by pam kueber on February 8, 2010
Let me take you on a little stroll though kitchen design history from the 1930s though the 1950s — with this terrific series of images from Kohler. Vicki Hafenstein of the media relations team at Kohler is really helpful and responsive, and quickly supplied these vintage kitchen photos and illustrations to help with the etsy.com video. She is also hunting some pink bathroom illustrations for my talk in Charlotte. I really appreciate your help, Vicki! I also wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Kohler makes two hudee-rimmed porcelain-on-cast-iron sinks still available today — they would be my top choices for a Retro Renovation kitchen. Oh, and have I ever mentioned that when I found my 67 vintage Geneva steel kitchen cabinets, the former cooking-school set also came with four vintage, 42″ wide, double-bowl, hudee-ringed Kohler sinks? One is now installed in my kitchen. 16 vintage Kohler kitchen images in all – read more.
by pam kueber on January 31, 2010
Since 2002 I’ve learned quite a lot about steel kitchen cabinets, which were crazy popular in post-World War II America. During the war, we worked hard, saved our money – and dreamed of the day it would all be over so that we could build happy homes with our families. The center of the home then, as now: The kitchen. And steel was the material of choice. Pulling together much of what I’ve learned and covered on the blog to date, I created an entire page dedicated to the history and design of vintage metal kitchen cabinets, along with an FAQ. 3,263 words. Short? Well, there are lots of pictures too. Read all about the history of steel kitchen cabinets.
by pam kueber on January 22, 2010
David asked the other day: “We’re planning our basement finishing project and looking at VCT tiling options in the basement. Does anyone know where to find design ideas for Vinyl tiles? I’m seeing a lot for ceramic, but not many for VCT.” You ask, I deliver: Here are scans from 1950s Armstrong and Kentile catalogs. Heck yeah there is more…
by pam kueber on January 21, 2010
Nate writes:
Hi, We just bought an old house, and under a carpet in one of the bedrooms was a “something” — I am not sure what its real name is… It is 6 feet by 8 or 9 feet, and is a fantastic picture / mural. Looks like it is on masonite or some other fiber type board. The “rug” is not attached at all — we can pick it up and move it. It is not gummy at all, seems like just fiberboard, maybe 1/8 of an inch thick. The house was built back around 1900 as a schoolhouse, then sold, dismantled, moved and rebuilt maybe around 1935. The family we bought it from had it since the mid 50’s… I would like to … see if anyone knows anything about it. Thanks! Heck yeah there is more…
by pam kueber on January 19, 2010
Just about the time Rebecca asked me for some suggestions for renovating her 1964 Ann Arbor kitchen, I ran across these mod 60s 70s style cabinets online. These doors have a baked-on thermofoil finish, which enables durable, high-gloss colors. 
The orange looks very pleasing indeed … the “olive” by any other name would be called “avocado”… and their red looks pretty authentic 60s 70s. In fact, neighbors of mine — who updated their kitchen in the mid-60s in a very high fashion, high-end style — have red cabinets just like this. I declare this style and these colors: Smokin’ hot! Heck yeah there is more…
by pam kueber on January 14, 2010
Continuing to build our portfolio of choices for retro style kitchen cabinets, I spotted this Jamestown plank door style from Holiday Kitchens. Holiday offers this in hickory, and I think that with the right finish it reads “knotty pine.” A few years ago, I also saw a kitchen with this door style in an ivory painted, antiqued and waxed finish. The kitchen was in what I’d call a mid-century coolonial home in Stockbridge, Mass. Yes, another new term I think I just invented: “Cool-onial”. Hip colonial, and in the Stockbridge case, a rambling ranchy country house but one that very very clearly had a colonial pedigree. The kitchen was much like the coolonial kitchen below — one of my all-time favorites. Finally, I think that this style also could look very nice tinted — another option with mid-century precendents.
by pam kueber on January 9, 2010
Here is a hot tip for anyone doing a major project: Rejuvenation also sells antique lighting, and I noticed on their website yesterday that they have a good-sized stash of circa-1960 lighting from Progress Manufacturing, unused and in its original boxes. And — there are multiples available. Note: Even though it’s unused MIB, Rejuvenation says they rewire this lighting – another good reminder for all of us to rewire anything we find and use vintage. Last but not least — 33 vintage copper-plated cabinet pulls with atomic backplates also are in their antique hardware section — a wonderful number — a gorgeous design — snap ‘em up, someone!
by pam kueber on January 2, 2010
Lots of readers are struggling to find cost-effective ways to get their vintage appliances — stoves, fridges, stovetops, dishwashers — repaired safely and cost-effectively. Atomicbowler-dave recently provided this advice, which is in synch, I think, with successes other readers have had:
Where to turn to get your vintage appliances repaired? Dave suggests: Heck yeah there is more…
by pam kueber on December 31, 2009
Over on the Forum, a homeowner in St. Louis has posted a set of vintage St. Charles steel kitchen cabinets for sale — with their original terra cotta paint. I’d noted this color in a brochure I have dated 1957 — a year in which the company spotlighted a number of fantastic colors and designs. But, this is the first time I’ve seen terra cotta in the flesh, and I like it. “Rust” actually has been on my mind a lot these days — I’m putting it on my list of *hot* colors for 2010. Note in the kitchen design above: The rotisserie operating in the bricked-in, built-in barbeque… the white wall cabinets that lighten up the terra cotta and play off the mortar in the brick…and the scalloped cafe curtains. Great kitchen. And great cabinets, asking price $5,000. Gulp. Prices keep going up, didn’t I tell ya.
by pam kueber on December 30, 2009
A kitchen island can be fantastic, for seating and especially for expanding useful prep space. But in my mind, there is nothin’ more cozy, comfy, homey than a kitchen table set close at hand. There’s just something… egalitarian and *grounded*… about sitting together around that most basic piece of furniture. Mid-century America was boom times for kitchen dinettes. It seems there were a gazillion possibilities to love — and in my mind, the quirkier, the better. I’ve been grabbing screenshots from ebay for the past several months, now collected into a gallery of 46 examples. Heck yeah there is more…
