How old is this metal kitchen sink base? Emily writes in…

She writes:

I have a coppertone cabinet-sink combo thing that looks like it dates from when our house was built: 1954.  Its kind of half-cabinets half-sink — I know nothing about this stuff.  Is there someone who specializes in this that I could email a picture to identify it?

Thanks so much.  The lady who owned the home before us obviously loved every millimeter of it and took loving care of this in particular.  I’m not sure that this is a keeper for us, but I would like to know more about it.

Emily: I think this is a relic of the late 60s or early 70s. Remember harvest gold and avocado green? This color – an earthy, coppertone brown – went hand-in-hand along with them. This piece is amazing to see. At first I got the heebeejeebees (the 70s were not my best years) but blink! and I was over it. LOVE IT! Work with it, girl – you can have some amazing decorating fun with this! And it’s been cared for – hurray. Toss it out and I assure you — in 10 years, you will regret it. Deeply.

If you want to know more about vintage steel kitchen cabinets, Emily, you are now in the right place. Go to the Steel Kitchen Cabinets  Category and read on. Also, see the Forum – the internet’s sole spot to buy and sell vintage metal cabinets – 60+ brands identified to date!

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Yowza – a time capsule American Kitchens sink base, porcelain top, faucet – the works. It’s amazing – but you know these treasures are out there. I would snap this up in a hearbeat if I lived in Idaho!

STILL CRATED! LATE 40’s EARLY 50’s KITCHEN SINK AND CABINET – $500 (NAMPA). LATE 40’s EARLY 50’s KITCHEN SINK AND CABINET! UNBELIEVABLE! FOUND IN THE BACK OF A GARAGE. NEVER USED.PERFECT CONDITION IF YOU ARE INTO RETRO THIS IS A MUST. MEASURES 54W 25D 36T ADD APPRX 6″ FOR BACK SPLASH. SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY… sale-894496866@craigslist.org

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This is a fun one!

Teacher Kerri is the shepherd of three kitchens’ worth of vintage Geneva’s and of course – her students.

Dig this incredible extended kitchen – and read on for her question – and my response.

Hi, Pam!

Recently I “inherited” a Family and Consumer Science (HomeEc) classroom with Geneva kitchen cabinets. The school — which is in Lawrence, Kansas — was built in 1960. They are still in good condition so I am interested in sprucing them up a bit. What are the original colors these cabinets were made? The current (and original I believe) color is a pinkish beige.

Here are a couple of my questions:

1) If I am able to get them repainted, how should they be painted? Sprayed, brushed, etc. If sprayed, is there a certain way it should be done?

2) Since I can’t change the color of the Geneva emblem, do you have a suggestion as to what color should be used? I kind of pictured them in a pearl gray, which would be similar to one of the pull-out trays in the cabinets.

If I were to try to stay with school spirit, the school colors are Columbia blue and white. That shade of blue is a medium light blue, which might not look too bad, but might not look good with the emblem. I would like to stay with a color that would help conceal dirt so don’t want to go too light.

Because these cabinets are in a junior high, I don’t really want them to look too retro or the students will think it looks out of style.

Thanks for your help!

Kerri Hess
Family and Consumer Sciences
West Junior High

Well, Kerri, in a word, I recommend: Aquamarine, aka Holiday Turquoise. See the Sherwin-Williams Suburban Modern palette here for the correct vintage shade. And, you can see my Geneva kitchen – pretty much the same make and model year as yours — here — to get the idea.

The reasons I recommend aquamarine:

• I am telling you, my 8th grader’s friends – boys and girls – LOVE our kitchen, led of course, by the color. It’s youthful but…sophisticated. It’s also quite an au-courant color today – the kid’s don’t even need to know that it’s authentic retro.
• This color will harmonize with your school blue chairs.
• Regarding the badges – they should come off via screws inside the cabinet. For your use, I think I would take them off and replace them with….decorative magnets. Over time, I’d keep an eye out for aquamarine Geneva badges. Funny as it sounds, these things turn up once you put your retro renovation vibes out into the universe.
• If you want or need to replace the countertops – how about the aquamarine Formica Skylark boomerang laminate? Again, I have it in my kitchen, and it’s been a big hit. That said, the countertop you have — is it sparkle dust laminate? swoon! — looks fine. We also heartily approve of your vintage VCT tile floor. If you do replace the counters – go to New York Metal for edging – and be sure to donate the counters to your local ReStore, we retro renovators want sparkle dust flecked laminate!
• Finally, one of our most active readers/contributors is Lawrence Bill, from your fair city. Maybe he wants to come down to consult…or make a presentation on mid century modern to your students?
• I bet you could even get a newspaper story out of this whole experience!

Regarding Kerri’s other questions:

• She’s already reported back that the maintenance staff says they will powder-coat the cabinets, just as they do lockers.
• And Kerri, regarding colors that we used in 1960 – pretty much all the colors that you see on the SW interiors palette were used – even pink flamingo! Oh yeah – and harvest gold of course!

Let us know what you decide – and how it turns out!

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Hey Pam,

I am building a new house and I am doing a 50’s theme kitchen. I have a 60″ Beauty Queen sink base cabinet that needs to be restored. I am trying to find some replacement plastic rollers for the drawers and some new hinge springs as well as the rubber bump stops for the doors. Thanks, John

Hey John, thanks for the question. Sorry, but am not a hardware person – and man, do I get a lot of questions just like this one. Fortunately, among Retro Renovation Readers we have many bright lights, so Readers: Any idea where John can look for itsy bitsy replacement parts?

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Catherine and others have pinged me about this fabulous aqua GE steel kitchen for sale in Fenton, Michigan. It’s also on the Postwar Steel cabinet Forum. What a ginormous set – any takers? Thanks, Catherine — and to everyone who sends me ideas for posts. I really really appreciate it!

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I am SO obsessed with steel kitchen cabinets. Where in the world did I get that, it is so weird. I also am fascinated with anything vintage from Sears & Roebuck and these cabinets in Minnesota are very snappy indeed.

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Spotted these pink St. Charles’ on craigslist, and have invited the seller to post to the Postwar Steel cabinet Forum. These photos are pretty bad, but I wanted to show them in particular to spotlight the use of glass block as backsplash. If your architecture is amenable, how terrific! I like the look of that stove, too. In Kansas City.

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A big, fabulous set of 1956 yellow GE steel kitchen cabinets just spotted and posted to the Postwar Steel Forum. Looks like there’s a color-coordinated dishwasher, cooktop, rangehood…and mention of a fridge. Drool drool drool. Be sure to take a look.

And remember, if you register and just check in daily at “Today’s New Posts” you can see…what’s new. For newer readers – the Forum is along the top nav bar, at the right!

$1000 is a great price, especially if they are in as good of condition as advertised. Be sure to let us know if you are the lucky one to snatch these up!

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The discovery of vintage English Rose cabinets, covered in a recent post, was great. But get this: A company in England is actually reproducing these for sale today. John Lewis of Hungerford’s Creme de la Creme cabinets look to be authentic reproductions. An article from two years ago, says that a mid-sized kitchen redo would cost about 15,000 pounds – that’s about $30,000 in U.S. dollars today – not including shipping and any inflation that may have taken place.  Here is their website.

So…if you are wealthy enough and have the desire — here’s another alternative to the new St. Charles’ coming out this month. Or – go vintage and keep your eye on the Postwar Steel Forum on upper right of the nav bar here.

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Scathing Jane seems to have caught the steel kitchen cabinet bug even more than me. She recently sent this TREMENDOUS find my way — English Rose cabinets. Same as in America, England had surplus metals available after the war. In this case: Aluminium. These English Roses are iconic – and now highly collectible.

Here’s a clip from an article about these cabinets: “The first English Rose kitchen was made in Warwickshire in 1948…by CSA Industries, an engineering firm that originally made nose cones for Spitfires. After the war ended, CSA used stock-piles of aircraft-grade aluminium by diversifying into up-market kitchens.”

Interestingly, the drawer design of these cabinets closely resembles our “American” brand, pictured below. Even see how they both have “trolley carts”… hmmm, maybe the companies shared some tooling? Nonethess, the English Roses’ recessed stainless steel handles really distinguish them.

1953 American brand steel kitchen

Thanks, SJ, keep your cabinet finds coming!

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