I also have one of these units and Brini, you inspired me to take some photos of my New Old Stock before — ta da! — I installed it (just yesterday!) as part of my office studio remodel currently under way and officially killing me.

Here’s are just two of my photos — I’ll show the entire artsy fartsy photo shoot later. How fun, Brini, that we are doing these installations concurrently. Peas in a pod, err, appliance centers in the wall. Maybe we can do our big reveals at the same time?

Read more about my continuing coverage of vintage appliance centers:

• This NOS Westinghouse Automatic Appliance Center recently sold for $306 on ebay. Beauteous. Who got it, please? Here is a 1957 advertisement for this Westinghouse Appliance Center.
• Tim — who does product development at Rejuvenation — spotted this Westinghouse Appliance Center  – a different design from the ones above – one when he was looking for a house in Portland, Oregon, in early 2009.
• I found myself a NOS Sunbeam Automatic Control in 2008. The illustration above is from the marketing material for my Sunbeam, not the one currently for sale.
• Here is a slightly difference design of the Sunbeam — it’s different than mine, includes a clock.
• Okay, here’s another variation — the Sunbeam Appliance Center is built into the cabinet. Yum.

Keep on the lookout, dear readers, if there are more designs, we want — need — to see them! xoxo

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After writing about the classic String System shelving designed in Sweden in 1949, I am mellowing on my attitude toward writing about Ikea. In the past, I was kind of anti-Ikea because (1) I had a bad experience with quality about 10 years ago [office table that looked terrible after excrutiating assembly process] and (2) well, Ikea is not doing it “The Hard Way.” But thinking further about the String system, I decided to give Ikea and its current generation of Scandinavian designs another look-see. I went online shopping and my best find: The Ekby shelf, above — quite similar in concept to the String Plexi. In fact, I found a number of powder-coated storage solutions that I think are worth knowing about.

The Ekby design seems very similar in concept to the String Plexi system — except the sides of the Ekby shelf unit are powder-coated steel, while the String Plexi sides are plexiglass.

The Ekby shelf sides come in powder-coated white or green steel. That green is very nice — very 1960s, an ascendant color, for sure.

Size of this unit is 31″W x 23″H x 7.5″D. Strangely, the website indicates two different prices — one for $35 and another for $50 — for two almost-identical versions; the only difference I could find was in the way the shelves were finished, one had foil, the other, paint. In any case, you can only get these in the store.

I could see this little number doing duty in lots of place in the house.

Woah! You can also buy just the sides, a pair costs $20. Also available in white. Add… glass for a bathroom? Add stainless steel for a kitchen? Hmmm, these bits seem like good fodder for a hack.

Also new to the market: The Raskog kitchen cart in blue from Ikea. This is super cute. Also, how about considering it for the bathroom for toiletries and other small storage…  for the mudroom for gloves… or for the office studio for art supplies.

Also available in dark gray.

Ikea seems to have identified powder-coated steel shelves, storage and accessories as a market that’s ripe. Which makes me happy, because things made from steel last a long, long time. Hurray for durability! Ikea also has a new “Kvissle” line of desk accessories, which is quite nice looking. This letter tray is just one piece – there are more.

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Big Chill Classic

Big Chill Retropolitan

Smeg

Rustoleum

Viking

Sub-Zero

Elmira Stove Works

Aga

It was only after I wrote about where to find pink refrigerators that I did some research and found that there is even greater demand for red refrigerators. I’m guessing this is because… there are lots of folks with black and white and red kitchens — a classic “diner kitchen’ color palette. White and red kitchens are also popular, and I suspect there are more than a few men looking for a red fridge for the man cave or garage. No matter what the reason, red refrigerators are smokin’ hot — evidenced by the fact that I found even more of them available than pastel pink. Read on for nine 10 places to find a full-sized red refrigerator, plus a mini-make-that-11…

Following along with my photo spread, above, starting at the top and moving left to right:

• #1 — Big Chill’s classic retro refrigerator comes in two sizes, a 20.9 cu.ft. unit and a 14.4 cu.ft. unit. They also have an undercounter fridge that you can get in their complete color palette, including red. Link: Big Chill refrigerators.
• #2 — Big Chill’s Retropolitan refrigerator has more of a Jetson’s look and the freezer on the bottom. It is 18.5 cu.ft in size– and it is 2″ less deep so sticks out less. Link: Big Chill refrigerators.
• #3 — The Northstar refrigerator by Elmira Stove Works comes in three sizes and variations: The 19 cu.ft. model has the freezer on the bottom, while the freezer is on the top in 18.2 cu.ft. and 11 cu.ft. models. You can also get the 11 cu.ft. model with a built-in kegger. Link: Northstar refrigerators.
• #4 — The Smeg ’tis a baby doll, coming in at just 9.2 cu.ft., but she is oh so cute. Link: Smeg refrigerators.
• #5 — Take your plain-Jane refrigerator to an auto body shop or industrial painting place — Professional painting joints can consult online paint color guides to match or help get you the color you want. The advantages of professional painting include (1) they have access to very durable automotive paints, (2) they use dust-free booths to avoid itsy bitsies ruining your smooth glossy finish, and (3) someone else does it. However, you will have to get your fridge there and back, and this will cost you, of course.
• #6 — Spray paint your existing fridge yourself. Rustoleum’s Apple Red gloss spray paint should help you do the trick. Rustoleum has an epoxy spray paint specifically for appliances — but it does not come in red . So, I asked Rustoleum if they could advise on how to use this less fancy red spray paint to do a fridge, either metal or vinyl/plastic. Here is what they said: “Painter’s Touch would work fine on the fridge.  We also have a spray paint called Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover 2X that also comes in Candy Pink. The real advantage of using Ultra Cover 2X is that it offers twice the coverage of general purpose spray paints.  It also has distribution at The Home Depot and many hardware and paint stores, so it’s easy to buy anywhere in the US. According to our brand management team, before painting the vinyl/plastic parts of the fridge, prime them with Specialty Plastic Primer.  For metal, you can prime with a Stops Rust Clean Metal primer for added durability. You could use Painters Touch Ultra Cover 2X Clear over the Apple Red, but priming would be the most important step. If you topcoat with the Clear, apply it within 1 hour after painting or after 48 hours.”
• #7 -- Viking Range – Looks to me like you can get Viking Range built-in refrigerators in a two shades of red — Racing Red and Candy Red. There are also stoves and other complementary appliances to match.
• #8 – To complement its line of 1800s-style stoves, Elmira Stove Works also has designed a refrigerator, and you can get it in a shade of red.
• #9 – Aga makes several styles of refrigerators, and they come in claret, a wine-colored shade of red.

Of course… #10… if you just want a little dash of retro red, you can always just go for a mini fridge to impart the vibe. There are number of models out there, including this 3.2 cu.ft. model from Nostalgia Electrics (affiliate link).

And update #11 — See the comments for Summit’s refrigerator painting program.

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