Its pink kitchens #11-20 today, as we continue to look at how the iconic color of the 50’s — “Mamie Pink” — was translated into everyday, middle-class, mid-century homes.
11. This 1959 GE pink+white+copper/brown kitchen is really quite snazzy, I like it a lot!:
12. This one is another take on the ‘49 American-Standard kitchen we saw yesterday, but ready for Thanksgiving. Sweet:
13. A classic St. Charles kitchen with some terrific design elements — another one of my all-time favorites. I used this photo for a “Flashback Design” feature last year, oops, I can’t find the un-numbered image:
14. Republic Kitchens marketed their “Prelude Pink” pretty heavily, circa 1956. A gray palette certainly gives pink a dash of elegance, don’t you think?:
15. A 1957 GE pink kitchen. Awesome refrigerator, and note the wallpapered backsplash. If you’re going to have a pink kitchen, people, you might as well go for it the gusto!:
16. A 1957 ad for a Tappan stove is set with pink Republic steel cabinets. Great looking backsplash here, too:
17. Another 1959 GE pink kitchen — in fact, I just noticed that this is another angle on kitchen #11, although these images were in separate places. Great fridge+fridge combo. Note how nice this soft pink looks with the orange and yellow curtains. And see the wood-grained countertops. My goodness, pink is SO versatile!
18. A teensy illustration from Curtis Kitchens. A wood cabinet company. Painted pink was de rigeur, too:
19. Not sure who made these. Pink with erin green….Hmmmm, this I’m not liking so much, and you know I rarely say that…:
20. I believe that this is 1957, not sure of the maker. They certainly went for pink on pink on pink — Mamie would have approved. The wallpapered ceiling is growing on me — it certainly makes a big statement. And why the heck not!:
This week it’s pink postwar kitchens of every style – from the 40s through to the 60s. Be sure to check in every day, today through Saturday for a festival of Mamie pink!
To start – let’s head right to 1957, the absolute pinnacle year for pink pink pink!
#1: 1957 GE pink kitchen and look at that all-new Refrigeration Center!:
#2, a 1955 Crane kitchen in Blossom Pink:
#3, a 1953 pink Formica kitchen (which we have analyzed before):
#4, 1956 Westinghouse appliances including the cool wall refrigeration unit — with a pink kitchen:
#5, a 1949 American-Standard kitchen — cabinets that foreshadow the frenzy to come:
#6, very pixelated, but I wanted to show this early pink St. Charles kitchen as well:
#7, a few years later now in the heart of the Mamie years, a 1955 St. Charles pink kitchen:
#8, yes, I’ve been dreaming of a 1956 Westinghouse pink kitchen:
#9, an early- to mid-50s Geneva Blossom Pink kitchen with the classic accent color, red:
And number 10 for today: This gorgeous 1958 GE pink kitchen, which incorporates wood and 60s groove:
“Mamie Pink.” The iconic decorating color of the 50s, arguably. Ubiquitous in fashion as well as 50s bathrooms and kitchens, of course!
The mid-century trend to pink seems to have come directly and irrefutably from Mamie Eisenhower, first lady from 1953 to 1961. Pink was Mamie’s favorite color. She wore a pink gown with 2,000 pink rhinestones to Ike’s inauguration. Ike sent her pink flowers every morning. Her bathroom in Gettysburg was pink down to the cotton balls. She re-decorated the private quarters in the White House in pink. So much so that reporters called it the “Pink Palace.” The color also seems to have been known as “First Lady Pink.” As a result of all this pink-think, there was probably no question that American women (and marketers) would pick up on it. It also was a color trend right in line with the exuberance of the time — and even supportive of the return of women to the home after WWII and their complete remaking of the American domestic landscape.
In fact, my own informal research from scouring marketing materials from the period indicates that pink kitchens and baths arrived solidly in ‘53, reached a total frenzy in 1957, then pretty rapidly started to fade after that, as other trends took hold. A typical adoption curve for a trend like this.
I have an aquamarine kitchen – the decorating gods sided with my husband on this decision. But I really truly wanted pink. I have to admit, a total fixation.
So much so, that: Tomorrow I am starting a very special series: More than 60 pink kitchens, rolled out over the week. A festival of pink pink pink to start the month. So be sure to check back in, to check it out.
Meanwhile: Here’s a nice story about Mamie…Photo of her at right is from the Library of Congress collection:
All About Mamie
By Jan Biles
The Capital-Journal (Topeka, Kansas)
Published Sunday, November 18, 2007
Not much is known about Mamie Doud Eisenhower.
She was a dutiful wife and mother who stood in the background as her husband, Dwight, excelled in his military career during World War II and then led the country from the Oval Office as the 34th president from 1953 to 1961. Read the rest here from the Topeka, KS, Capitol-Journal online.
Since so many readers are dealing with pink legacies, I’m on the lookout for vintage treatments. I actually wanted a pink kitchen, but the decorating gods rewarded my husband with the aquamarine that he preferred.
This Beauty Queen kitchen and lavanette are from the same company, Toledo Desk and Fixture Co., Maumee, Ohio. Oh how I wish I had a lavanette! (See one also in blue, in this 2007 post.)
And, the kitchen is pretty sweet, too. Notice the drawers that convex out – like the English Rose’s and Americans. And, the great stainless steel or chrome handles, like the GE’s. Very stylish!
It’s been a while since I did a Tuesday flashback kitchen design – only because I had so many other posts lined up. But I’m reviving them, because they are so much fun.
Holey moley, look at this pink Formica kitchen. I have to admit, I wanted a pink kitchen, not aquamarine. My husband won, and anyway, it was meant to be, because that’s the kitchen that found us. Even so, there is a super soft spot in my heart for this kitchen and others like this. Here are some flashback observations, starting at 10 o’clock:
