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Home / Kitchen

The GE Wonder Kitchen: Introduced in 1955

pam kueber - April 8, 2013, Updated: May 5, 2016

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

“…The most magnificent, yet most sensible work-saver,
space-saver and time-saver ever!” — ad
vintage-GE-wonder-kitchen-1vintage-GE-wonder-kitchen-8After our recent article about Chris’ kitchen, which spotlighted his restored GE Wonder Kitchen, I decided to pursue some true academic research into this wonderful design from mid century America. GE Wonder Kitchens were, “An internally plumbed and wired G-E ‘Kitchen Center’ combining an automatic dishwaher, range, Dispoall-equipped sink, and a washer dryer. All mounted under one stainless steel counter.” The basic unit was 9.5 feet long, I believe.

mies van der rohe chicago kitchen
Chris’ kitchen with its restored GE Wonder Kitchen

I went looking for more info and golly, what with the power of the Google, my most basic questions were answered fast. Right away, I found this June 27, 1955 advertisement from LIFE. This ad indicates that the first GE Wonder Kitchens are about to be launched. It features William Levitt, and says that these kitchen-laundry units will be installed in his development in Levittown, Pennsylvania. The ad proclaims:

In the words of one woman enthusiast, “It is the most magnificent, yet most sensible work-saver, space-saver and time-saver ever!”

ge appliancesvintage-GE-wonder-kitchen-6After I found the 1955 ad online, I then went into my stash of vintage marketing materials, and super quick, located several ads for GE’s kitchen appliances from 1955. GE must really have been making a big push this particular year. In addition to spotlighting the Wonder Kitchen, they also were promoting other built-ins including their now-famous refrigerator that looks like a wall cabinet. The built-ins that were part of the Wonder Kitchen also could be purchased separately.

In fact, the Wonder Kitchen ad says: “… 55 out of every 100 women think G.E. makes the best home appliances.”

vintage-GE-wonder-kitchen-8

Also pretty groovy: See the GE 1955 color palette — Canary Yellow, Turquoise Green, Petal Pink, Cadet Blue and Woodtone Brown. Note — they are promoting to “mix and match” these colors. Indeed, we occasionally see two-tone kitchens in the wild. More so in ads, though. Methinks that most women were pretty conservative about getting too trendy with their purchases of this big ticket items.

GE Wonder Kitchen

… and, Cadet Blue — golly, I’ve never heard of that one before!  Must be as rare to see today as Frigidaire’s short-lived 1960s Poppy Red.

ge wonder kitchenAbove, a GE Wonder Kitchen in the famous 1960 “Scarsdale time capsule house” that we showed here a few years ago. I am thinking: The Wonder Kitchen was high-end.

ge wonder kitchenIn a comment added to the story about Chris’ kitchen, reader Lori reminded us that she also has a GE Wonder Kitchen. And — she has a husband who is a professional — he rewired it, and she is using this daily!

Lori provided lots of detail, writing:

Hi There! Love the kitchen remodel. And the fact that another one of these rare GE kitchen centers has been saved. I was fortunate to pick up one of these kitchen centers about six years ago on EBAY. MIne’s in PINK and it’s still has the original paint. Pam was so kind to feature my entire kitchen on the site here last year titled Lori’s Whole Lotta Lovin’ Fun kitchen.

The date on my GE KITCHEN CENTER is Oct. 1956. I have the combo washer/dryer, dishwasher, stove and cleaner container compartment. My husband is an electrical engineer so he rewired the entire center and brought it up to code so that I could use it. I have the sliding doors for my center but when I put them on I couldn’t see my vintage figurine display so I opted to leave them off. Also I have in storage the matching stackable ovens. I have an original 1957 GE CALENDAR and the month of JULY features the GE KITCHEN CENTER. The bottom of the page reads: “GENERAL ELECTRIC KITCHEN CENTER. New, Deluxe Package Kitchen. Available in five, beautiful Mix or Match colors. Four time saving, work saving appliances, range, dishwasher, Disposall (copyrighted), and combination washer/dryer all under a seamless, long-lasting stainless steel counter. Many deluxe features – cabinettes, fluorescent lights, retractable cord center, custom radio, and cleaner container compartment – gives you more glamour…more utility…more beauty.” When I was looking for my GE KITCHEN CENTER I found some manuals for 1955, 1956 and 1957 so I’m not sure if those were the only years but I’m pretty sure that the first centers were either 1954 or 1955. And I know they didn’t have a long production run. They were designed to be used in a small space giving you all the appliances you need at your finger tips. So I’m thrilled to see another GE KITCHEN CENTER being reclaimed and displayed so beautifully! GREAT JOB!!

GE cabinettesI am not sure when Cabinettes were added to the mix.

The GE Wonder Kitchen: pretty cool. Now you know.

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72 comments

Comments

  1. Ken Hillman says

    January 9, 2021 at 3:24 pm

    I just “FaceTime” visited a home that my daughter and son in law are looking at outside of Albany, NY.
    I has a complete, original GE kitchen in yellow and I just love it!
    I am a almost retired remodeling contractor, born in 1953, and can say I heard of these but never saw one.
    Yankee engineering and a great history!

  2. John Brooks says

    July 21, 2020 at 12:18 am

    My wife and I own a 1958 GE Kitchen Center in our Mid Century Atomic Ranch Home. The Moen kitchen faucet that is part of the stainless steel sink is beginning to wear out. I contacted Moen and they said they no longer have parts for it. I was hoping someone could tell us what we could replace it with.
    Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    John

    • pam kueber says

      July 21, 2020 at 7:37 am

      Hi John, I don’t know the answer to this. Perhaps experts like those at deabath.com could help?

      • melissa sanford says

        July 23, 2020 at 8:24 pm

        I used one of Pams dishmasters on my kitchen center. It took a little bit of fiddling around with the main body but it worked.

        • John Brooks says

          July 29, 2020 at 11:17 pm

          Thank you. I thought it might work but could not say 100% so now I feel better-thank you again.

          • pam kueber says

            July 30, 2020 at 9:13 am

            If you want to try a Dishmaster, I am betting the customer service at the Dishmaster company also could advise…

    • LeeAnn says

      August 2, 2020 at 2:45 pm

      Hi John – I also have the exact same problem with the sink faucet in my GE wonder kitchen, its goin ? did u find any answers or any kind of replacement? thank you

      • pam kueber says

        August 3, 2020 at 7:29 am

        I’d also recommend trying deabath.com — they do lots of work with historic plumbing and might be able to help.

  3. Michelle M Barnes says

    September 30, 2019 at 11:10 am

    Hi! I’m loving these pictures and stories. I have one that safely, needs to go due to electric upgrade in my 1870’s house. Does anyone know where to market it for sale?

    • Pam Kueber says

      September 30, 2019 at 3:59 pm

      Here are some tips, Michelle — https://retrorenovation.com/do-you-want-to-sell-a-vintage-item-that-you-own/

  4. Chelsea says

    July 21, 2019 at 1:48 pm

    Any idea what these go for these days? I have one in my kitchen and the burner went out and I can’t find anyone to repair it, so am sadly thinking of getting rid of it 🙁

    • Pam Kueber says

      July 21, 2019 at 5:23 pm

      It really depends on the market. To fix the burner give the folks over at The Old Appliance Club a try, they may be able to help >> https://retrorenovation.com/2011/08/29/parts-service-and-advice-to-fix-old-stoves-and-other-vintage-appliances-a-list-of-9-online-resources/

  5. betsy mitschke says

    April 20, 2019 at 3:45 am

    what is the cleaner container compartment

    • Pam Kueber says

      April 21, 2019 at 10:20 am

      Hmmm… I don’t know!

  6. LOUIS says

    October 16, 2018 at 7:17 am

    Hi Pam, I HAVE A BRAND NEW 1956 GE KITCHEN/ LAUNDRY WITH 9 FT 8 SS COUNTERTOP THAT TURNS LEFT AND GOES ANOTHER 74″ OR SO

    • Pam Kueber says

      October 16, 2018 at 8:55 am

      Wow! I’ll email you for photos!

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