
Maribeth’s kitchen points to another excellent idea for retro styled kitchen cabinets: Have your kitchen cabinets built out of MDF, then paint them. Heck yeah there is more →
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Maribeth’s kitchen points to another excellent idea for retro styled kitchen cabinets: Have your kitchen cabinets built out of MDF, then paint them. Heck yeah there is more →
MIB NOS bathroom and kitchen items are still out there, readers. Reader Tami made a big score with this 1980 Mercury exhaust fan, which she found for $27 on craigslist. I asked her if she could tell us the whole story and some more about what’s going on in her kitchen: Heck yeah there is more →
I love this photo posted on our vintage steel kitchen cabinet Forum…and I fussed with it to make it look like an old polaroid. These are 1957 yellow GE cabinets, for sale in St. Louis. How many readers have steel kitchen cabinets — are installing them — or on the hunt?
Where has Karmi been all these many months? Well, I know. I hear from her via email now and then…she’s been lurking, she tells me. And — she’s a-workin’ on her kitchen. Then, there’s that thing called “life” and “work” going on, too. She wrote me the other day. Says the kitchen is almost done. The main countertop had to go back for rework (oh, we know these things happen…) but this piece fit. Enjoy this little slice of her aqua and pink kitchen. The whole kit and kaboodle to come soon.

A view of the Koravos family kitchen. Courtesy of Historic New England. Used on this site with permission.
THE 1957 KITCHEN from the Koravos family home in Andover, Massachusetts is the eye candy of the America’s Kitchens exhibition. Imagine original robin’s egg blue metal cabinets, stainless Westinghouse wall oven and cooktop, and canary yellow Formica counters with space-age patterning, all in near pristine condition. Mrs. Koravos preferred to cook in a second full kitchen in her basement, leaving this one on the first floor, which her guests would see, clean and clutter-free. Heck yeah there is more →
This photo of the White House family kitchen is from 1992…but if you jump onto this White House Museum page, you can see the kitchen when it was first installed in the private family quarters area by and for Jackie Kennedy. And glory be, it sure looks like her cabinets were Geneva’s. Heck yeah there is more →
I was a bit on the young side to watch The Donna Reed Show, which aired from 1958 to 1966. But when I was first shopping for a vintage stove, a refurbisher not too far away wanted me to buy a pristine electric Philco, which he called “a real Donna Reed model.” Drats. It was. But I skipped it because Mr. Retro Renovation wanted a gas stove. But, we ended up with electric anyway — and the story continues because the 1959 GE Pushbutton that we ultimately bought from the same guy was the trade-in for the pristine Donna Reed model. Oh well. So now, I get to show you Donna Reed’s kitchen. Heck yeah there is more →
Reader Jeff spotted these St. Charles cabinets just like Erika’s for sale at Construction Junction in Pittsburgh. They are spectacular. And a terrific price: $600 for this set, and a second set available for $500. That is A LOT of cabinets to work with, with makes it easier to fit into your kitchen — a rare find. Woah, I love these. Love love love love love. Thanks, Jeff!!! You get exclamation points for this one.

UPDATE (Oct 2011): Click over to –> this story to get an update on all three sources for boomerang laminate. Where to find a retro Formica countertop for a red, black and white kitchen? Pamela recently wrote to ask: Hi! I bought a home a couple of years ago … it’s a 10-year-old FL ranch, [...]

UPDATE (Oct 2011): Click over to –> this story to get an update on all three sources for boomerang laminate. In wake of the news that Formica is discontinuing, or has discontinued, two shades of our beloved boomerang laminate, I started receiving reports from readers of other discontinuations. I checked with the super duper helpful [...]

Reader Sarah successfully removed a layer of more modern laminate from her yummy gold-speckled mid-century laminate beneath. She wrote about her experience — and the products she used — on her blog, Sarahs’ Blue Castle. But before you jump over there, take a look at her note to me and my comments here first –>

“…Eliminates the final telltale sign of laminate – the brown line.” I am a big believer in the idea that the most significant design shifts tend to come from technological breakthroughs. The advance of laminate kitchen countertops — replacing linoleum and wood in most kitchens in the 1950s — came as a result of the [...]

Following up on Monday’s exciting post about the Arpa USA palette of solid-color laminates, let’s take a look at how to use this material to recreate this 1959 Ma Bell kitchen. It would be oh-so-easy! Elements include: Laminate cabinetry using Arpa’s “Jardin” colorway. Cabinet pulls: Rejuvenation’s new midcentury “sharp arch”, in satin chrome Countertops are [...]
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