Reader recently uploaded 208 pictures of antique stoves, refrigerators and other major kitchen appliances — and in this story, I had fun trying to pick out my favorites. These photos show that retro kitchens come in many design flavors. Above: April’s 1961 kitchen — with its lovely blue Hotpoint refrigerator and stove — is sleek and modern — but friendly at the same time. Droooooooool.
Cool and colorful
Out of all the appliances that were uploaded, the colorful stoves, ranges, vent hoods just had me squealing with delight. Aqua, pink, brown, green — I love them all. Above: Anonymous’ 1963 kitchen, complete with turquoise and bronze starburst flecked countertops.
Above: Reader and fellow blogger Betty Crafter’s swoon-worthy aqua stove in her knotty pine kitchen — complete with aqua laminate countertops. We’re a huge fan of Betty’s kitchen — which we have featured before.
Above: This reader also has an aqua stove and aqua countertops just a slightly lighter shade. I’m loving how the vintage stove meshes with the metal cabinets and funky pulls — retrolicious! [Pam interjects: I think this kitchen is one of Bizarro Twin Pam’s six kitchens.]
Then there is the pink — ohhh the pink! I think Susie O’s pink kitchen above might just be my dream kitchen — a pink Frigidaire Custom Imperial Double Oven and a dishwasher — is your fridge pink, too, Susie?
Since my kitchen doesn’t have room for a full range, I’d settle for this cute, original 1960’s GE pink wall oven, above — love the pink laminate countertops, too, we need a close up!
More a fan of the 1970s? This avocado green wall oven from Frigidaire might just do the trick. “I love the fonts,” says anonymous uploader.
I’ll admit — I’m not usually a fan of brown appliances — but reader Adam’s super built-in Western Holly range (complete with cute owl decor) might just change my mind. I’m really digging the circular oven window.
Another reader whose stove (and kitchen) made me happy was Wendy’s 1960’s Frigidaire Flair with 1970’s avocado green cabinet. Wendy — your kitchen is fabulous and your stove is the crowning glory.
Wonderful whites
Above: Reader Jeff’s 1949 Kenmore stove is pretty awesome — as is his cookware collection. He topped it all off with one heck of a cool aqua range hood complete with silver starbursts. His cabinets and pulls are tiki-tastic too.
Speaking about cool handles, check out the handles on Heather’s 1950’s Roper stove that she found on Freecycle — for free. What a score Heather!
Here’s another 1960’s Westinghouse 2 level stove — just as cool in white. I didn’t realize there was an outlet on it until just now — is that safe?
Above: Reader JoAnn’s vintage white O’Keefe & Merritt stove looks so pretty in her house. My favorite part is the red knobs and handles and the cool work light (that is a work light, right?). JoAnn — you have quite the snazzy house.
Here’s another gem, Chutti’s 1930’s spark stove — which looks to be in perfect condition. They just don’t make ’em like they used to, do they?
Fabulous Fridges
Perhaps a perfect pair to Chutti’s Spark stove — the 1934 White Seal Ice Box above also looks to be in mint condition too.
Above: The 1967 Limited Edition Sears Coldspot Designed by Sundberg-Ferar is cool to begin with. What makes it arctic level cool? The fridge came with a nameplate inscribed for the original owner — Flora. She was a Scottish schoolteacher according to the fridge’s new owner, reader 52 PostnBeam.
Above: Reader Amy F’s Mid 60’s GE Combination Fridge with turquoise and yellow interior and swing out shelves. We’d love to see pictures of that interior Am — and the exterior is lovely.
Reader Ann-Marie Meyers wasn’t afraid to open up her 1962 GE Fridge to show us how cool the insides are. (Though it could be because it is empty)
Gailsmile was also kind enough to open up her retro Philco fridge — love the aqua accents on the inside.
And here’s a really brave reader — who let us peek inside their fridge with food inside! JD Log’s Crosley Shelvador “10” is not your typical Crosley — this is the Australian version — complete with Vegemite in the yellow jar!
T&J from This Atomic Life has two restored retro cool appliances in their London apartment. A vintage Frigidaire with the most awesome handle ever and this super neat Tumblair clothes dryer.
All of these cool refrigerators are making me sad that they just don’t design new appliances with all these fun details anymore. Reader Ali’s 1938 Hotpoint oozes cool — look at all that chrome!
Crazy Chrome
There were loads of Chrome-tastic details sprinkled throughout your vintage large appliances. In particular, I loved Peggy W’s 1956 Caloric stovetop — check out those knobs. They look like little radios built right into the cabinet.
Here’s another fabulous Ultramatic Caloric stovetop with knobs in front — this looks great with the steel trimmed retro laminate counters!
Michelle in Iowa’s Tappan Fabulous 400 is a shiny space-saver indeed. I can imagine baking something in that fabulous oven, just sitting back and admiring this cool retro stove while I wait for my cake to rise.
Readers — you’ve really blown me away with this one! I’m so glad to see so many of you are loving, using and maintaining your vintage large appliances. In today’s world full of streamlined, energy efficient stoves and refrigerators it is easy to believe that “upgrading” to a shiny new appliance is the thing to do, but honestly — what the cool old appliances might lack in technology they more than make up for with their charming and quirky design.
Brandy Agerbeck (@loosetooth) says
Oops. That should say “aren’t to code.”
Brandy Agerbeck (@loosetooth) says
Quick answer to the outlet question – Nope, they aren’t to code. I am super excited to be buying a 1965 condo in Chicago from the original owner. I am smitten with the original bathrooms (1 is blue and chrome-alicious, the other yellow). This post is helping me love the original kitchen more with it’s brown sink and brown stove with double oven. The knobs for the electric range are push button like a 8-track deck or old car radio!
On my home inspection, my inspector warned me against using the outlets in the stove or the ones in the lighting fixtures in the bathrooms. The bathroom ones aren’t to code [correction made as per follow up comment] for being around water and the stove ones are dangerous because the cords could catch on fire if the stove is in use. So, I’d advise folks NOT to use those outlets! Hope that helps + Thank you for your delightful site and all the great reader participation!
pam kueber says
Thank you, Brandy. Readers, CONSULT WITH PROPERLY LICENSED PROFESSIONALS.
Jeff says
Pam, thanks for including my ’49 Kenmore range and aqua Ventahood in the lineup! Working on finishing the countertop edging now, and some new ceiling and soffit paint…..super spread!
Carol says
Hi Jeff –
I also have a 1949 Kenmore and thanks to you I now know what it is! It is in my house is rural NM and needs a lot of work done to it. The knobs are broken, two handles are broken, the oven door doesn’t properly open and close, and the bottom drawers don’t open smoothly. Do you have any ideas on how to get parts or to find a good repairman for this? I sadly live in NYC and am renting my house out now, so I’m not physically there and the tenants would like some upgrades. I’m at a loss and really don’t want to get rid of it. Also have no idea what it’s worth?
pam kueber says
Carol, see my stories about where to find help with vintage appliances in the Kitchens/Appliance category.
Carol says
Thanks Pam!
Michael says
Hi Carol,
I am in the process (as a realtor) of helping a customer purchase a home that has a pretty excellent specimen of just this range in the basement (the range is coming with the house). If you are interested, let me know. It is about 25 miles from NYC.
Michael says
Oh, wait — your range is not in NYC, it’s in NM!
sorry!
Carol says
Michael –
Darn! Wish you were in NM! But if for some reason the new buyers want to sell off some of the parts, let me know – and thanks for reaching out. Good luck with the house and stove!
Carol
Wendy says
Thank you Pam for showcasing our kitchen! It’s wonderful to find people who appreciate the retro-ness of it all. Most people think that we are crazy, and when we find someone that shares our love of the 60s and 70s we just want to share everything we have found or created with them!
Marta says
I love that Flora Fridge! Particularly interesting is that I thought the french-door design was a relatively new one. Obviously not! Who knew?
nina462 says
Here’s a question for us all. I want to change my appliances out for retro, including my microwave which is above the stove. It’s a micro/range hood thingy. I could live without the microwave, heck I grew up without one, but does anyone who have these kitchens have microwaves? Where do you put them? Do you try to NOT have one? Just a thought & I’d like some feed back, please.
Dan O. says
I ran across one of these a while back and couldn’t help but think how well it would merge into a mid-century kitchen:
http://www.marketingvp.com/images/amana.jpg
If you just had to have a microwave and didn’t want to spoil the look that would definitely be the one.
J D Log says
Hi,
I have a microwave although I am still working on the kitchen. What I plan to do is to make a cover for it out of some old 50’s curtin material I have so it will not look to out of place when not in use. I am also thinking of doing this this for my flatscreen TV hope this helps
efftee says
Check out this hidden microwave cabinet. Though the cabinet on this one isn’t mid century, you could probably adapt the idea to more suitable cabinets.
http://warnersstellian.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/microwave.jpg?w=450
Another thought…if you found a large enough period appropriate built-in oven, perhaps you could just use it as a shell an install a microwave inside the oven! Might require a little trim work between the edges of the microwave and the inside of the oven to look finished, but the finished result could be epic.
Morgen says
When planning our kitchen we decided to put the microwave under the counter, but without the door. If we ever wanted too we could add a door or a little curtain. I didn’t want it to be a “feature” of the kitchen, so we kind of hid it.
nina462 says
Thanks for all the suggestions. I remember the Amana Radarange when it first came out -. Thanks again.
Wendy says
Our kitchen is the one with the Avocado 1960’s flair and the dark cabinets shown in the article. We took out the stove/micro combo to install our flair. You will notice that we have a small countertop microwave that is also avocado. We took a white one to an auto painter and had him paint it to match the stove a fridge. (He also painted our Kenmore Washer and Dryer avocado as well!)
efftee says
It almost hurts to look at these since I want them all and know I can’t have them all! I get that feeling from a lot of these photo compilations…I think I have a problem!
April in Denver says
Thanks so much for featuring my turquoise Hotpoint appliances. I have to say they bring a smile to my face every time I go in the kitchen.
My youngest, Adam recently got his first apartment in Los Angeles, and when I saw the pics of his brown Western Holly, I told him he had to share it on the appliance post. Now he’s an avid follower of the blog as well. Love it that our kids have an appreciation for the vintage too.
pam kueber says
Thank you, April, for spreading the word!!! Love your appliances!
Janet in CT says
I keep meaning to mention how fantastic the Sears Coldspot customized fridge and Amy’s GE combo bottom freezer fridge are! That “custom built” Colspot one is amazing and what a find; I would bet not many of them sold. The GE’s with that silver panel were also top of the line. My gramma had one in the regular top freezer style with that panel on the freezer also, and I have always wanted to find one. The aqua stove in the knotty pine kitchen has a similar silver panel – these were really the Cadillacs of the line in their day! I am particularly fascinated by the extras that showed up on the appliances, like the fancier veg pans or copper accents, or light-up pushbutton controls. Back then they built things with quality!
52PostNBeam says
Thanks for featuring my “Flora Fridge” as I like to call it. The boutique ID agency Sunberg-Ferar who designed it went on to design the iconic bullet train for the NYC subway shortly after, and are still in business today. I posted pix and info about the fridge for Pam awhile ago, if anyone wants to see, go here: http://tinyurl.com/8oupkll
I do love it, but it’s double the size of my old fridge and with that gigantic freezer, my electricity bill has doubled as well!
Amy F. says
Thanks Janet – we suspected that our GE was considered “top of the line,” (swing out shelves & butter softener gave us that impression) but it’s nice to have that confirmed. It still runs like a champ. We also adore the bottom freezer, and it is “counter-depth,” as they say, which is such a nice bonus in our small-ish kitchen.
tammyCA says
I’m so envious of the cool vintage appliances! Especially Aqua, my fave color. My stuff is old, icky black glass wall oven Caloric UltraRay & separate beige-y stove top (also Caloric). And, now we finally have to replace them with new…because dh is not gonna go searching for “vintage”…and, I’d be afraid of something not working properly & you can’t just return it.
I just wanna set a match to my kitchen now! Hate the cheapo ‘oak’ particle board 1980s cabinets the previous owners installed…why the heck this cheesy stuff over the solid original cabinets? They put the original cabinets in the garage which are now too yucked up with grease, chemicals & godknowswhat…think I’m going right now into the garage & take off the boomerang pulls! Maybe, one day I can use them.