| By :
Mark Etinger
Founded in 1971, Cuisinart is a brand of kitchen appliances and one of the first to garner popularity in the United States. The company was founded by Carl Sontheimer nearly 40 years ago, initially finding its success through its food processor of the same name. Sontheimer was born in New York City in 1914. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received an engineering degree. While attending MIT, Sontheimer became fascinated with microwave radiation technology, while simultaneously allegedly being devastated by the atrocious food served at his fraternity. After graduating from MIT, Sontheimer invented a series of technical devices, totaling 47 patented items. His most successful was a microwave direction finger, which was eventually used by NASA in missions to the moon. Before 1970, Sontheimer had started, flourished with, and subsequently sold a series of electronics and engineering companies. Despite this success, Sontheimer was constantly searching for a new project, this time hoping to combine his business savvy with his lifelong passion for cooking. He returned to France, where he had spent most of his childhood, and discovered a new kitchen appliance that web.mit.edu would describe as an “elaborate industrial blender.” “That machine game me the horrors,” Sontheimer later stated. “It was totally unsafe.” Despite the clear danger, Sontheimer and his wife, Shirley, quickly realized this invention could be modified to work well as a home kitchen appliance. Sontheimer quickly acquired the rights to the invention, and after months of modifications, the “Cuisinart” was ready for the kitchen. After a few years, the public realized the advantage of this new kitchen appliance. Never before had housewares been able to provide cutting, chopping, grating and blending in such a convenient and easy-to-use fashion. As for the future, Sontheimer only envisioned new kitchen appliances as getting more compact. “The population will grow; land will not,” he said. “There will be less living space, and kitchens will have to grow smaller. There will also be less storage space and less energy available per person. All ovens will be convection ovens; food processors will become more capable.” Sontheimer sold the Cuisinart Company for $42 million in 1987. Without their founder, the corporation would fail and was forced to file for bankruptcy less than two years later. Eventually, Cuisinart would be bought by the Conair Corporation, which still owns the discount kitchen appliances brand today. Meanwhile, Sontheimer would return to his passion for cuisine, producing two cookbooks as well as a bimonthly magazine, entitled The Pleasures of Cooking. He passed away in March of 1998, at the age of 83. Today, Cuisinart had hundreds of different cooking products, ranging from countertop cooking appliances to water filtration systems. Of course, they still and will seemingly always have a series of different Food Processors.
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