Finishing up my Youngstown Kitchens 1957 mini-series, here is their Monterey line. The unique selling proposition of this line: Sandalwood-colored steel base cabinets and doors…. with wall cabinets with Sandalwood-stained wooden doors on steel bases. Reading through this marketing material I see: Industry concern about color fatigue, oh no! “Give us a color we can live with for years” and “that goes with everything,” consumers asked, Youngstown explained. Again…as we’ve discussed before…the move away from enamel-painted steel, which was difficult to repaint (and likely getting more expensive), to wood cabinetry (which was easier to re-paint and also had the “furniture look” of adjoining spaces”, was under way.
At the same time we get a new beige color, we get a bunch of other neat-o features approved by all these folks.
I really like these angled slider cabinets that use the space between the countertops and the wall cabinets. I wonder why they never caught on… perhaps a kitchen can be jammed with *too much* storage… cabinets everywhere? Truth be told: The more storage space you have, the more stuff you accumulate, and stuff can become oppressive.
Here’s more detail on the slider cabinets.
Oven cabinet, dishwasher, garbage disposal. Those Youngstown dishwashers were really something.
Different cabinet combinations possible…
Lovely graphics.
And the complete front page. Love the coppertone brown oven. And dig the black lacquer Early American dining set. We haven’t talked about that. Yet. 🙂
Hal Hoover says
I have a set of these as well and have run into a problem opening the wooden upper doors since there are no handles. On both the tall pantry and the tall oven unit, the upper doors are very hard to open. This is because the cut away on the lower backside of the wood door can’t be reached. This cut away works great on the standard cabinets. On the tall pantry, the space between the lower metal doors and the wooden upper doors is so close you can’t get access to the cut out area normally used to open the wood doors. The same situation exists on the oven unit where the top wooden doors are right above a metal partition which again blocks access to the cut out in the wood doors.
The previous owners of the kitchen I have installed regular handles on these upper doors which don’t look to great but at least allow them to be opened.
Hal
Amber Dawn says
I think I might have a variation of that kitchen!
And it’s *gorgeous* but we’re going to have to sell the house soon. Maaaaybe people would be more inclined to preserve the cabinetry if it were a popular name brand? The original color was this odd toned-down pink much like these photos. The doors are wooden, with the shelves covered in “rainbow” laminate. Possibly circa 1948 when the house was built, or when it was updated in the 60’s. Fixtures by American Standard.
Pics of my kitchen cabinets—
https://flic.kr/p/fnKzNn
https://flic.kr/p/fnKzSz
https://flic.kr/p/pAVSdt
https://flic.kr/p/e6kvf6
Anybody know where I might find proof of a name brand? Like a label or a mark on the hinges or something? Thanks! 🙂
pam kueber says
Amber, the Youngstown Montereys in this story had steel boxes and full-overlay wood doors. Your kitchen looks to be all-wood. Many makers of wood cabinets back in the day, including local lumber companies and their suppliers. Likely impossible to say unless they have a label on them. Labels usually are on the front of the sink cabinet.
Corinne Herndon says
My kitchen has the Youngstown cabinets and yesterday one of the cabinet doors fell off. In trying to put it back on, I dropped it and broke the corner of at the top. My question is if there are you stoll making these cabinets or is a cabinet door that I can buy to replace this. The number is No W 680977. I need a door with the woodgrain look 17 3/4x 39 3/4
pam kueber says
This will likely be a tough one. Head on over to our buy/sell Forum for steel kitchen cabinets and see if you can find what you need… Also see all my stories about steel kitchen cabinets – categorized under Kitchens. Good luck.
kathy says
hi, I grew up in Youngstown but was too young to remember this, however, was in Hollywood recently in a diner and they had someof the original ads for Youngstown kitchens on the diner walls, very interesting, makes sense since Youngstown produced steel
Alison Marie says
I would guess those angled slider cabinets died out because they were awful….I’ve used those slider cabinets….when they slide. They doors to get stuck on the track (kitchens, grease, dust) , or things fall inside the cabinet and block the door. Plus they don’t actually give you any more storage space despite the extra visual space they take up by widening out at the top. Perhaps if the bottom was deeper than the top they’d have been a little more useful.
MidCMitzi says
I love the little knitting stand in the corner, with the balls of yarn and needles sticking out!
Lara Jane says
I love the angled & slider cabinets! You just don’t see enough of them. I’d be willing to forgo a bit of storage for them, but like my husband says, I’m definitely “form over function!”
And Pam, I completely get what you’re saying about having too much. I use that very term, “oppressive.” We’re in the process of purging, sorting, and packing, and I can’t believe how much we’ve accumulated in 11 short years of marriage! I don’t want to be burdened by anything I don’t love or use, so we’re paring down and it’s lightening the burden!
Gina says
I wonder if splash wasn’t a problem with the slider cabinets.
catherine says
my sister has these exact cabinets in her (1958) house. sadly, it appears the kitchen had a facelift in the 70s. the cabinets are painted to look like wood and all the original handles are replaced. the original linoleum is under some vinyl sheet, and it’s a really cool grey/white/pink that i bet looked awesome with the original taupe colored cabinets!!
Virginia says
Wow, beer steins! I guess by 1957 a reference to German culture had lost its wartime subtext. Love those slider cabinets!