
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Intercom Systems
They may seem quaint now compared to sophisticated smart home systems, but there was a time when built-in intercoms were a handy home tool. As postwar suburban homes grew bigger in the 1950s and ’60s, families could use them to communicate with each other from different parts of the house. A voice from the kitchen would announce dinner, remind someone to take out the trash, or check who was home — all without anyone leaving their room.
Intercoms such as the ones made by NuTone were primarily fixtures of upscale homes. They were marketed as a luxury convenience that could also broadcast AM and FM radio throughout the house. But the novelty of intercoms didn’t last long, and by the 1980s, some major intercom manufacturers such as GE had ceased making them.
Milk Doors
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a little door on the side of the house was a common sight for many American families, but it wasn’t for letters or for a pet to scurry in and out. These built-in compartments, which usually had two doors, one on the outside and one on the inside of the compartment, were for milk. This was during an era when milkmen delivered glass bottles of fresh milk to the home. The milk doors were a receptacle for new bottles, and a place for families to return empty ones and leave the milkman’s payment.
Milk delivery continued for decades throughout the U.S. But by the 1960s and ’70s, it was competing with a new reality. Suburban sprawl made delivery routes longer and more costly, supermarkets offered cheaper one-stop shopping, and refrigerators became standard in nearly every home. Daily milk delivery was no longer needed, and remaining milk doors became little more than a symbolic portal to the past.
Razor Blade Disposals
Perhaps one of the strangest bygone house features is the built-in razor-blade disposal. Prior to the early 20th century, men would need to visit the barber for a fresh shave, since doing so at home was considered too risky. But thanks to the invention of the safety razor in 1904, at-home shaving became the norm. While this was a major leap forward in convenience, the disposable razor blades were a nuisance when it came time to throw them out. Too sharp (and potentially contaminated) for the regular trash, they were instead placed into the wall.
That’s right — small openings were incorporated into the back of medicine cabinets or in the walls above sinks. Once the blades went in, they didn’t come out. They often stayed inside the walls, accumulating until someone decided to renovate somewhere down the line. By the mid-1970s, fully disposable razors with the blade built right in became popular, and these strange little slots went out of style.
Popcorn Ceilings
Love them or hate them, popcorn ceilings were once everywhere. The infamous finish first became popular in the 1950s, when postwar homes were being built quickly and cheaply to accommodate booming populations. Construction crews appreciated the ease and affordability of the ceiling style, since it doesn’t require sanding or finishing multiple layers, and homeowners liked that it hid imperfections and even provided some minor soundproofing.
Popcorn ceilings were the norm for almost 30 years — and you may even have some in your own home today — but you likely won’t see them in homes built after 1980. A major reason? The material itself. Early formulations of the spray-on mixture often contained asbestos, naturally occurring minerals that, when disturbed, can lead to serious health risks. As maligned as their reputation may be, though, anyone who grew up under popcorn ceilings still probably has a soft spot for them — right along with shag carpets and avocado-green kitchen appliances.
Phone Nooks
Before cellphones and even cordless home phones, the household telephone typically stayed in one spot. In the early 20th century, to make room for this emerging technology, homes were sometimes built with a dedicated phone nook (also called a phone niche). These small, recessed wall spaces were usually found in a hallway or near the stairs. They often had a compact shelf for a heavy rotary phone and space for a small seat to tuck underneath.
If the house wasn’t built with a phone nook, cabinets could be ordered from catalogs such as Sears and installed anywhere homeowners desired. But as phones became smaller, lighter, and eventually mobile, there was no longer a need to anchor them to a single place. Today, phone nooks that remain are often used as storage for items such as mail, keys, tchotchkes, and houseplants.
Fold-Out Ironing Boards
Ironing was once a more frequent chore for many households, so having a simple setup was helpful. Enter the fold-out ironing board: a shallow, built-in cabinet, often in the kitchen, that concealed a board that could be pulled down when needed. This space-saving design choice was common in 1920s homes, along with Murphy beds and phone nooks.
Of course, ironing boards still exist, but over time many fabrics became easier to launder and wear without wrinkling, and everyday clothing became less formal. As a result, the need for these built-in boards declined. Today, you might find that existing relics of fold-out ironing board cupboards make better spice racks, but they are nonetheless a reminder of the changing domestic habits that keep households evolving.
