“…Like so many others, we are on a tight budget.
Buying our items patiently and doing all the work ourselves,
we spent less than $2500 on our project.”
Using family heirlooms, vintage finds, the color red — and some crazy mad electrical engineering skills, Greg and Tammy have cleverly transformed a circa-1980s kitchen in their 1913 farmhouse into a charming colorful retro kitchen. All for less than $2,500. You’re going to love the vintage appliances — a Kelvinator Foodarama and a Tappan Holiday oven range, just to start… And, I love in particular how Greg and Tammy kept hold of their 1980s laminate kitchen cabinets — you surely remember this style: the kind with oak strops across the top or bottom? A dash of red paint on the oak — and voila: Retro! — with no need to throw out perfectly serviceable kitchen cabinets. Looks great. Greg writes:
We have always enjoyed your site; lots of great ideas! We are finished with our 1950’s retro kitchen and thought you might like to see it.
Tammy and I have been married 25 years this summer. We have been interested in antiques for years. Started collecting 15 years ago, just what we liked. We got serious when we bought our farm 5 years ago. The house was built in 1913. We could have done the house in many styles, but we fell in love with the 1950’s styles especially kitchen items.
The first item we picked up for the kitchen was Tammy’s grandmothers red formica and chrome table. In one of the photos (above) is a pic of the same table at Christmas 1959 with her mom and Dad and family.
Next was the 1957 Tappan Holiday Stove. There is hardly a scratch on it, bought for $60 at a Ohio antique store. Works perfect. Has Visiguide, timer, perfect running clock and the Tappan boys standing guard.
We missed out on an antique wall oven on Ebay so converted our mid-1980’s Tappan wall oven to vintage style. I bought a early 50’s Tappan Deluxe “stove topper” off Ebay for $30.00. I carefully cut it down, notched the backing plate on the existing stove to mount. Had to rewire existing knobs to fit properly. Sanded the front glass and painted safety red. Used chrome automotive wheel well trim. Used an early 1950’s Tappan stove top and modified it to fit the stove. Had to do some rewiring, scuffed the glass, painted it red. Used auto wheel well chrome for sparkle.
The highlight of the kitchen has to be the 1953 Kelvinator Foodarama. Bought from the original 85 year old owner. Worked perfect, but paint was tired and had received a couple of dents when the owner had it moved. Tammy obviously loves red, so I painted it with automotive base coat/clear coat paint. It is a tank and built a ramp and platform to get it up on our deck. A heavy cart w/casters was constructed to roll it around.
The counters/cabinents are 1980’s laminate, but chrome hardware and a dash of red paint makes them appear like ‘50’s metal cabinents.The really old stove is my great grandmothers Sunray from 1920-‘30’s. She bought new and used till moved to our family cabin in 1948.
Accessories include, GE Telechron kitchen clock, vintage toaster, Sunbeam can opener, Hamilton Beach Blender, (all work daily!)….
The red cart is Tammy’s grandmothers, repainted w/the fridge…
Original 1950’s Gem City Ice Cream cheerleader ad. Kelvinator glassware. Tammy loves the red handled kitchen utensils.
Thought I should mention that, like so many others, we are on a tight budget. Buying our items patiently and doing all the work ourselves, we spent less than $2500 on our project.
Anyway, that’s the basics!
Thanks!
Greg & Tammy
Thank you so much, Greg & Tammy, for sharing your kitchen with us (and for letting me torture you over photos). You know what I also love about this project? Your mix of the midcentury retro with the even older antiques — like the Hoosier cabinet and Grandma’s Sunray — works really well in also paying homage to the 1913 provenance of your house. The fact that you also accomplished this with 1980s kitchen cabinets left intact: Even more so a classic example of the Love the House You’re In design ethic. What a fantastic job … what a cozy happy kitchen … what’s for pie today, I’m coming right over!
Marcheline says
Rockin!
Jeffrey from Village Green says
Yeah !! You did a good job of combining 1950s items with others from earlier periods. That helps to tie it all in to the 1913 vintage of your home. Great fun colors , too. Congrats !!!!!!!
Greg Pearson says
Hi to our retro friends! Thanks for all the great comments! We are tickled with how it turned out. We didn’t really start with a set plan, it just kind of evolved. Tammy had toyed with the idea of painting the oak strips red for a long time. She hated the cabinets; we had the same thing in our previous house. We considered tearing them out, but there are a ton of them, including two “lazy Susan’s”. Our first step was the red formica table. A few weeks later we found the stove and the red painting began! It transformed the cabinets; not steel Youngstown’s, but pretty cool. The wall oven was next. As Pam noted, there was some hardcore electrical involved; work only within your capabilities. It works great including the original clock & “Oven On” indicator. As some of you have guessed I have an autobody background which came in handy painting the fridge and oven.
Would be glad to give advice to anyone tackling a similar project.
We love the ‘50’s kitchen stuff; it is fun, bright and full of cool gadgets. Today’s stuff is soulless stainless steel and granite counter tops; blah, blah, blah, you see miles of it on HGTV. There is no fun to it. This was a great experience. Tammy has a great eye for style and color; I am just the worker bee. She is the love of my life and we celebrate our 25th Anniversary this August.
Here’s to all you Retro lunatics, and a big “Thanks” to Pam for the great website!
Laura M says
Greg, what an inspiration! Would you recommend the auto paint for metal cabinets? Is it feasible for someone without your auto-body background? I’m considering Rustoleum but want the new coating to be as durable as possible. Any tips would be appreciated!
Greg Pearson says
Hi Laura M.,
My first thought is, yes you could, but only if:
You are REALLY good at spray painting now, (w/spray cans). Your work comes out really nice & glossy.
You REALLY understand mixing ratios. This gets tricky… primer, paint and clear all have reducers & hardners and they have to be mixed right. The materials are expensive & easy to screw up.
You will have to have a professional quality spay gun and an adequate air compressor. You have to wear a professional respirator, this stuff is dangerous.
The painting is the easy part, getting it ready is tricky. The modern base coat/clear coat paint is EXTREMELY tough and glossy. It is very scratch resistant. Rustoleum and Plasticoat are the two best spray cans out there, but they don’t come close to automotive paint. They are thin, (in comparison) and not as nearly as tough because they air dry without a hardner.
Now a disclaimer from the boss; Tammy says this stuff is difficult and does not recommend anyone without experience tackling a big job. She has been watching me paint for 30 years and wouldn’t try it herself.
wendy says
WOW that is fantastic!!!! I love everything, but the idea to paint the oak strips on the cabinets is brilliant!!! The appliances are fabulous too! Thanks for sharing your story.
Lynn-O-Matic says
My parents have those same laminate cabinets with the oak strip, except sadly theirs were installed in the late 1990s. They have HATED them since. Your method of dealing with the oak is brilliant. My parents’ accent color is cobalt blue. I’d better get over there and start giving those cabinets a facelift! 😉
Jan H. says
Love all the red – you worked so hard!! Could we see a picture of the fridge OPEN?
Greg Pearson says
Hi Jan H.,
Maybe if Pam sees this she could post one?
If not I could email you one.
Tks!
pam kueber says
I am planning to!
Deborah Burstyn says
Great job. I am a retro red and white kitchen gal myself. So I absolutely can appreciate all the details. I am especially impressed with the red auto paint on the vintage fridge. It gleams!
Marion Powell says
Pam,
One thing you might be interested in researching (like you don’t have enough to do) is Telechron clocks. There’s a great web site Telechron.net That has everything you could ever want to know about these clocks.
There are pictures of clocks from 1917 to 1959. After that the quality went down. I think you’ll be hooked looking at all the styles over the years and especially the war and retro years.
JKaye says
Wow, that kitchen makes me want a Bloody Mary. What a fun place and I’m really impressed by the amount of work put in to achieve the desired affect. I don’t think this post states where Greg and Tammy live — is this in the Midwest somewhere? If they have a blog, let us know, because I would love to see more of what goes on at their place. The house is quite charming.
Cathy says
Awesome!