First, George tells us about the range — it went in first:

…I had been reading “Atomic Home” by Whitney Matheson, and slowly designing my home in mid-century motif, after the pictures in this book…. The stove was a rescue from the San Francisco Mission District – the owner had the stove in the trash bin. When I came upon it… I thought, gosh, somebody is going to throw this thing away and it looked like it still had some life left in it…  Oh, yes, my research indicates that the stove is from 1959 in terms of model year….Love to gaze at the stove and play “Affair in Aruba” by Les Baxter to get the true feel of the mid-century…I swear by the stove, and it cooks wonderfully.

George does note that he had to do some work to replace inconsistently-heating burners….”Well, it took me about 2 years,” he admits.

Here’s the story on the wall oven and the brick veneer surround. George writes:

For the wall oven, I was lucky enough to find a couple who had purchased an Eichler knock-off in Palo Alto, CA, and were planning to rip-out the high-grade Formica countertops and remove the existing, GE turquoise appliances (original to the house). They were going to re-do the entire house and turn-around to sell it. Luckily they advertised the wall oven on Craigslist, one of my typical haunts for mid-century collecting.

It was here that I picked-up the GE wall oven to match the circa-1959 stove. The wall oven had been in very good condition, as the former owners of the house seldom used it (according to the buyers of the house, and people from whom I purchased the wall oven). The former owners of the home didn’t have any young children that might have rough-housed the oven. It was, however, quite dirty. So I purchased for approx. $100.00 and cleaned it up with some Easy-Off (slowly becoming my best friend), and some latex gloves.

After reading through some 1950-1960 mid-century magazines, I decided to add a brick enclosure for the wall oven to my already pretty-mid-century kitchen. I had a carpenter come in and add the build-out for not too much money ($400). A mason added the brick façade (thin-brick, available at a local stone factory) – this was a bit more ($1,000 altogether labor and materials). Walla, I think it made a nice addition to the beautiful stove.

There you have it, a keen, all-electric kitchen (AEK) with turquoise appliances by GE, circa 1959-1965.

Oops, almost forgot. I purchased the ceiling exhaust fan off E-Bay about four years ago (see top of photo) – this was $150; it was new-in-box. Simultaneously with installation of the wall oven and brick, I had an HVAC installer install the fan over the renovated stove ($350). Works great; the ceiling fan was manufactured by a company called National out of Ocala, FL (no longer in business – I looked for it). The model is “Chef-Aire.” The fan is circa 1970s, is 9-inches in diameter, and has metal blades and a heavy, metal crank-shaft inside built to last a lifetime (as long as you oil it each six-months according to the instructions). Guess they didn’t have Teflon ball-bearings back in those days. I had a damper installed to prevent back-flow of cold-air into the house during the winter. I forgot that these fans are a bit louder then those available today, ahhh but nostalgia….My aunt’s home in Miami, FL (circa 1964) had one of these near the kitchen stove.

Anyhow, take care and hope all is going well.

George – Pleasant Hill, CA

Thank you so much for sharing, George. The whole thing is genius. Adding brick veneer to a kitchen is a great – and not too expensive — way to add visual interest. And, I know you have more going on in that house of yours, so look forward to doing another feature soon.

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Hi Pam,

Background – I’m planning on remodeling and moving my kitchen (just got the plan/engineering estimate today – $5k! Ouch! That doesn’t even include the permits yet, which will run another $2-3k). Since I’m into vintage/retro most everything except toilet paper (for obvious reasons), I will be putting a 1949 Tappan Deluxe in my new kitchen. I was just going to spruce up my current old exhuast fan and hood since it is 48″ wide to put over the Tappan. I routinely search Craigslist for building items, and saw an ad for a brand new in the box Mercury 621 vertical exhaust fan for $27, but didn’t call because I had planned on my old hood and cabinets over my stove.

I saw the ad reposted two more times…and still I didn’t call – can you believe that? What was I thinking? Then one day I was playing around with my house plan software and decided to see how things looked by deleting the cabinets over the stove which would really be no loss to me since I’m only 5′ 2″ and can never reach anything up there unless it is in very front of the cabinet, and I’m on tiptoes. My software has a 3D view so I could see what things looked like – and wow! I loved it without those cabinets…..then I remembered that Mercury fan, which I would just place in the soffit above the stove. Could I be so lucky that it was still available? I searched CL for “mercury fan” and there it was again, posted for the 4th (or maybe 5th or 6th) time! I called the owner, and picked it up the next day leaving $27 poorer, and one brand new clean and shiny Mercury fan richer.

Two pictures attached – grill and directions. Interesting, this was shipped to a hardware store in Oakland CA – I’ll have to look them up to see if they are still in business! Also, the fan direction sheet said at the very bottom, tiny print: Rev. 4/80 – so this fan is no older than April of 1980.

Tami

Thanks, Tami, for sharing. Good luck with the kitchen reno. Buckle your seatbelts, you know it’s always…bumpy.

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LAST YEAR Nutone discontinued the satin chrome grille its classic ceiling / wall exhaust fan, replacing it with an unexciting plastic housing. It’s taken me a while – but here are two other options to dash ahead of Nutone on our selection list.

First: The Marley 1080 (first, leading image) — but note, the install instructions say this is NOT RATED for KITCHENS. No chrome. But that’s a powder-coated steel grille…much better…and I like that brassy knob in the center.There is also a wall-mount model with pull switch. Marley sells their fans nationally through electrical distributors such as GrayBar, Cresent Electric, AllPhase, for example. You can find the fans via online retailers, as well, and there may be some price competition… but I’ll tell you, I like dealing with folks I can talk to. Marley’s website does note seem to show this fan, but here is the PDF of its install instructions: http://www.marleymep.com/en/multimedia-library/pdf/mep-pdf/products/residential-bath-fans/home-kitchen-fans/1080/5200-2535-000.pdf

Second: The Trade-Wind AF7 from Universal Metal Industries. It also has a steel grille with a powder coated paint finish – nice. This fan is a legacy of the Trade-Wind brand, which has been around for decades. I see lots of Trade-Wind ads in my vintage marketing materials.  I did not ask the company for its distributors, but I am assuming that as with Marley fans, you can get them from local electrical distributors. Link to the Trade-Wind site here.

Be careful when specifying these exhaust fans for your kitchens. There are usually building codes with air flow requirements; check with your Building Department or another professional, or you may not pass inspection. Marley’s spec sheet for the model I show says it handles 280 cfm. The Trade-Wind AF7 says 290 cfm. One Nutone model is 210 cfm, other models are less. Note: If you use one of these, property specified, you do not need a range hood. Some folks continue to prefer the range hood, though, to catch grease as well.

Drum roll, please. These two options hereforeto move ahead of Nutone on the retro recommendation list.

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