A little history

The O-Mat kitchen appliances were brought to market by the Rival Corporation of Kansas City, MO in the mid-1930's. They are still in the small appliance business, but production of the O-Mat series ceased sometime in the 1960's. Their flagship product is the Rival Crockpot ceramic slow cooker.

The first Juice-O-Mat and Ice-O-Mats entered the marketplace around 1936. The early models reflected the clean lines, glistening chrome and art-deco style of the times. Many models can still be found with their baked enamel finishes intact, showing little sign of age. The first models were free-standing, but the company designed custom wall-mounts on many of its products beginning in the late 1940's.

Rival eventually expanded the line of appliances to include can openers, vegetable shredders, meat grinders, and new design innovations throughout the life of the products. The colors and styling were always a reflection of the times, and can easily be identified by decade - the strong art-deco lines and muted colors of the 30s and 40s; the soft edges and smooth curves with bright pink, tourquise, copper and chrome finishes of the 50s; and the less aesthetic boxy 60's models in the classic Almond and Avocado colors.

In the 1950s the company also began producing electric models, the first of which was simply called the Electr-O-Matic - an electric counter-top meat slicer that would scare any OSHA inspector. There were also much rarer waffle irons and other electric utensils.

According to one person I spoke to several years ago, a flood in downtown Kansas City in the late 80's destroyed most of the company's paper archives and old wholesale catalogs which were stored in the basement of their downtown headquarters. If anyone has a copy of any of these materials, please contact me.

Image above is the back of the recipe book for the large wheel shred-o-mat showing the variety of products available. I found the broilomat on the left on ebay. I found the bean slicer in an antique store. I'm still looking for the iron, the jar opener, and the wall type juice o mat at the top left.

Update, Nov. 2001:

Earlier this year, I was in Kansas City on business and took one afternoon off to drop into Rival headquarters. They have moved from their original space to a small office on the west side of town. There's not much left. They don't even have one O-Mat on display in the lobby. The receptionist looked at me funny when I said I was a fan of their products - who gets excited about appliances? No one there even seems to know about the rich history and culture they created. I enjoyed trying to educate them about the growing cult status of their products.

The company was purchased by The Holmes Group in 1999(?)and has recently expanded their line to include rice cookers, indoor grills, irons, and various other appliances including a revamped Electr-O-Matic food slicer under a different name. I was at least glad to see that. Perhaps I can convince them to reprise the famous name. Information on the Holmes Group website tells of a large manufacturing facility in China, where I must presume most items are built.

The one person I spoke with at the company in Kansas City informed me that all of the business assets, including marketing materials and archives had been moved to the parent company headquarters in Milford, MA as part of the sale. She also explained there had been enormous downsizing and an almost complete turnover of the workforce over the last few years. Unfortunately, I don't see myself ever getting to Milford in person. (I live on the other coast near Portland, Oregon.)

I will try once again in the near future to contact corporate headquarters and see what can be learned of the history of Rival. The company has been unresponsive to my letters, but friendly when I have telephoned and visited in person. In the meantime, stay tuned, please take a picture of your favorite O-Mat and add it to our site. Let's all help to preserve these wonderful, functional designs. I would especially like to hear your stories and see any of the rare electric items bearing the O-Mat moniker.

This is the history to the best of my knowledge. Your input is appreciated.

Wanted:

I would like to find out more about these beautiful products, and in particular, the people that designed them. I would also like to locate any wholesale or retail catalogs featuring drawings or pictures of these products to use for identification and dating purposes.

Comments, questions, corrections should be sent to the Web-O-Master.