Laura writes in to ask a perennial question: Is it all right to mix and match mid century eras? Readers — What do you think?
Laura writes:
Pam – I’m at my wits end re: what to do in my kitchen. Over the last 18 months, I’ve collected all the fabulous Morton cabinets I need.
I LOVE the curves on both the uppers and lowers – to me, they really evoke the cozy 50′s look that resonates with me. I also acquired a great ’54 GE combination two-door refrigerator/freezer in beautiful condition, but unfortunately it does not cool and I can’t find a repair service inside 1,000 miles. These cabinets and this fridge are a perfect combination, but with the fridge not working I had to keep looking for something comparable.
Just last weekend I snapped up a great 1957 GE brown fridge with the revolving shelves I love, but it is a much sleeker design with very straight edges. After a little more research I realized that it is one of those that blends right in with the cabinets – it’s only 24 inches deep. It works great and the features are amazing – pull out bottom freezer drawer, rotating fruit & veggie bins, butter keeper, etc…..but the style doesn’t fit with my cabinets!!! I’m really torn, because I love them both, but combining them just feels very awkward.
I’m using the brown fridge now and sold the (non-functioning) white 1954-55 GE Combination to a fellow vintage-lover with a good friend in the refrigeration business. I love the features of the mid–mod brown fridge (1957) but feel it just doesn’t fit the early- to mid-50′s era look that I long to recreate. And mostly, both the cabinets and the fridge make great individual “statements”, but combining them sort of diminishes both, if you get my drift. To really do justice to that fridge, though, I would need to trade in my Mortons and get a set with flat fronts and go for the built-in look with soffits and everything. If the Retro Gods would bring me a left-hinged early-50′s fridge with lazy-susan shelves, I’d snap it up and sell the brown fridge, but it seems those left-hinged ones are about one in a hundred, or thousands of miles away….no luck so far.
I suppose I’ll have to choose between them, but which to give up (and find more appropriate versions of), and which to keep?!?! So, the question is….is it possible to live in two different eras in the same kitchen??? If you have time to consider my conundrum, I’d really appreciate your advice…. and I’d LOVE for you to post it and draw on all that creative energy from your readers. I drool over the photos of the gorgeous vintage COORDINATED kitchens on this site. I don’t want my own kitchen to fall short if I can help it.
“I’m at my wit’s end…” Yup. That’s where Retro Renovating gets us all, at one point or another, Laura. So happy you wrote in. I love your question, because it underscores that there were numerous waves of “mid century” and “mid century modern.” Not one look, but a variety of looks that evolved over the “mid century era,” which most historians bookend from 1946-1963. In fact, your Mortons, I’d say, are quintessentially late-1940s… while your fridge is quintessential early 60s (the GE experts on this site — Patrick? — will know right away.) So, your question neatly juxtaposes “the beginning” and “the end”. Oh and Laura: 18 months to collect your cabinets? A vintage stove (Chambers?) in the pickup truck? YOU GO, GIRL!
Readers: What do you think?
Matchy matchy mid mod? Or mix and match mid mod mad? I’ll pipe in tomorrow after reading your comments — which always give me new things to think about!
I say it’s just fine to mix eras. It shows the natural progression and life of a home. I do see your point about the 57 not quite matching. Maybe if the color was the same as the cabinets it would meld better. I understand your sadness at the loss of the 54. I have the exact one in the basement. I love the bottle holders, built in egg holder and revolving shelves. Alas, mine too doesn’t cool. I hear the compressor working but I think it needs a shot of freon
You don’t replace the whole kitchen, just the non-working appliance when it wears out, just as Bill said, marking a visual transition thru time.
Old decorator trick – make everything the same color & it will blend different styles together better.
I’d keep those cabinets first before I changed styles. It must have been a lot of work to get all the ones you needed.
We want to see pictures of the finished room! Good Luck!
If it were me…. I would keep the fridge, and continue to look just as hard for the one you really want.
I would also keep trying to find someone to fix the white one. Call the mom and pop appliance places. Sometimes the retired guys still know their way around these old appliances. When you call places, ask if they know someone.
As an example, when we moved into our our rural Illinois farmhouse we found that the phone lines in that area had been installed in the 50′s. The young man who came out to hook up our new phones, didn’t have a clue as to how to go about it. He said he’d never seen equipment like it. So, the phone company sent out one of their “retirees” who had us set up in no time flat.
I figure if you can come up with fabulous cabinets the way you have, you’ll find exactly the fridge you want, no doubt about it.
I’d say you answered your own question when you said it felt awkward. Part of that is probably the difference in color. I agree with earlier posters that painting the fridge the same color as the cabinets will help it blend in. I’d say give that a try first. Keep the cabinets for sure.
Good luck, John
I think I would keep the fridge but paint it as well. However, I would paint it a color you feel is more ’50/60s’, say a robins egg blue or a lovely butter yellow. Later in the 1950′s you see the square lines of fridges showing up. In fact in some of my 56 magazines they have many ‘new’ looks that are very straight. The brown is the only thing making it seem as if it isn’t ‘part of the look’.
That is my 2 cents. Good finds, by the way.
I absolutely love the cabinets, but they are downplayed with that fridge sitting next to them. I would say the fridge has to go. The cabinets far outshine it! Love the countertop!!
Oh, my gosh! Do NOT paint that fridge! I went down that road-once. I painted a range hood and a fridge. I did everything I was supposed to. I cleaned, I gently sanded, I primed, I wiped, I prayed, I used the correct appliance paint. Took me DAYS, and the end result was WORSE than the original finish.
I implore you…don’t paint that fridge!
Turns out the brown IS paint….the original is white and I’m slowly stripping it away with citrus gel remover. Whoever painted it sprayed right over the GE emblem, so clearly the paint HAS to go.
I’d say keep the fridge until you see how it looks with the brown paint removed. If it matches better, then you can keep it, otherwise you can use it until you find the one you want. I would not, however, get rid of the cabinets. They are fabulous and it took you so long to find them. I imagine finding one refrigerator would be a easier than finding another set of matching cabinets, even if it takes awhile before it walks into your life.
If you know any real estate agents (especially if you’re friendly with them!), you can let them know you are looking for an older refrigerator; that way if any houses on the market have older fridges that might work for your kitchen, they can let you know. A lot of times people buying or selling a house will automatically get rid of a refrigerator that’s old and might be really grateful for someone to take it off their hands.
I vote you keep the cabinets for sure and make due with the fridge until you can find one that fits with the cabinets. If you can’t find a vintage fridge that will work, save your pennies for a new retro model.
ditto
Exactly – if you heart the look of those cabinets then keep the fridge until you find a replacement, original or new retro look.
Keep the brown fridge for a spare in garage, basement, etc becasue it’s cool too!
Laura–I love your cabinets and I love your fridge, but not together! BUT finding the perfect retro-renovation kitchen can take it’s toll and it sounds like you need a rest. So just live with the not perfect fridge and the right one will come around.
PS I have an 18″x24″ section of what looks like your exact color countertop w/ back splash if you need it. We live in NJ…
Mixing eras is fine, and authentic. Folks of the MC era were largely Depression era survivors, not prone to throw anything away if they didn’t have to, but still they were American consumers “keeping up with the Jones”. Even otherwise modern homes and furnishings often featured a few heirloom pieces, and so too 40′s cabinets with a late 50′s fridge is -as others have said- representative of transition.
I agree to paint the refrigerator, but I do not think it is a do-it-yourself project for most folks. Ask around at auto body shops… a refrigerator and its paint is not too different really from that of an automobile (in fact most were build by subsidiary companies of auto manufactures back then). You’re gonna get some strange looks, but you will likely find a small body shop willing to do it.
I think too that finding, or having made (if you can, your fridge placement looks challenging) a rounded cabinet to fit over the top of the fridge (perhaps adding a bulkhead/ soffett as well ) will subdue the sharp contrast and give it a more “built in” look.
If you are just collecting antiques and enjoying them – do what you like! Try to make it look good tho LOL
If you are doing a restoration like me….I approach it as fixtures in the house, like cabinets, etc, need to match the age of the house. Typically, appliances are more fluid and don’t necessarily need to. I have the correct post-’53 Y-K cabinets for my house, but will be using a ’49 Maytag stove, and currently have a ’48 Hotpoint fridge. I’m trying to keep everything the same age, or older.
Also I have a ca. ’58 Frigidaire on the back porch for the same reason – it’s too “late ’50s” looking, and wouldn’t go. Although my 5 year old Kenmore fridge is a POS and the door is about to fall off. Again! I’ve never seen that happen, esp on a young fridge.
So, I might be using the Frigidaire as a stand-in, because I can’t afford a Big Chill!
I say mix and match.
If that frig is white under the brown paint, so much the better. In reality, nobody ever has kitchens that are all one year and style of cabinets and appliances(well unless they’ve recently spent BIG bucks remodeling). Things wear out and you replace them with something else. That’s life.
Are you looking for a real kitchen or a magazine picture? Too much matchy-matchy is boring.
I agree completely with Melanie. I love your cabinets and I love your fridge. If you can get the brown paint off, I think you will be much happier with it. Not everything has to match. In reality, only model kitchens in magazines are completely in sync. What is it that Pam is always teaching us??? Love the house you’re in and the stuff that’s in it! You have a lot to be in love with, that’s for sure!
I’m wondering where the refrigerator will actually be in the kitchen as it looks like in the picture, it’s just placed there for now? I think that if the brown fridge goes back to it’s original white, it could look awesome in there. Like BungalowBill said, homes go through progressions through the decades so lots of kitchens will have items from different eras. Lots of times, cabinets and fixtures will stay for many decades where appliances will be replaced more often.
I really think that you can make it work if you truly love that fridge. In our kitchen right now, we have a white vintage stove next to a modern stainless refrigerator and dishwasher and for some reason, it works just fine. I say that you should use the brown (stripped white since it sounds like you’ve started the process) and if you happen upon something later on that matches the era that you’re going for perfectly, be ready to move on it if you’re not happy. Both the cabinets and the fridge are SO cool! Good luck!
My general rule is that different dates mix nicely…so long as you keep a cut-off date. The folks with those original cabinets might well have replaced the fridge in 1960…but by 1985…the cabinets would have been in the scrapheap. You have to create some sense of time…or else it might look like a collection of cast-offs
I say aim the room to 1964…and you will end up with a cohesive look.
(a new GE Monogram bottom freezer is curved and has a pseudo-retro look…)
Nicely said. That’s what I meant – you have to have a cutoff date or it will look like Sanford and Son.
By the look of your windows behind the cabinet, you appear to live in something “cratsman-ish.” While getting the paint back to the original white would be best (possibly undoing an “updating” done around 1972?); do you have a large pantry that could take the fridge?
My grandmother had a typical 1920 foursquare, and had to keep her fridge in the pantry simply because of floorplan issues. Putting your brown fridge in the pantry would give the visual separation you need.
Use the brown for now, but keep looking. As another reader commented, save your pennies for a modern retro model or wait until you come across another vintage fridge in the correct style. It will pop up!
it seems to me that if you could create a smoother transition from the cabinets to the fridge it would look great. to me the main thing that makes it look out of place is not the color or style, but the way it juts out from the cabinets. my suggestion would be to kind of “build in” the fridge, perhaps with a white divider between it and the cabinets. or, depending on your kitchen, perhaps you could move it so that it is not right next to the cabinets – it would look great a little set apart, if that’s an option.
I love it.
I think if it were mine I would paint the fridge.
Either white to match the base of the cabinets or if they are feeling crazy a bright red to match the counter top.
I personally dig the red idea.
I also like the paint red idea – as an alternative.
I absolutely love the fridge that doesn’t work with the cabinets. Keep looking. That brown fridge just doesn’t have the same personality as the cabinets. The cabinets are rounded just like the white fridge and flow together perfectly. If all else fails, at least keep to white.
Don’t paint that fridge. You don’t see that color very often. Painting over it would be a sin. It’d be like some dope buying an Ed Roth custom car and painting it white so it matched his other cars. Mixing eras is fine. You shouldn’t decorate according to the rules that some goof made up. Do what makes you happy. If that fridge makes you happy, use it.
Those cabinets are the absolute ultimate in kitchen design, there is NO QUESTION that those should prevail!
I agree that changing the refrigerator to white would make the whole thing more cohesive.
Restorations like this take time, keep this refrigerator and get the color changed… you may learn to love it, and if not, the right refrigerator will make an appearance down the line. You will have make this refrigerator more desirable in the meantime.
When we restored our kitchen, your cabinets are the only ones we considered – other than our historic cabinets. I think they’re the most interesting kitchen cabinets ever designed.
I don’t know what the “correct” answer is but there certainly many many houses built in the 40′s thus 40′s cabinetry in which during the 60′s owners purchased new appliances. So you can assume in the 60′s that 40′s cabinets and 60′s refrigerators were quite appropriate. Just my 2 cents worth.
I agree that people replace appliances over the life of a kitchen, I’m sure there were many 40s-50s kitchens with new, updated appliances in the 60s. The main thing that is jarring for me isn’t the shapes or details, its the red counter top so close to the coppertone fridge. But the fridge is great, keep its original color and try for a better transition.
I think that there is nothing wrong with mixing eras as long as you are happy with the results. You don’t live in a museum, so no one isn’t going to gasp at the mixing of time periods.
That being said, the brown fridge might be over shadowing the cabinets. I would try to paint it white, so it flows a bit better.
Those cabinets look so perfect! If you can strip and save the original finish on the fridge, or have it painted, I say keep it.
If you prep properly and have a good hand for painting, you could paint the fridge yourself. I had to redo my range hood to match everything and it turned out great!
I’ve currently got a mix of 1955 Cabinets, and early 90′s appliances. It actually tied together really well, though my search for the perfect vintage appliances continues.
Years ago I took a course on renovating houses and the rule with the architects and designers et al was that anything developed after the date the house was built IS historically accurate if it’s a living home so, as wisely said above, pick a cut off date and go for it.
Love your cupboards (insert envy here) and the ‘new’ fridge is really very cool…no pun intended. I grew up in the 50′s & 60′s, well, got bigger, not so ‘grown up’ and my Mum’s friends would have been aquiver over the ‘new’ fridge though were too cash strapped to have gotten it.
Auto-body shops around here will respray your fridge if it needs it after you’re finished stripping it. Or, as suggested, you can live with it while you wait for your true love fridge, which, in the good old days is exactly what most people had to do so you get the whole mid-century experience. ;o)
My kitchen and diningroom are done in blends of 40′s 50′s and 60′s. My inspiration was my grandparents home which was built in the 40′s, was updated in the 50′s then had new appliances added in the 60′s. I love it and feed back from visitors is always positive. Keep the fridge and the cupboards.
Skimming the other comments, I would like to add that it is not just having the same color that is key. It’s more like having the right color family — matching complementary colors, and/or creating a color family where the colors have the same intensity. Ex: pink and orange can be great together in a kitchen, but not 50s pastel pink, and ’60s loud orange.
With the lines of your cabinets and appliances, a very rounded edge paired with very modern, straight edges could be great. But if there’s a slightly rounded edge, then a straight, then a super rounded, then cutouts in a valance on the cabinets, it can just end up remuddled instead of remodeled.
“sold the (non-functioning) white 1954-55 GE Combination to a fellow vintage-lover with a good friend in the refrigeration business.”
Seems very mean spirited to buy your nonworking fridge when they obviously had someone who could fix it and could have helped a girl out.
It takes a lot to make me bitter but that would do it for me.
That very thought occurred to me. Why didn’t the buyer offer up his friend’s name to help you out?
Hey, all, I am sure there is a very logical explanation. Remember: Key rule of Comments is “No one can be made to feel bad for their decisions.” I am sure there is more to the story that Laura just didn’t go into… Okay?
Pam’s right….what really prompted me to go ahead and sell the older fridge is that my kitchen layout plans changed and I need a fridge that opens on the right, so that ended up being a no-brainer. Oddly enough, once I’d decided on the new layout, I found the brown fridge the next day. (so what’re the VG’s telling me?!?!)
Also I’ll just mention here that the photo of the grouping is actually in my dining room – I can’t install the cabs or the fridge until I decide which way to go. Kee the ideas coming!!!
I feel bad that you didn’t sell it to me! My house was built in ’54
I have one, but you have to carry it up from the basement.
I aplogize. I didn’t mean to sound snarky.
LOVE the cabinets!
I dislike the brown, so I think it will be fine white.
And I hope it’s OK to mix eras! I’m putting together a kitchen with a 1950 set of cabinets, a 1959 stove and a 2011 Smeg! Along with a 2011 dishwasher. I like historical accuracy, but you have to be practical in a kitchen.
I hope you are able to get the paint off the fridge! As far as mixing eras, I’m all for it. It shouldn’t make any difference if other people approve or disapprove of your home…if you walk into a room and it makes you happy, then you’re set. If *you* aren’t happy, then it’s time to change it.
Good luck!
I am all for the mix, if you paint the fridge. Either white, which would merge beautifully, or red, which would make a statement and match the countertops! I’d probably go with white. I would prep it, and spray it myself. I love both your fridge & cabinets!!!
I have no problem with the fridge/cabinet combo. It would most certainly need to be painted (white or RED!!?!) If you are looking to purchase a NEW fridge I would highly reccomend the Fisher Paykel (fridge top/freezer bottom) combo in white with out the water dispenser.It has a mid/mod look with great energy saving elements.
Cheers and post pictures (lots and lots of pictures)
Laurie B
While my house is a mixed mosh of 40′s to 70′s, I agree that the fridge and cabinets as they are don’t really go together. Personally I would do one of two things. Either live with the fridge as is until I could find a more suitable replacement and then sell this one, or I would paint it either in white or red. Either way painting would probably lower its resale value and red would make it worth the effort, pull it together, and really make a statement. Love the cabinets!
I’ve seen a lot of people cover their fridges in chalkboard paint lately. Not sure how that would work, but it is an option.
How about this painted fridge recently in a house tour on apartment therapy
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/kitchen/revisiting-the-painted-refridgerator-146219
I loved it, but you need to have courage for that idea!
Keep looking for your dream fridge while you use the one you have. I have found that Craigslist is the best place to seach for vintage refrigerators. Expand your search to a 200 mile radius. In the long run, what’s traveling 200 miles to get your dream fridge.?
I have a ’55 GE combination left hand fridge with swinging shelves that I found on Craigslist last summer. It was about 80 miles away. I paid $300 for it, and another $200 to rent a one-way truck to pick it up and bring it to my house. It works perfectly and it looks brand new after I spent several hours cleaning it inside and out. I am happy to share tips too on how I did it, including pictures of the results. I love that fridge, and it would certainly be a shoe-in esthetically with your metal cabinets.
There are also other ’50s combination refrigerater models out there as well. You just need to look constantly and ignore the high price tags a lot of folks ask for. These old fridges are only worth a few hundred bucks WORKing, not the thousands that many ask for, since they commonly confuse restored with old but working. You just have to educate politely and stay firm with an offer price. Most folks will came back to you with an accepted offer :’) These old fridges were built to last, and it’s easier than you think to find one in great, working condition. Good luck!!
That’s good advice about pricing….I always chuckle when I see postings with prices over $1000…sometimes they’re not even sure if they work! I’ll keep my eyes peeled and try making offers.
I got the brown fridge in Minneapolis (I’m near Madison, WI) and the gas was about $200 but the fridge was only $60!
I’m in Chicago, and I found mine on the Milwaukee Craigslist from someone in suburban Milwaukee. By the way, once you have your fridge, you should consider an upright vintage freezer, if you need more deep freeze space. I found a mid fifties Leonard upright freezer (made by American Motors) in absolutely perfect, pristine condition on EBAY, and picked it up from Minneapolis and drove it back down to Chicago in a one-way rental truck. It works beautifully and seems like it was hardly used in its over 50 years.
The reason why I love old deep freezers is that they freeze to well below zero, and because they are NOT frost free, food seems to stay fresher much longer and without the freezer burn you get with new frost free freezers. The supurb preservation of food is well worth having to defrost the freezer once a year or so and it’s actually kind of fun).. Anyone out there agree with me on the real value of vintage deep freezes?
Thanks, Dan
I like not having the fridge in the kitchen at all. Do you have a large pantry/mud room etc to place the fridge? Then it would not look so awkward. And you can still enjoy both eras. It is really not that inconvenient to walk into another room from the kitchen to get what you need out of the fridge. That’s my two cents!
Think carefully!
One hot summer in the ’80s, I hauled my 1951 Kelvinator outside to paint it red.
At some point in the process…it took on the look of a Coke machine
All that was missing was the ribbon up the side.
I know that you can purchase commercial film to apply to the surface of appliances in order to make them look like stainless steel. Does anyone know if this kind of film is available in white? I did a quick google search and didn’t come up with anything, but I didn’t really take the time to dig.
On the other subject, I think that mixing and matching eras is totally fine as long as they look good together. The brown fridge really clashes with the red cabinets, so in this case I’d say that it’s not the eras but the colors that are incompatible.
Growing up, we had that exact same refrigerator in pink. Loved it, especially the little pedal you can push to open the door when your hands are full. I’ve had very good success electrostatically painting a refrigerator. The painter came right to the house and painted it. Wasn’t cheap, but it was cheaper than buying a new fridge. Once you strip the brown paint off, you might consider giving it a new coat of white. Depending on the condition of your cabinets, the painter could shoot those, too. It’s a stinky process, so make sure you can do it on a day when you have good ventilation. You might check HGTV’s website for the stainless steel treatment thing another poster mentioned. I saw them do that once on Designed to Sell.
Mixing and matching is good for me but I don’t think it is the case with your kitchen and your fridge. They are looking good but not together The fridge is not the right color, not the right shape.
You could try to paint it but it is hard to make it nice and smooth. Most of the time it looked… well… painted!
I think you are back on the hunt.
The truth is someone who spent 18 months looking for round cabinets is never going to be completely happy with a square fridge. And there’s no point in thinking you’re going to replace the cabinets; they’re flawless!
So all you can do is make due with the refrigerator you have until a better one pops up. If you’re not a vintage purist you might want to check out the many reproduction refrigerators on the market. There’s Big Chill Fridge, Smeg Fridge, Northstar Retro Refrigerator, and I’m sure several more. Just google retro fridge new or refurbished 50′s fridge or something like that. I’m sure you’ll find something you like.
+ I’ve identified many of the retro style refrigerators — see my category: Kitchens / Appliances
I agree with the comments about the cabinets — KEEP THEM! Be pragmatic and keep the architectural and decorative styled items that you invested the most time and money into and that have your highest level of emotional attachment. Hmmm… cabinets or fridge? I think the cabinets win that one hands down!. That is certainly where your heart is. They are beautiful! I especially like Gavin’s suggestion – choose a general approach to the design. You already have told us that the early 50′s style of the cabinets appeals most to you… so go with that. Mix and match around that idea. I think that a lot of us boomers grew up in homes that were some kind of hodge podge of different styles and decades because our parents (who were Depression era kids) never threw anything away until it lost its usefulness. As long as you have an idea about the time (late 40′s early 50″s) that will be the style influence that ties everything together. For now, I vote for the suggestions to strip off the brown paint from the fridge, and go with white. That seems to be the most thrifty approach – then be patient & keep looking for a replacement fridge that fits the earlier decade style. I am confident that the vintage fridge gods will smile upon you!
Hi Laura,
Just a quick P.S. With the fridge – don’t settle for anything less than exactly what you want. It may seem like it takes forever, but remember the retro renovating equation:
PATIENCE + PERSISTENCE = PERFECT PAYOFF (in finding exactly what you want)
The cabinets will be there longer than the fridge, so that should be your focus. I think that the color is more of an issue than the lines, so if the brown is paint, strip it off. I think mixing eras is fine, to me, a house with early ’50s cabinets and late ’50s applicances looks more ‘real’, than a house that looks like a 1952 decorator magazine.
I am more a purist when it comes to kitchens, i would love to see a late forties early fifties fridge and range. Although the brown one is cool, it doesn’t do it for me. It would be like mixing peanut butter and strawberries, they’re good alone, but something is just off when they’re together.
There’s a white 50′s left handed refrigerator up for auction on ebay, Starting price $80 and the owner says it was barely used. Auction ends 5/24. It’s in Ohio, local pickup. Search “50′s refrigerator”. If you like it but can’t pick it up, you can have a freight company pick it up for you. I don’t know what that costs.
Hey, thanks for the tip! I wrote to the owner to make sure it’s cooling properly.
I trhink you need to find a pre 1957 white fridge with the softer rounder corners as the crisp lines of the fridge look very out of place with the round counters. I also think the 1957 GE should NOT be painted as Woodtone Brown (the colors proper name) is somewhat rare…oh and folks this is not the same shade of brown as the coppertone that came out in the early 60′s that color is much darker.
I meant rounded cabinets not counters sorry…LOL
I love your cabinets and certainly appreciate the Coopertone Refrigerator, as well. Craigslist seems to be an ideal life savor for many of us. Make an ad and tell the community what you are looking for and more than likely you will find what you need. Good Luck. I am on a crusade now to get my Kitchen to the Turquoise stage. JT
HEY EVERYBODY……. apparently the Retro Gods read Pam’s blog because, miracle of miracles, they just brought me my DREAM FRIDGE!!! See: http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/app/2394850643.html
This is the exact model of the white one I sold, but it opens on the right, just like I need! Plus it’s fully functional – a definite plus. I’m picking her up tomorrow. Conundrum resolved!!! THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND POSITIVE ENERGY!!!! I don’t know if I’ll even be able to sleep tonight!!
Fantastic! Now maybe that cool brown fridge can live on without being stripped of its beautiful paint.
The paint IS a nice color, but the job was poorly done, so it truly does need stripping. I promised the guy who bought my other one he could have first-dibs on this one if/when I sell it, so if he passes, I’ll be posting it on CL soon and will also post in the forum.
Thanks again, everyone, for all your input….I’m glad my issue was resolved so quickly and I’m sure the advice will benefit many others in our mid-mod community!!!
CONGRATS!!! Good things come to those who wait, it seems!
Can’t wait to see the pics of your gorgeous finished kitchen space.
Retro remodel on, girlfriend!
Wow, congrats on getting the one you want/need! How exciting!
I love the older fridges, but we wound up getting a Big Chill. It makes me smile every day.
Wow!! What a great problem to have!! I think,if done very carefully you could mix era’s . . .but again, very carefully and most likely not in areas that might be so obvious, as pictured here. Great finds though! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!!
Obviously, the cabinets are perfection & collecting them was a labor of love. I think mixing can work just fine, as long as you keep the look cohesive. Everyone is right about the auto body shop. You should be able to get the fridge repainted on a pretty small budget & since they use a commercial sprayer, the coverage will be wonderful. I am betting that the previous owner did something similar (years ago, of course) if the coverage was nice enough that even your sharp eye didn’t notice it had been repainted. I don’t, however, think I would leave the fridge white. Your original fridge was fantastic in white but I feel like this more modern, streamlined style would like any other boring old fridge in white. If the red countertops are what you will be using, I would personally take a cue from Pam & have the fridge painted aqua. That would make for a lovely and appropriate color scheme!
Hi,
You mind if I inquire as too the value of the 1954 GE combination fridge that you sold? I have one in working condition that I’ve been using since 1993 when I bought my house. I have always wondered if it had any value if I were to replace it.
Danny, we don’t do valuations here, it’s too wild west. To watch values, I recommend you set up searches on craigslist – also check our our Forum. http://retrorenovation.com/forum