Improving on the Simple Pleasures of Domestic Bliss : Consumers: Scented brooms, bruise-free bananas, organized closets are dreams that drive the $84-billion American housewares business.

What this country needs is a good electric lettuce dryer.

In an economy stalled in low gear, close to 50,000 housewares manufacturers and retailers convened in Chicago recently for their annual trade show.

Their aim is to give consumers a few thousand new reasons to spend their way out of the recession.

Take Mal Pease, an executive with appliance manufacturer West Bend. Pease was standing behind a counter demonstrating the new West Bend Electric Salad Spinner, which is intended to replace those hand-cranked salad spinners.

Pease said a neighbor inspired the invention.

“She puts her lettuce in the washing machine, turns on the spin cycle and then lets it dry.”

Better salads, bruise-free bananas, scented brooms, slicker jar openers, more organized closets--these are the dreams that drive the $84-billion American housewares business.

When the housewares buyers gather to see what’s new, they are bombarded by the sublime to the ridiculous--the latest coffee maker and most advanced automatic hot dog cooker, doggie flea wipes and fake fur aprons.

The current obsession with healthier nutritional habits has led to the development of vegetable steamers and diet drink mixers and juicers.

There were more health-care items, a nod to an aging population. There were bins and containers of all shapes and sizes and colors to address the need for organizing everything from garbage to wrapping paper to toys to socks.

Appliance manufacturers introduced products to tempt consumers. “All of our products are about convenience,” said Gael Simonson, a marketing expert with Black & Decker.

The housewares business was flat or down a bit last year for most of the 2,000 manufacturers who exhibited at the show. Many of them have watched as bankruptcies and closings of retail stories eroded their customer base. But industry executives are bravely optimistic.

“Housewares are a smaller-ticket item, and when the economy is bad the consumer still buys household basics and may even refurbish with small housewares items as a psychological lift,” said Thomas Conley, executive director of the National Housewares Manufacturers Assn., which sponsored the show. So what’s out there?

“Eurostyle” is moving from the living rooms of the ‘80s to the kitchens and broom closets of the ‘90s.

The clean European aesthetic showed up in the toaster department. Forget toasters in almond or with roosters on them. Black & Decker’s Art Deco-like Metropolitan toaster has aerodynamic styling that is reminiscent of the latest-model cars.

Made of smooth white plastic that remains cool to the touch, the Metropolitan is designed to toast chubby bagels and extra-wide English muffins.

Black & Decker’s Handy Steamer, for vegetables or rice, has the same clean lines. It has a clear top, a timer that can turn it off and a special container to save the vegetable juices for later use.

Rubbermaid’s plastics are turning up all over the house. The company has created Wrap ‘N Craft storage boxes with trays inside to store gift wrapping supplies and Tote Lockers in neon colors to hold college students’ belongings.

In the products for older Americans department, OXO Good Grips continued its line of ergonomic and user-friendly kitchen gadgets with comfortable, grooved flexible handles.

Then there was the strange banana trend. Banana Hang Ups by Company’s Coming are oak stands that are supposed to provide a convenient place to hang your banana bunch and allow for more air circulation for better ripening.

Banana Bill, a retired Superior Court judge from Southern California, created the Chiquita Banana Slicer, a yellow plastic banana-shaped item that needs no further explanation.