What is this 1950s British kitchen gadget?
Sherri read this Time Warp Wives post from last year and asks, “What is the gizmo above the stove??” Does anyone know? How about some wild and wacky guesses? 
Meanwhile, remember the vintage “Teasmade” – as in ‘tea is made’ combo alarm clock, radio, and tea maker that I spotted on ebay last year? tea hee, those wacky brits.
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Comments
33
Maybe a sandwich press, like a panini maker, or a waffle maker?
A bread warmer??? Looks neat!
But what are those metal hanger-hooks protruding from the device for??
I believe it is a “griller” (broiler).
is it a fluorescent light and a tea towel rack? that or an over the stove washing machine ringer. lol
I know exactly what it is. And I’m constantly amazed that Americans don’t have them. It’s a grill of course! I mean, how else are you supposed to cook your fish fingers, toast your crumpets or get a nicely browned topping on your shepherd’s pie?
And they’re not confined to retro 1950s homes. We still have ‘em.
It’s a broiler, used to grill sausages, bacon, toast, tomatoes and the like…Very useful to have the thing at eye level so that little fires can be quickly spotted and put out! Still very much a part of British cookers (stoves) in the ’70s and ’80s when I grew up in the UK.
okay, british ladies, what are those metal arms for? the arms protruding forward from the griller? and – can you give me some links to show these in modern day? like, someone who sells them?
Well, Pam, these days they tend to be integrated into the cooker (above the oven).
http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1051842342.1252258188@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdfadeiffdfhegcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&sku=104255
You can still get ’salamander’s’ (big kick-ass grills for professional kitchens. A la http://www.ukequipmentdirect.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=395
No idea what the ‘protuberances’ are. Perhaps hangers for implements?
Wow, Amy, I like those British appliances. That oven – ooooooh. So, why do the British like their toasted-everythings?
Pam, I’d say the “arms” are actually “legs” with handles for placing the lil’ cooker over a tray when not wall mounted.
Um, dunno. That’s just how we are! I suppose, in the past, most less well-off people cooked over a fire, our eating habits adapted accordingly and it just, well, stuck. I wasn’t aware that grills were peculiar to Britain until I lived with international students ( who regularly had to be advised NOT to close the grill door, lest the contents caught fire!).
I come to this discussion late, but Amy seems to have wrapped it up!
I also didn’t know that grills were a British thing until stayed in an apartment in California for a few months, and I bought things to broil, I have NO IDEA what broil meant cos it kinda sounds like boil and nothing like grill ha ha!
I’m afraid I can’t tell you what the metal arms are for but I can assure you we still used grills, but as Amy said they are integrated more into the whole appliance now. I tried to find one with a grill like this but they don’t seem to make them anymore!
Hi Fiona, so….why do you think the British grill so much?
I am a tea drinker, and I feel like I just found The Promised Land. Thank you!
Also, I am a long time professional chef, and salamanders are the gourmet answer/ forerunner to the microwave. You use metal “sizzle platters” to warm up or brown anything quickly, without ruining the food like a microwave.
That is exactly what i need so i stop burning my french bread,being at eye level! The small stove reminds me of my cousins House,that has an upstairs den that has this little nook kitchen with a stove like that, and the bottom is a frig!! Her house was so cool with original stuff it gave me a headache! (trying to get her to post pics here!)
Hi Sherri, this blogging platform does not allow readers to post pictures. But if you are on flickr, you can include the url link.
We’ve seen the kind of compact kitchen you’re talking about. For example, vintage Dwyer: http://retrorenovation.com/2008/03/18/1961-stovefridgecabinetsink-todays-craigslist-find-courtesy-florida-leslie/
Dwyer still makes these setups today, and I there a few other companies with similar products. Cool, for sure.
I have a very simular cooker, it is a grill. to cook bacon and sausages, or melt cheese on a burger ect. I have the cannon gas cooker 1950’s may have to sell it and buy a new cooker which breaks my heart…as my 1940’s house only has electric cooker points…. I just may keep it and have gas put in!!!
As a Brit I can tell you those “metal hanger-hooks” were for putting plates on… they’re plate warmers. To warm your plates while you cook the food, thus keeping the food warmer after cooking than if you were to put it on cold plates. (To be honest not many people bother these days so no new cookers that I know of have them anymore). Incidentally, we’re in the process of emigrating to Canada and as a retro fanatic (like Tamara with a 1950s Cannon cooker in our 1950s kitchen) I’m depressed at the prospect of being unable to find a vintage North American cooker that I can grill stuff with! The eye-level grill is the best piece of cooking kit you can want. Healthier than frying and easy to use.
Gavin, it doesn’t look to me like those metal hanger-hooks are designed in such a way that the plates would actually stay there. Are you sure that’s the function in this particular design? As you can see I am quite tenacious in wanting to know for sure!
Yup, I’m sure they’re for plates. If you scroll down this page: http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Food/Recipes/cannon.htm
past the delicious post WWII recipes for tripe (cows stomach) and onions… you will see a similar arrangement.
At: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/stephen.johnson/steve/cook.jpg you will find a period ad for the earlier fifties version of our cooker. In this case plates are advertised as being warmed on the grill shelf or in the bottom warming drawer, but there was also a steel frame available, like the other picture (which I have been unable to locate to add to our cooker.) Obviously the advertised foods that can be grilled won’t all fit on the grill at the same time!
Previously we had a top of the range Cannon cooker dating to around 1960 which came complete with an electric attachment next to the grill which turned a spitroast rotisserie for whole chickens or a leg of lamb or such. Even better it came with an attachment that actually rotated a set of skewers for kebabs… yum! Today’s cookers are rubbish by comparison.
Thank you, Gavin!
What thrills me is the kettle with the wooden handle. I actually have one that I bought in the late 80’s in Seattle, and didn’t know they were designed or made so early. They were still making them when I bought mine, new. So maybe you can still get them.
I love the design. They are made of a very thick stainless steel and have a wide bottom. Boils water very quickly. The wooden handle stays cool. Plus the thing is just beautiful!
OK now, why don’t American stoves have such an accessory? A toaster oven just doesn’t have the style or charm of these British grills. I especially like the one in the photo with the time-warp wife.
Funnily enough I was going to mention the kettle. It’s an example of Picquot ware. A British mid-century classic actually made of aluminium (aluminum) probably due in part to the huge amount of surplus aircraft left over after WWII (My father was in the RAF then and said that there were so many that at one point they gave up trying to scrap them and actually bull-dozed many into the ground in Scotland where he was stationed!) You can get the originals on ebay or buy them new at:
http://www.picquot.co.uk/ The kettle was followed by a series of other items in the same style. IMO the new tray is not as fine looking as the original but otherwise they appear identical.
Forgot to mention that the picquot ware stuff is pretty expensive! We picked up ours second-hand.for a fraction of new prices. You can pick up some easily on: http://www.ebay.co.uk/
As to the great British eye-level grill, sadly most new UK kitchens seem no longer to have them. The standard appears to be separate hob (with irritating waist-level grill) and wall oven plus a separate microwave. Pathetic. I think many people see the cooker/grill as old-fashioned. Mid-century / Retro kitchens are as much a niche over here as anywhere…
HI all, that’s it you have convinced me, Right Gavin, I am bring my cooker with me when I move. The house has gas and it just means saving a bit of money to have the pipes put in the kitchen. What is the sence of moving into a post war house and not taking my post war cooker…. and besides I can’t cook on electric. So I shall get a second hand electric cooker and bring my gas cooker. You should ship yours Gavin, there is no way you will be able to replace it again in your lifetime. Mine I have had longer then my children, to many good memories to just get rid of it…. if only my cooker could speak! Regards all, tamara
Thanks Gavin for the info on the kettle. I have never seen another one here in the US, only on the occasional British tv show, and now in this advertisement. Didn’t know it was aluminum!
The arms of the warmer look like they would only support a lightweight material like that too.
Yes, you can still get cookers with eyelevel grills, they are made by Parkinson Cowan. I believe the last one I had was a ‘Lyric’.
The kettle is actually made of an alloy of aluminium and magnesium called magnailium which can be polished to a high shine, and does not incur the same reported health risks as raw aluminium products. You can also get the the kettle cheaper than from the Picquot website if you do a Google Product search (I know, because the shop I work in sells them). I believe that the company are looking to expand the range this year.
I work in a restaurant, and these grills are still very commonplace in restaurants. We call them “salamanders”, as one poster has already noted. The difference is that the heat comes from up above, rather than from below as in a barbecue.
The grills wouldn’t be as useful in a home. If you wanted heat from above (as in a salamander), you’d simply use the broiler in the oven.
So these grills would nowadays be redundant.
By the way: the hairstyle on the comely British woman dates the kitchen to the 1940s, not the 1950s.