Sears shipped the components for 49,500 “kit-houses” in 15 years, providing middle-class Americans with good residential design at affordable prices. Buyers selected their dream house from the scores of models presented in Sears’ “Honor Bilt” catalogs. For historians, details of house design, such as the breakfast nook, and slogans, such as “Where women spend 2/3 of every day should be modern and bright,” are important records of American domestic life.
