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The arrival of widespread domestic electricity in rural Ireland was spread over two decades in the 1950s and 1960s, where the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) rolled out an electrical grid across the State. This energy transition was warmly welcomed by the women of rural Ireland, particularly for the relief it afforded for the continual drudgery of cooking on turf and coal fires, washing and cleaning by hand and using well or hand-pumped water. The poor economic situation of the state in the 1950s meant that only a restricted range of appliances were sold by the ESB or commercial shops, but initial fears about electricity were overcome by ESB advertising, however it made a real physical difference to women’s lives in a country with very prescribed and restricted social roles available to women. Coming from the discipline of design history, this article will look at the tangible evidence of appliances and kitchens changed by this energy transition. It will make use of oral history testimony gathered from a group of older women who were rural housewives in 1950s and 1960s Ireland, using this to consider the multi-layered meanings and emotions associated with these domestic electrical appliances, as well as considering what we can learn from women who have lived through a major energy transition.