Orange kitchen cabinets — yes! I call this vintage color “bittersweet”, and it makes me want to repaint my vintage kitchen orange! The lovely Mitzi of Vintage Goodness fame picked up this 13-page catalog of Youngstown steel kitchen cabinets at a tag sale, and before she resold it, she scanned it to share with other Retro Renovators. We don’t have a date from the catalog, but I’m guessing late 1950s, based on the inclusion of this bittersweet orange color, and from the look of the appliances. 52PostnBeam, what do you think? Note from the image above: The mix of totally mid mod groovy orange and yellow with a classic country farm table and Windsor chairs. Don’t be afraid to mix it up, it’ll be all the more interesting. Thanks, Mitzi! xoxox
john hermann says
i have a bunch of youngstown cabinits and a frigidiare flair stove for sale
pam kueber says
john, you can post them on our forum: https://retrorenovation.com/forum
Jeff Spriegel says
Does anyone have advice on getting a couple replacement parts for my Youngstwon cabinets? I need a couple pulls, the dampers (little rubber inserts), and several of those little brass things that screw in to keep the cabinet shut. Thanks for your help.
Sue says
We just purchase a 1960’s lake home with Youngstone cabinets and Turquoise formica counters. I am trying to convince my husband to keep the early 60’s integrity and preserve the cabinets and counters. Are they valuable? My husband will be more easily swayed if there is a monitary value to the cabinets.
Help!
Sue
pam kueber says
Sue, see the Forum to assess the market: https://retrorenovation.com/forum … I also have a post “how much are my steel cabinets worth” – accessible via the Kitchen/Steel cabinets category, FAQs or search bar
Lisa says
We just put an offer in on a 1950’s ranch style bungalow today. The kitchen was done in awful 70’s wood cabinets, but in the basement they had these Youngstown metal cabinets, complete with boomerang handles and formica counter top, that they were using a extra storage. I loved them! I’m sure they were originally up in the kitchen!
Oh how I wish they had kept the original kitchen! If we get the house, this website will help me to either put the cabinets back up in the kitchen or do an updated version! Thanks!
Lisa
Tina says
These were the cabinets in the house I grew up in! We had the brown, “wood grain” look with copper-ish colored handles (don’t you love those pointed shapes?).
I sadly left some of these in the basement when we sold my parents’ home a few years ago. They had moved them as a unit to the basement for extra storage when they remodeled the kitchen in the 1980s.
Oh.. and the white laminate countertops with green boomerangs completed the look.
Maybe I just realized why I love this stuff so much! :–)
Chris says
Image 10 — Wallpaper on the ceiling!?!?!?!?! Freaky-deeky!
kristinski says
I think it might be earlier than the late 50s, because I have a fridge like the rounded one in the 7th picture and it’s a 1949.
James says
My wife & I visited Farnsworth house a few weeks ago in Plano, IL [open to the public], a much-heralded “glass house” in the international style. It was designed by Mies van der Rohe in the late 1940s. At first I was surprised to find a “St. Charles” metal kitchen [complete with the St. Charles medallion] in the Farnsworth house, as I associate the metal kitchens with “mid-century modest” ranch & bungalow homes. But on second thought, the clean utilitarian lines of the metal kitchens fit-in beautifully with the international style. Mies van der Rohe designed this house and its furnishings down to the very last detail with imported stone, specially fabricated glass, etc., and yet selected mass market metal cabinets for the kitchen- very impressive endorsement for St. Charles!
pam kueber says
James, one of the things that is interesting about this era is something you’ve hit on: While houses may have been very different outside, inside they were often very very similar. High falutin mid century modern homes usually had the same features inside as did simple mid century modest homes. That said: The St. Charles cabinets were the creme de la creme – heavier duty and I assume, pricier. Midcentury modests had Youngstowns and Genevas and other less expensive, more accessible brands.
James says
Pam, I didn’t realize that St. Charles cabinets were the best of the metal cabinetry- of course Mies van der Rohe would pick it for his residential masterpiece!
Vanessa Bugge says
Oh I LOVE the rotary corner cabinet in image 4! How handy is that and no wasted space!! I sure wish my kitchen had those… beautiful collection of kitchen inspiration!