The best way to get ideas to decorate or remodel your mid century kitchens is to — go back the experts who designed them back in the day. My reference library continues to grow weekly — and today, I’ve pulled 21 kitchens — with 21 photos from 1962 — to examine for ideas and inspiration –>
I’m also reading the text more carefully these days, so that I can start to re-introduce the original terms used to describe different products and features. The first and most fabulous one we’ve ever discovered has to be: Hudee rings. But in this 1962 brochure, I’ve learned that we should be calling electric range tops “tabletop ranges.” And, in this brochure, cabinets with raised panels were called “sculpted.”
And you know I always must call out some of the macro-trends images like these illustrate and reflect. Some thoughts:
- Cabinets are mostly wood. The brochure calls these kitchens “warm and colorful.” Steel, especially white steel, ain’t so warm… Also, by 1962, I think the transition from steel-to-wood was well under way because, more than ever, kitchens were being opened to adjacent family rooms, causing kitchen cabinets to be treated more like furniture.
- I’m seeing lots of tile in these photos… and lots of brick and stone on the walls. Incorporating these organic materials into the interior of the home comes from ranch-home movement, which included the idea of merging the indoors with the outdoors.
- Lots of fun with laminate. Notice several thick countertops and breakfast bars — the move away from metal countertop edging to laminate edging meant that designers and homeowners were no longer hostage to 1.5″ thick countertops.
- All this said, these are mostly studio shots — they are marketer-interior-designer fantasies, and include some silliness to be sure. This brochure was produced by the National Plan Service, Inc. — a company that was all about selling house plans. As far as I know, the National Plan Service was not in the business of selling kitchens per se. This booklet was likely produced to help homemakers building a new house to decide on their kitchen plans. I am not sure what Interestingly, A.A. Laun Furniture Co. continues in business today [link now broken, no longer sure of the status of this company 3/1/2019], making furniture in Kiel, Wisconsin. The company is 110 years old. In the 1950s, it had a Modern Collection of more than 50 furniture pieces. I am guessing that in the 1960s they also facilitated new-home construction in some way, and that is why their name is on the front of the booklet.
I have made notes on each photo in the slide show. To launch, click on the first image, and it will enlarge; move forward or back with the arrows at the bottom; you can start or stop anywhere in the show: