This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

After World War I, in Frankfurt, Germany, the city government was taking on a big project.

A lot of residents were in dire straits and in the second half of the 1920s the city

built over 10,000 public housing units. It was some of the earliest modern architecture, simple, clean, and uniform. The massive housing

effort was, in many ways, eye-poppingly impressive with all new construction and sleek cutting-edge

architecture. But one room in these new housing units was far and

away the most lauded and influential and that was the kitchen.

Bets reporter and friend of the show, Katie Thornton.

Many consider this room, which has come to be known as the Frankfurt Kitchen,

to be nothing less than the first modern kitchen.

And looking at it today is a real trip because you'd be forgiven for

thinking that you're looking at an Ikea display. It's tidy, practical, and

simple. Okay. Shall we? Michelle? practical and

a simple.

a handful of these original Frankfurt kitchens still exist, mostly in museums,

and Katie went to check out one at Mia,

the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Okay, watch your step.

Thanks.

Jennifer Komar Olivares, head of exhibition planning and strategy at the museum,

led me over the stanchion and into this room to see it firsthand.

And it's honestly kind of strange to see it in a museum,

...