SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Nearly a century ago, the future was all but certain, including the space-age homes we would come to live in one day. As decades have passed, how close have we come to the new-age existence that our ancestors once imagined?

Newspapers were jam-packed with next-generation ideas of what our “later lifestyles” would look like.

One feature in a Sunday edition of the Salt Lake Tribune from the 1930s went so far as to proclaim: “The Home of Tomorrow Is Here Today!”

Even during the 1940s, a modern kitchen was full of innovation, including food storage bins built into the wall that could feed directly into boiling water. It was a novel idea for the day — that is until steam would rust the bins, making everything inside look and taste like paste.

Some ideas were even advertised by our station, like a 1948 promotion for a gas stovetop with a built-in television, giving homeowners the option to “look while you cook.”

Decades later, some commercials were already looking to 1999 for its dreams of the future. By then, it was expected that we would have out-of-this-world careers from the comfort of home, even as we made plans to colonize Mars.

However, some ideas for the future weren’t so farfetched, such as computers, email, adaptive mattresses, and big-screen televisions.

While we may not have fully lived up to the “Homes of Tomorrow” by the 21st century, there’s still plenty to show for our past and even more left to discover in our future.