The Honeywell Kitchen Computer, famously advertised with the quip, “If she can only cook as well as Honeywell can compute,” was a bold but impractical attempt to bring computing power into the home in 1969.
Long before personal computers became a staple of modern life, the idea of owning a computer seemed baffling to most people. The proposed answer to this question was surprisingly simple: to store recipes.
Marketed by Neiman Marcus as part of its annual collection of extravagant gift ideas, the Honeywell Kitchen Computer—formally known as the H316 Pedestal model—carried an astronomical price tag of $10,600, equivalent to about $85,000 in 2024 and weighed over 100 pounds (over 45 kg).
At its core, the Kitchen Computer was a 16-bit minicomputer from Honeywell’s Series 16 lineup, based on the DDP-116 design.
Its technical specifications included 4KB of magnetic memory, expandable to 16KB, and a system clock running at 2.5 MHz. Powering this high-tech marvel required 475 watts of electricity.
Regardless of these advanced features, the machine’s functionality was limited to pre-programmed recipes and basic calculations for meal planning or checkbook balancing.
However, the computer’s user interface was a significant barrier. Operating the device required completing a two-week programming course to master its toggle-switch inputs and binary-light outputs.
For the average housewife of the era—who was the marketing focus—this level of technical expertise was impractical.
Adding to its domestic rebranding, the pedestal’s writing surface was promoted as a built-in cutting board, and its software came pre-loaded with a handful of recipes. The Honeywell Kitchen Computer became a symbol of misplaced ambition.
No evidence has been found that any Honeywell Kitchen Computers were ever sold, though Honeywell did sell a small number (less than 20) pedestal computers outside of the Neiman Marcus branding.
The full text of the Neiman-Marcus Advertisement reads:
If she can only cook as well as Honeywell can compute. Her souffles are supreme, her meal planning a challenge? She’s what the Honeywell people had in mind when they devised our Kitchen Computer.
She’ll learn to program it with a cross-reference to her favorite recipes by N-M’s own Helen Corbitt. Then by simply pushing a few buttons obtain a complete menu organized around the entree.
And if she pales at reckoning her lunch tabs, she can program it to balance the family checkbook. 84A 10,600.00 complete with two week programming course.
84B Fed with Corbitt data: the original Helen Corbitt cookbook with over 1,000 recipes 5.00 (.75) 84C Her Potluck, 375 of our famed Zodiac restaurant’s best kept secret recipes 3.95 (.75) Corbitt Epicure 84D Her Tabard Apron, one-size, ours alone by Clairdon House, multi-pastel provincial cotton 26.00 (.90) Trophy Room
Although a fantasy gift, the Kitchen Computer represented the first time a computer was offered as a consumer product.
This ad from 1969 for a “Honeywell Kitchen Computer” and a two week course for $10,600.
(Photo credit: Honeywell Catalogue / Upscaled and enhanced by RHP / Wikimedia Commons).