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Our 74th brand of vintage metal cabinets: Olympia Aluminum Kitchen Kabinets

pam kueber - Updated: July 29, 2019

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

olympia kitchen cabinets emblemReader JoAnn Wiltrakis has discovered our 74th known brand of vintage metal kitchen cabinets: Even more wonderful — this is our first brand of vintage aluminum kitchen cabinets: “Olympia Kitchen Kabinets.” She writes:

I put a deposit on these yesterday. They need painting. There is no rust, but very worn paint around the pulls. I put a magnet on them, and it does not stick.

Hopefully, I can combine them with other brands, because I doubt I will find more of the same. The good thing is they are local, so no shipping.

— JoAnn

JoAnne, congratulations and many thanks — this is a terrific find! I have some questions, though:

  • I don’t know about things like the properties of metals, so can someone tell me: Does aluminum even rust?
  • Car guys (said in gender neutral way, I am part Californian): Would these aluminum cabinets have been even More Expensive than steel back in the day?
  • Washington staters: Was there a big aluminum manufacturing complex in Olympia? Perhaps associated with the aerospace industry?
  • 52 PostnBeam, will JoAnn be able to combine them with other brands?
  • And JoAnn, where will you put your magnets? 🙂

More information on Olympia Kitchen Kabinets — made by Western Metalcraft / Metalware:

Thanks to the several readers who contributed additional information. It seems that the manufacturer of Olympia Kitchen Kabinets made them in both aluminum and steel:

Wendy said:

I live in olympa, so i HAD to see what the deal was with the manufacturer, so i blew up the pic showing the tag in the drawer to see the name of the cabinet maker (Western Metalcraft, Inc.), then found out they were in the old Olympia brewery for just a short time after WWII. And as Mark said, there were smelters just north of us in Tacoma.

Here’s the site with the info: http://www.brewerygems.com/olympia.htm

Then, Karen added:

Western Metalcraft did indeed own and occupy the original (1896) Olympia Brewing site, beginning right after WWII. After several years of manufacturing various metal items, including cabinets, Western changed ownership and changed name 1951-52 to General Metalcraft/Metalware. The Schmidt family, the family who established Olympia Beer, was financially involved in both companies. We have some of the aluminum and some steel cabinets in the historic Schmidt family home, now an event venue and archives. (We also have some old brochures from Western in our collection.)

Western made steel cabinets after WWII, when the metal shortage eased up, and later switched to aluminum. I believe aluminum was later in short supply, due to its demand for military use during the Korean War.

The General plant in Tumwater WA went out of business in 1962.

And Mark noted:

I live in WA and there were a couple of huge aluminum smelting plants in Washington state, one in Tacoma, just North of Olympia and one in Spokane.

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43 comments

Comments

  1. vintigchik says

    You need to be careful when putting 2 different metals near each other as the polarities can cause paint to chip and steel to rust. Learned that in Autobody class 🙂

  3. Jay says

    Ok, just chalk it up to you having a senior moment – aluminum rusting! What about all those mid century folding picnic tables and webbed aluminum chairs that everyone schlepped to the beaches and campgrounds! I still have some that were my parent’s from the 60’s. I even remember when you could buy rewebbing kits.

  4. Steven Keylon says

    Aluminum doesn’t rust, but it has a different process of decay, it corrodes in the right (wrong) environment, though the corrosion isn’t as severe or common a process of decay as rust… Aluminum can be a little softer than steel, so they may be a little more prone to dings or dents.

    But the fact that they don’t rust, with kitchens being pretty wet, is a plus!

    • pam kueber says

      What a wonderful website you have, Steven. I added it to the Cities/Associations blogroll. I need to make time to do more research and update my blogroll….

      • Steven Keylon says

        Thanks, Pam! In the near future, I plan to do some posts on the original designed features of our kitchens and baths, and how some of us have successfully restored them… so those may be of particular interest to your viewers/readers/fans…

  5. Eldon Daetweiler says

    Hey Pam,
    I saw a complete pink kitchen on ebay last night – just wanted to give you a heads up! E

  6. Mark says

    Aluminum doesn’t rust.
    I live in WA and there was a couple of huge aluminum smelting plants in Washington state, one in Tacoma, just North of Olympia and one in Spokane.

  7. JefferyK says

    Olympia, Washington — my hometown! Had no idea metal cabinets were ever manufactured there.

  8. Bill says

    Those cabinets are fantastic. I love the pulls.

    Aluminum will not rust. The industry was big in the pacific northwest because of the immense supply of hydroelectric power available for the smelters. (Aluminum smelting is energy intensive.) Presumably, the Olympia company was redirecting the excess capacity of the aluminum industry following the war.

    My dad is a metallurgical engineer and while he was in college during the late 50s/early 60s aluminum was all the rage. It’s lightweight, doesn’t rust and you can make just about anything from it. Think about all the anodyzed aluminum everything being produced in the post-war era. How many people reading this site have aluminum windows? Aluminum lawn chairs? Aluminum is about as mid-century as it gets.

  9. Chad in Plano says

    Great find! You can always put a magnet behind the other, sandwiching them with the aluminum in-between. I did that with my 1971 aluminum camper.

  10. BlueJay says

    I am almost positive that aluminum doesn’t rust. It’s perfect for exterior light fixtures and mailboxes. I believe it may oxidize over time though.