Retro Renovation

Larry in Vermont writes:
My wife and I bought this house last year and it has a really old kitchen in it. It has a sink that says Electric sink in chrome letters. The material on the wall looks like metal but it is not metal. It is like particle board underneath with a [...]

No Comments »

This 1957 Youngstown kitchen has such a California look to me…the sky blue, the wall of windows. To be sure, the California design aesthetic took on new importance in postwar America. It was not until then — when incredible growth occurred on the west coast due to ramping up for the Pacific theater conflict — [...]

4 Comments »

Youngstown Kitchens were the #1 brand of steel kitchen cabinets across America in the postwar period. As a result, we see lots of these “fitted kitchen” sets come available for sales - with lots of choices of cabinets pieces.
While I am still in the early stages of gathering the history of these cabinets, I do [...]

1 Comment »

Jay and Jamie are house flippers in Nashville. I spotted their listing around New Year’s, because it promised restored Youngstown cabinets. Here’s what they had to say about why they retained the cabinets, prospects’ reaction - and the process they used:
We found the cabinets to be in overall good shape…. As far as the [...]

5 Comments »

Scathing Jane in Atlanta is looking for some more St. Charles metal cabinets to build out her set. She’ll send her sons to get them as far as Chicago or anywhere along the east cost, she has a big  kitchen to fill. Please take a look at her post on the Postwar Steel Forum, and [...]

1 Comment »

Mich Cobra 427 — the first real poster on our new metal kitchen cabinet forum — found a match within a week!!!
In stocking the forum, I spotted a big set of Youngstown metal kitchen cabinets in Ypsilanti, just west of Detroit. I let Mike (MC427) know about them, and he ended up buying them yesterday. [...]

3 Comments »

I’ve been working hard on the Postwar Steel kitchen cabinet forum - loading it up so when people go to search - they find this one first. If you register (sorry - required - or spammers destroy your site), then you can simply to to “View Today’s Posts” along the “Welcome” bar just above Salesman [...]

No Comments »

I launched a new feature on the blog a couple of days ago. It’s along the top navigation bar — the new Postwar Steel forum.
Take a look, and you will see that it’s entirely focused on vintage steel kitchen cabinets: Buyers, sellers, owners & curious fans alike.
So far, I’ve identified 30+ different brands of steel [...]

8 Comments »

Palm Springs Stephan told us how to repaint our vintage steel kitchen cabinets via the powder coating method at the local industrial place. A beautiful finish - but yes, will cost some money.
As an alternative, Kay points us to the highly labor-intensive — but very inexpensive — method that has stormed through the car reno [...]

1 Comment »

Vintage steel kitchen cabinets are my #1 passion, even ahead of vintage stoves. These things are awesome. Get some of your own if you don’t already. In celebration of the large set now on ebay: A showcase of some gorgeous 1957 St. Charles Kitchens. 1957 was a great year — so deep in the heart [...]

2 Comments »