Great usability isn't just for software and websites. In the early 20th century, an Indiana furniture company designed a kitchen cabinet that employs the best practices of what today we term "usability"—the ease, elegance, and clarity with which products are designed for human use.

Some people love to visit antique stores and dream of stumbling upon hidden treasure. I'm not one of them. Nevertheless on a recent weekend trip to Lancaster County, PA, my husband and I found ourselves browsing a massive indoor antiques market and sure enough, we stumbled on a gem—not hidden, but in plain sight.

Being a fan of all things food-related, I was immediately intrigued by the nicely restored kitchen cabinet and walked up to take a closer look. My husband recognized it immediately—"Oh, a Hoosier Cabinet!" He knows a lot of inexplicable things and actually lived in Indiana for many years, but I was still impressed.

I was even more impressed by the cabinet itself, a terrific example of great usability built almost a century before the term was invented—and a perfect example of the principles of human-centered design.

Full view of the Hoosier Cabinet:

1. Design for the user

Hoosier has clearly understood that women working at home wear a lot of hats. Mom's not just the cook, she's the buyer and the project manager, too. Her workspace needs to be organized, efficient, and a pleasure to use day in and day out.

2. Don't make me think reach

Commonly used items are placed front and center. The large hoppers for flour and sugar (with built-in sifters!) indicate these were the most heavily used ingredients in the kitchen. A rotating jar holder, mounted on the underside of the shelf to save space, makes spices and condiments easy to find. You can't see it, but there's a pull-out shelf in the bottom compartment with a wire rack under it just tall enough to store a wooden cutting board or serving trays.

Hoppers, rolling pin storage, and condiment carousel:

3. Modular & easy to update

Reprintable cards with recipes, cooking times, measurement conversions, and helpful tips are tacked inside the doors. Not only is this a great use of space and a friendly feature for cooks, but the cards are cheap and easy to replace when they get dirty or out of date.

Reprintable cards with helpful hints for the cook:

4. No wasted real estate

Clever storage features make use of all three dimensions: The hoppers and jars holder are mounted from the top, leaving space for bowls underneath; the rolling pin has its own raised cradle to keep it stationary; the bottom cabinet contains a sliding shelf so items don't get lost at the back. Even the worktop is adjustable: The top half of the cabinet sits on rails so it can slide back to create a deeper counter, as needed. Original cabinets came on casters so the whole thing could be easily rolled around the kitchen.

5. Discoverable & adaptable

Every features is apparent to the user and easy to discover. Many features have multiple functions—for example, the spring in the overhead door can hold open a cookbook or store receipts and shopping lists. I'm sure resourceful cooks found clever adaptations the designers never anticipated.

6. High resolution creates delight

So many features packed so cleverly into a small space can't help but delight the user. A new cabinet freshly stocked with condiments, flour, sugar, and mixing bowls must have felt like a craftswoman's toolbox, full of creative possibility.

The design was so widely imitated by companies such as Sears and Wards, that the brand name became generic. To this day, they're popular with antique dealers and are still used in kitchens around the country as supplemental storage.

"Hoosier Cabinet: The kitchen cabinet that saves miles of steps"

[ Kim Bieler wrote this article and she welcomes your comments. ]