‘It’s very hard to get spare parts’: London museum ‘retires’ treasure-trove gallery of household gadgets

Science Museum’s Secret Life of the Home collection, including tea-making machines, early microwave cookers, gramophones and the first flushing toilets will close on 2 June

They changed our parents’ and grandparents’ lives by using technology to tackle the curse of household drudgery. Thanks to the vacuum cleaner, fridge, washing machine and microwave, the lives of householders were transformed in a few generations.

But now the UK’s principal museum collection of domestic devices – from horse-drawn vacuum cleaners to pop-up toasters – is set to close. On 2 June, London’s Science Museum will permanently shut its gallery Secret Life of the Home, a 29-year-old treasure trove of household gadgets that range from early microwaves to the first flushing toilets.