Vintage stoves will always have a very special place in my heart, because the first story I ever wrote about homes was about vintage stoves, for the (now defunct) Ann Arbor News in 1995. My neighbor Dave had salvaged a 1940s Magic Chef from his grandmother’s barn and sent it to Macy’s Texas Stove Works for restoration. My story was about why folks were starting to treasure vintage stoves — and where you could buy them. Hey, even then, 17 years ago (gulp) I was all about the where-to-get-the-stuff and where-to-get-it-restored. Do you think that after all this time I ended up right where I should be — writing this blog? I think so! Last uploader, when readers shared 234 pictures of their vintage small appliances, readers also asked to share their vintage large appliances. Above: A photo that came in early from reader JoAnn. Pretty!
This uploader is now closed — check out the 208 photos that readers submitted — they’re pretty darn amazing!
Tips to view slide show: Click on first image… it will enlarge and you can also read my captions… move forward or back via arrows below the photo… you can start or stop at any image:
Want to buy a vintage stove? See this story – 26 places to buy restored vintage stoves. Or, do you want help finding parts, service or advice to fix old stoves and appliances? See this popular story (click photo to get there):
Lori Hendrix says
Pam,
Thank you for letting us show off our stoves and other large goodies that don’t get enought love. My stove is photo number 44 I would love to know the name for the color. It O’Keefe and Merritt and its an odd yellow/green color. I have taken a piece of it to the body shop to have it matched. I want to paint my dish washer also. Next is the fridge. t
Thank you everyone for sharing.
Lori H.
hannah says
So much to look at and gawk over…oy vey!
Nancy – I LOVE LOVE LOVE your NOS Kenmore! *hearts*
gsciencechick says
Thank you to everyone for these amazing photos! I have loved each and every one of them.
BungalowBILL says
Just added a vintage ad for the 1954 GE refrigerator I have. Mine is scheduled to be recycled this week for a $50 rebate check and a chance to win the oldest refrigerator in NJ recycled in this program. I LOVED spinning those shelves as a child. Will be sad to see it go.
Heather Staas says
OH I love that one in the first photo with the red accents.
Janet in CT says
April, I actually found an ancient dishwasher right near me in West Hartford, running fine and all! It is white. One thing about old appliances, you move them and risk damaging them, especially the compressors on old Coke chests and fridges. I would guess dishwashers could be fragile too, and removing them and reinstalling them could really do alot of damage to them. You might end up just filling the space with a storage piece! I suppose our resident old appliance collector Justin has lots of stories and info to tell, and Patrick too!
Patrick Coffey says
Janet as long as you are careful you can move a vintage fridge without damaging the compressor, I did so with my 1957 GE that is on the uploader. As for vintage dishwashers you can move them easily too as long as you are not rough while moving them. As for installing a vintage dishwasher, unless anyone has any information to the contrary, even a vintage dishwasher hooks up like a new one (unless it is a model without a pump that uses a gravity drain) so it should be no harder to install a vintage one than to install a modern one. The only trouble I have ever heard of anyone having is in the removal of a vintage dishwasher that has had layers of linoleum floor placed down in front over the years, that can make it hard to get a vintage machine out of its original spot. If anyone else has information contrary to this I would love to hear of your experiences………..
Gail DeVore says
When I recently had my Philco fridge delivered, upright, I insisted… the delivery guy was an experienced trucker.
He said “when moving old appliances with the “old style” freon you MUST allow the appliance to sit 24 HOURS BEFORE PLUGGING IT IN! The freon gets changed from a gas to a liquid (I think I have that sequence right) when it is jostled during the move. Of course this is especially true if it laid on its side! So by letting it sit for 24 hours, the gas re-establishes and redistributes itself.” So, that’s what I did for good measure. Even though mine had been shipped upright, I figured it had been jostled plenty coming 300 miles! One week later, running like dream!
Patrick Coffey says
Gail your “experienced trucker” did not have a clue what he was talking about. The only time you have to let a fridge (or freezer) set for 24 hours before plugging it in is when you transport it on its back or side. The reason for that has nothing to do with the freon turning to liquid during the move, it is because of the fact that when you lay a fridge (or freezer) on its side oil from the compressor can work its way up the coolant lines and if you plug the fridge (or freezer) in with oil in the coolant lines it will gunk up the one way valves in the refrigerant system and damage the compressor. That is why you have to wait 24 hours to plug them in after setting them upright, so the oil can go back down where it belongs.
Gail DeVore says
Interesting… I couldn’t help but wonder…
In any case I felt letting it rest a bit was a good idea, in any case it made me feel better. 🙂
Janet in CT says
I see one stove with a calendar towel on the handle. I have dozens of these towels, from the sixties and early seventies, in their original boxes. If anyone wants one to go with their old kitchen, I will post contact info on the kitchen cabinet forum under Kitchen stuff. My mother hoarded them like these older people of her generation saved canning jars! They were in storage in the basement of the business until just recently. I already gave dozens to a friend who had a bakery, but I still have alot more in all different colors and subjects, like birds or covered bridges. Mostly colonial type subjects as Kay-Dee didn’t do retro modern. But I do have some Irish ones too, in pretty red boxes! Will be happy to find homes for them as they take up room in my closet.
Marsha says
Such beautiful appliances. I keep thinking about some commercial where a couple presents their architect with a faucet and tells him to build a house around it. These beauties certainly could have a house designed for them! If I had a house, I would be lusting for that 1940s O’Keefe Merritt stove!
Janet in CT says
Me too, Marsha! I often see something and say the exact same thing! I kept my turquoise vinyl covered buffet with gray formica top, where I worked in the appliance department, to keep the sales catalogs on. One day two guys from NYC were walking through and saw it, and one immediately exclaimed, “I could build a kitchen around that!” Exactly how I feel about many of these appliances. WHO owns that stunning black O’Keefe and Merritt with the plum? cabinets? That is such a wonderful blending of new and old. Is it original in black or redone? I would love to hear the story behind it. Actually, I see so many photos that are fascinating appliances and would love to hear the stories behind them!
Connie Blevins says
We’re moving and need to find our precious ice box a new home. It’s in great shape and I’ve ever seen aother “White Seal” ice box. If you have a comfy kitchen, I’m sure it would fit in and you’d both be happy. It’s very heavy, so it’ll have to be picked up…not shippped.
Stacey says
This is so fun to take a peek at the inside of the tribe’s houses! I love the old fridges especially. It’s my secret wish to have one of my very own.
But I wonder, are those oldies but goodies expensive to run and repair? Now don’t throw rocks at me… it’s just that we are having to watch every penny these days. I need one that won’t be too hard on the old electric bill.
Will says
It all depends… If you get a frosting model (not frost-free), I found it’s actually cleaper than a modern refrigerator. The ice helps keep it cooler and doesn’t run as much… That said, you do have to defrost it at least once or twice a year. My Hotpoint garage fridge is like that. An early frost-free model, like the Philco in my kitchen costs a little more, but to me it’s worth it to have that amazing look without defrosting.
As far as repair costs, that one depends on the issue. I had a minor one with my cold control on my frost free Philco, but was able to get a generic replacement for $30. There are a lot of little things that you can do yourself, but as Pam always says, talk to an expert first.
Gail DeVore says
Ahhh, good to know. My vintage Philco has been given a new grounded cord and been plugged in a week now. Very, very quiet and cooling wonderfully. I was wondering how often I would need to manually defrost it.
Will says
It depends on if it’s an automatic or not. If you’d like to talk to me personally about the fridge, friend me on facebook. I made a post on the RR facebook page on September 16th.
Janet in CT says
Originally the manual defrost models were cheaper to run than the self-defrosting fridges. My father said the first ones were really hard on the electric usage, possibly because of poorly designed defrost heaters. The first side-by-sides were horrible and people replacing those early ones were amazed at how much their electric bill went down. However, as they age, they are not as efficient and the newer self-defrost ones ran much better at some point, but I can’t say exactly what year. I am sure some makes were better than others, but age and deterioration of the gaskets contributes to their higher electricity usage. I wish my father were still around; he could brilliantly elaborate. I totally agree on the danger of those pilot lights. I remember when they all blew out on my old Preway cooktop when I was sitting in the kitchen clipping coupons. I got so nauseous that I nearly passed out, only to figure out that the gas was making me very ill. We replaced it soon after. Lighting them was no fun either, and once my husband singed his eyebrows lighting the Preway wall oven, which ignited with a huge POOF! We replaced them and I didn’t miss them at all, nor do I miss defrosting the fridge.
ChrisH says
Our house was built in 1917 so of course one of our first purchases was a 1920 gas range. The pilot was about an inch and a half high, non-adjustable. The gas valves at each burner would allow gas to enter the burner, then go down a long tube to the centrally located pilot. Then -Whooosh- the gas would ignite and the flame would travel back to the burner. My wife put up with it about 2 weeks then said we needed to modernize.
Gail DeVore says
Wow, that actually sounds like it could have been an exciting effect! 😉
ChrisH says
Stacey,
This has been discussed before in the comments and it’s kind of a sore spot for some.
If you actually compare apples to apples – e.g. frost free to frost free, manual defrost to manual defrost, and perhaps most important, size to size (cubic feet of refrigerated space) the new ones are usually more efficient.
Most of these old refrigerators -as wonderful as they are- are relatively small. Something from the ’40sor ’50s is probably in the neighborhood of 10 cu. ft. Though the size tends to get bigger over the years. That would be an apartment size ‘fridge by today’s standards. Most people today, buying new, are buying something about 18 cu. ft. or bigger. Usually bigger. The efficiency of the old ones as measured by the electric bill is deceiving. The old ‘fridge is only providing half the cold food storage space.
Personally I absolutely love the look of the old ones, and would consider it well worth the extra money to operate. We had an old Cold Spot from about ’55. It gave me a nasty shock one day and rather than have it repaired we decided it was time for a new ‘fridge. We were not into retro at the time, we just got the old ‘fridge for nothing -which is about what we could afford.
I do find the old ones a little hard to live with in terms of convenience. Have you seen some of the freezers? A quart of ice cream and and an ice cube tray and your freezer is full. Maybe a little bigger in later years, but still quite small compared to today.
On the plus side, it’s not too hard to find parts today. The internet has linked people from Maine to California.
ChrisH says
Forgot to add-
One thing if favor of the old refrigerators is that they are robust. We’re talking something that has run 24/7 for half a century or more. 50 years from now no one will be using a “vintage” 2012 ‘fridge. They just aren’t going to last that long.
Ann-Marie Meyers says
Another thing to remember is if you keep the seal in good shape on your vintage fridge, it adds to the efficiency. Perform the dollar bill test once a year. Close the door on a dollar bill. If it stays, your seal is good. If the bill falls, you need to replace it.
I am pretty sure http://www.ehow.com can even show you how to replace the seal yourself. My late husband used to do ours, and he was no handyman.