Back in the '50's, the Frigidaire appliance company commissioned Anchor Hocking to create an eight-ounce glass for them featuring their "Decorator Colors". The promotional piece served a dual purpose: marked in one-ounce increments, it could be used as a handy measuring cup and splashed in the most fashinable appliacnce colors of the day: sunny yelloy, mayfair pink and turquoise, it could stir the desire of consumers to replace their dreary white refrigerator with a nappy, happy new one from Frigidaire.
Fifty years later, mid century optimism seems to have given way to 21st century cynicism. Over the last decade, kitchen design has gotten "serious" taking a 180 degree turn away from the vibrant days of yore.