Ever wonder why your grandmother called her refrigerator an "icebox"? A YouTube video explores historic home features that have disappeared from modern architecture, revealing the clever solutions our ancestors used for everyday living. From dumbwaiters that transported items between floors to milk doors where deliverymen left fresh bottles, these features show how homes functioned differently from today.
The term "icebox" literally describes early refrigerators that required large blocks of ice at the bottom and top to maintain cold temperatures. Homeowners had to replace melted ice regularly. Other lost features include butler's pantries for food preparation, transom windows for ventilation, coal chutes for heating fuel delivery, picture rails for hanging artwork, knob and tube wiring, wash basins, and servant quarters that reflected the social structures of their era.
While some obsolete features, like ice-dependent food cooling, aren't missed, others, like dumbwaiters, seem practical for today's multi-story homes.
See also: I finally grew enough strawberries to make ice cream
