Raviliya Kadyrova and Ilmira Delmuhametova
Some of the most important changes in quality of life are so commonplace that we stop noticing them.
Turn on the washing machine.
Open the refrigerator.
Set the air conditioner.
Heat something in the microwave.
Vacuum the carpet.
Watch television.
None of these actions feels remarkable.
But consider a household in the first years of independence.
Many of today’s commonplace domestic appliances were either unavailable to the average household, relatively difficult to obtain, considerably more expensive in relation to incomes, or simply not part of everyday domestic life.
The household appliance revolution has changed something more valuable than the appearance of the home.
It has changed time.
A washing machine does not merely wash clothes. It eliminates hours of manual work.
A vacuum cleaner does not simply remove dust. It reduces the physical effort required to maintain a home.
A microwave oven does not merely heat food. It changes how quickly a meal can be prepared.
An air conditioner does not simply cool a room. In a country with extremely hot summers, it changes the experience of living and working indoors.
The importance of household appliances is therefore easy to underestimate because their effect is measured not in tonnes of production but in minutes and hours returned to people’s lives.
There has also been a major expansion in the range of products available.
Modern retail outlets offer washing machines, refrigerators, freezers, ovens, cookers, microwaves, vacuum cleaners, televisions, air conditioners and other household equipment from different manufacturers and at different price points.
The consumer is no longer simply looking for a refrigerator.
There are questions of size, energy efficiency, design, capacity and features.
The same is true of washing machines. Consumers can choose different capacities, programmes and technologies.
That is consumer choice in its most practical form.
And it is worth remembering how extraordinary that choice would have appeared to an earlier generation.
There is another important development: domestic manufacturing.
Turkmenistan has developed production of a number of household appliances, including refrigerators and other consumer goods, reducing the idea that modern household equipment must necessarily be imported.
The Aýdyň Gijeler enterprise, for example, has developed production of a range of electrical and electronic goods, while other domestic enterprises have entered the market for household appliances and consumer electronics.
This creates a particularly interesting combination: imported products broaden consumer choice while domestic manufacturers increasingly participate in meeting that demand.
The household has consequently become a place where several transformations meet.
Industrial development produces the appliances.
Electricity infrastructure makes their use possible.
Retail networks make them accessible.
Household purchasing power creates demand.
And changing lifestyles create the desire for them.
The final result is something very personal:
less time spent doing chores.
That may be one of the most underappreciated measures of development.
Economic statistics can tell us that productivity has increased.
The washing machine tells us where some of that productivity ends up.
It ends up with a mother who does not have to spend an afternoon washing clothes by hand.
It ends up with a family that can preserve food for longer.
It ends up with a person returning from work to a cool room during a hot summer.
It ends up with a household that can prepare dinner in minutes rather than spending much longer doing so.
This is why household appliances deserve a place in a series about quality of life.
They are not glamorous.
They are not symbols of national achievement.
They are simply useful.
And perhaps that is precisely the point.
One of the best signs of progress is when something that once seemed like a luxury becomes so ordinary that nobody thinks twice about using it. /// nCa, 10 September 2026