Day 4, and today I’ve included a select few “honorary” pink kitchens. Kitchens one small step away from full-blown pink, so we can better understand the trend as it unfolded.
31. Every day I come up with yet another new/old pink kitchen that is my all-time favorite. I adore this 1964 pink and brown and black-and-white colonial kitchen. It is so homey and comfortable, but with an innate sophistication, as well.
32. A rather hilarious Formica kitchen, circa 1956. Notice the cabinet that opens up from the top to hold the family booze. More seriously (well, sort of, we’re talking about kitchens after all!) one of several designs that show how the 50s fitted kitchen continued to evolve by moving away from dependence on a single color of cabinetry to a more adventurous use multiple colors.
33. AMAZING how modern — today, even — this 1956 Hotpoint kitchen feels.
34. We only get a snippet of this pink kitchen. We are definitely in the midst of the Mamie years here, 1956. Look at the cool electric burners, though. This style, which folded down from the wall was definitely around and marketed pretty seriously. I don’t know, exactly, why it didn’t catch on.
35. This is a very early40s illustration. And why it really violates my rule for what to include in this series (the cabinets are not pink), I wanted to use it today to show that pink definitely was around in the 40s and exerting its influence in the kitchen. One small step – and Mamie Eisenhower — and this color went directly onto the cabinets.
36. I’m not sure it’s fair to call this one pink — how about “pinktone birch”? It’s from 1956. As we’ve seen in previous posts, staining birch was done.
37. We looked a pink-and-erin-green kitchen yesterday, that I was actually a bit unsure of. Taken from a greater distance, and taking it all in, this is actually a very nice color combo. The dark green gives this pink kitchen a bit of gravitas.
38. My “cheating” continues today and only today. I could not resisting adding this 1954 kitchen as an honorary to the Mamie pink kitchen collection because of that American Standard sink and drainboard combination. I love it!
39. 1955. I am putting apricot into the pink collection. This is what our grandmas’ on the farm kitchen were likely to really look like. Granpa made the cabinets himself. They bought the steel sink base with the awesome porcelain drainboard. ANd of course, the electric stove! You can be sure that a lot of real work was done in this kitchen.
40. Another honorary to the collection. Circa 1954, pink on the rise. Very sophisticated! The cabinets are excellent – they are a short-lived (I believe) American-Standard design. Note how they hung a shelf below with 18″ wall cabinets – this was actually an option, the text (cropped out) said. Very clever.
Melissa says
I am looking for the American Standard cabinet pulls on picture #40. I cannot find them anywhere! I have the exact cabinets in my home. Can anyone please help me! Thanks!!
pam kueber says
I don’t know where you can find reproductions of these, Melissa. Tough one.
Wesley says
Not really sure about the pink kitchen thing but I have a question. I have the drop down stove from slide 34 that is in working condition. Its a General Motors Frigidaire 4 burner drop down that I believe is original to the house. My house was built in 1954 so it kinda fits. I am interested in selling it but I was wanting to know what its worth and where I could sell it?
Cayli says
What is your copyright policy if I were to use one of these pictures for educational purposes only?
karmi_woolfe says
Pam ~ and others ~ I have a question. In many of these old ads, I see the walls and/or ceiling painted the same color as the cabinets. Since I am painting my own cabinets, I wondered if I should use the same glossy paint on my walls. ??? The guys at SW thought that was funny, but what do they know?! I also want to know if anyone truly had a pink ceiling in the 50’s. I always picture a white ceiling with round swirly textures, but I never see them in ads. Please help…as I am trotting along in my kitchen project and may even have a ceiling or walls soon! FYI — my kitchen “lives” somewhere between 1948 and 1954. Thanks!
Alison says
As a kid I read, cover to cover, all the cookbooks my mom had received as 1968 newlywed. Her aunts were rather old-fashioned so the cookbooks were too. Several went beyond recipes into how to set up and maintain a household, with many specifics on kitchens. This is all to say that as late as 1950 the idea of washable, glossy paint on ALL non-tile kitchen surfaces was definitely the recommendation. I remember an example of “what if a pressure cooked jars of tomatoes bursts open? washable ceiling is a must.”
Amy says
oh! I am SO drooling over all of those kitchens 🙂
maddy123 says
The cabinets in the final picture remind me of my 1980s era cabinets in a house I used to live in. Very similar.
leslie says
Wow, pic #39’s cabinets are exactly the color that my kitchen originally was. Gee thanks! I discovered the color hidden under layers and layers of paint while renovating. Additionally, the little wavy detail over the window looks mighty similar. Funny enough I also have that precise copper pendant lamp, 2 to be exact. One in the kitchen, one in the foyer. I am thinking although the house was built in 1950, it is much more about the 1940’s.
Also, who would have thought that stainless steel appliances (which I have possibly been the weakest fan of) were actually retro and not high tech industrial? Seems they are all over the 50’s & making perfect sense with the metallic counter edging, cabinet pulls and multiple uses of colors, tints and tones. Hmmm, might rethink this kitchen thing entirely. Also love the stove tops and built in ovens, so clean.
PS, just discovered liebherr appliances (fridges) & while they are hardly giving them away, they seem like viable alternatives between super duper fabulous sub-zero’s (gorgeous in every way as Pam has already said) and the monsters that don’t fit into smaller retro kitchens. A friend in Europe sent the link and they are available in the states. Anyone have any liebherr experience?
thanks so much Pam, you have opened up a new world!
foutchie says
Love the pink w/color, but what’s with the orange thrown in so often as “accent”? I don’t like that at all~! Love the pink porcelain 1954 drainboard/sink, but hate it with the yellow countertop! The first kitchen is great, but would be better if they would have stuck with either brown or black as the accent – pink/brown/black just is jarring IMHO…….wonder if anyone actually followed these combination color choices? Really do love the pale green/pink combos – my fav!
Femme1 says
I wonder if that backsplash in #36, the pink-tone birch kitchen, is made of copper tiles? I’ve seen these in some 50s ranches, as well as stainless steel tiles. The copper dining area lamp is also copper, and perhaps the hardware on the cabinets, too.
Gotta love that copper!
meb says
I tend to agree with you. Copper shows up a bit in the fifties, and a little more in the sixties. My mid-sixties kitchen is whispering “copper” to me, and it has birch cabinets as well. ????