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Home / Kitchen / Vintage Steel Kitchen Cabinets

Vintage GE kitchen ‘cabinettes’

pam kueber - March 20, 2011, Updated: December 29, 2021

vintage GE steel kitchen cabinet set
Double the Fun: Both kinds of GE Cabinettes in this vintage GE kitchen in Quincy, Mass.!

Today: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About “Cabinettes” But Were Afraid To Ask.” Over on the Retro Renovation Forum (no longer online), cabinet-hunter pja2trees wasn’t afraid to ask, “Could you please explain what a ‘cabinette’ is?” 52PostnBeam, aka Helen, who is the mega-expert, responded:

vintage GE steel kitchen cabinets with cabinettes in two sizes
Cabinettes under the GE wall refrigerator… and under the wall cabinets in this kitchen for sale in Quincy, Mass. — there were two heights of Cabinettes.

A ‘cabinette’ is a small cabinet with sliding glass doors, popularized by General Electric. It’s usually mounted under the upper cabinets, or less frequently they’d be mounted atop the backsplash, with the base cabinets slightly extended from the wall to accommodate. They’re often seen in conjunction with the GE Wonder Kitchen and the GE wall mounted fridge — products both marketed in the mid 50s.

GE cabinettes in mies van der rohe kitchen
Chris’s Mies van der Rohe GE Wonder Kitchen featured GE Cabinettes under the wall cabinet.

You can see the taller Cabinettes in Chris’s GE Wonder Kitchen. Yes: That’s a “Wonder Kitchen”: One long piece of stainless steel countertop incorporating a sink and cooktop, with oven to the right, cabinets including dishwasher underneath. We see these occasionally, they are quite the marvel.

vintage GE refrigeration center
The shorter Cabinette mounted above the backsplash in the rare and wonderful GE Refrigeration Center.

Helen continues:

The unique spelling “cabinette” is from GE’s marketing materials. The sizes came in 21″, 30″, 51″, 54″, 64″ … and possibly 12″, 18″ and others.

Often undercabinettes were fitted beneath the GE wall mount fridge. The refrigerator is 64″ wide. Underneath: Two, 30″ cabinettes with a spacer between them.

GE cabinettes have a light mounted at the top, and inside the cabinet there’s an outlet. A hole in the back makes it possible to run electric all the way though each cabinet.

GE glass was sometimes called “waterfall glass” because of how light looks passing through it.

The vast majority of these type cabinets were made by GE, but Geneva made a version with thicker reeded glass. St. Charles and Lyon also had their own versions. Special corner unit made to fit undercabinettes together.

GE corner cabinettes
Corner Cabinettes in the Quincy, Mass. kitchen

There were also corner Cabinettes.

Thank you, 52PostnBeam.

Now: Why didn’t these under Cabinettes remain popular and continue into today?  I am going to speculate:

  1. These cabinettes did not leave enough counter space for the growing list of kitchen appliances women wanted to leave out on the counter. 
  2. Another thought: Wood cabinets came to dominate anyway… and the cost to make units like this in wood was prohibitive — although we certainly did see the rough concept continue with corner appliance garages.
  3. And last, I think that GE was out of the steel kitchen cabinet business sooner than others.

Aren’t vintage steel kitchen cabinets fascinating? Continue work on your Retro Renovation undergraduate, graduate or ph.D. degree by reading more here:

  • My “short history” of vintage metal kitchen cabinets
  • My complete Steel Kitchen cabinets story archive!

When they left the market, so did cabinettes. What do you think, Helen? Readers?

CATEGORIES:
Cabinets Kitchen Vintage Steel Kitchen Cabinets

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48 comments

Comments

  1. melissa sanford says

    September 25, 2016 at 5:05 pm

    Hi Pam, Would you please tell me the dimensions (height /depth) of the cabinettes? I can’t enlarge your dimensions diagram enough to see the numbers.

    Also, I read somewhere you have suggestions for shipping cabinets on the website. I can’t find that link & I need help!

    You’re such a huge help!
    Melissa

    • melissa says

      September 25, 2016 at 10:54 pm

      Thanks Pam,
      I found the height and depth of the cabinettes – 12″ high, 11″ deep on top 7″deep on the bottom.
      If you have shipping advice for the steel cabinets, please let me know.
      They’re bulky & expensive to ship so I’m ending up just taking one or two out of entire lots. I hate knowing the rest of the set will go in the dumpster when I leave it behind.
      Thank you, Melissa

      • pam kueber says

        September 26, 2016 at 8:02 am

        Suggest to the sellers that they donate them to their local ReStore Habitat for Humanity!

        • Lea says

          May 15, 2017 at 3:48 pm

          Pam
          I noticed that you seem to know a lot about the “cabinettes” I have the pink kitchen cabinets and I would like to remove the “cabinettes”. Do you know what part of the cabinet, wall or the [edited] 4″ thick box back splash they put under what are these attached to? Or should I just take my saw or crowbar and detach them old school?
          Unfortunately the people I purchased the house from had already ruined the pink kitchen by painting the cabinets white latex, and stripping the white paint off isn’t possible, tried and the pink came off with the white and I used a mild citrus gel and they were rusted in places also. But I understand the reason for these little gems not lasting long, because you can fit anything under the cabinettes or cabinets.

          • Pam Kueber says

            May 17, 2017 at 9:29 am

            Lea, I am not an expert on this issue.

  2. T G says

    September 18, 2016 at 11:07 am

    “Continue work on your Retro Renovation undergraduate, graduate or ph.D. degree” – Pam, you are such a hoot.

    • pam kueber says

      September 18, 2016 at 5:25 pm

      Thank you. That is the highest compliment you can give me.

  3. Amy K Rice says

    February 18, 2013 at 1:54 pm

    We have metal upper cabinets from my Grandma’s house. They had very nice frosted glass sliding doors that were broken in storage. I am trying to figure out the best option for replacing the glass.

  4. Michael Hawk says

    October 25, 2012 at 11:21 am

    Wow, I really don’t have interest in those under cabinets, but I have that exact Green GE Fridge in the photo up there. It is still my main refrigerator in my home. It was here when I bought the place 10 years ago. Friends are amazed when they come over…. Don’t know what I am gonna do if it ever breaks down… I have a matching countertop stove and oven in the wall.. Yup.. Retro…

  5. Fred Hill says

    September 4, 2012 at 10:21 am

    Does anyone know where I can find handle replacements to these GE steel cabinettes? Help!!!

  6. stacy says

    April 22, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    we have the stainless steel countertop and stove, and the burners no longer work well. Does anyone know a model number or replacement parts for the cooktop of the GE Wonder Kitchen. Thanks!

    • pam kueber says

      April 22, 2012 at 10:26 pm

      Hi Stacy, We have a story with some reader suggestions about where to delve for info: https://retrorenovation.com/2011/08/29/parts-service-and-advice-to-fix-old-stoves-and-other-vintage-appliances-a-list-of-9-online-resources/ Good luck!

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