Here’s a rare bird for our archive of vintage steel kitchen cabinet — a vintage 1948 “Acme” sink base (with American Standard “Hostess” drainboard sink) for sale on ebay. What’s unusual about this design is the stamped, deco-style design on the front sink plate. We only tend to see this kind of ornamentation on early designs of metal sink bases — designs likely originating before World War II, but which continued into the market for some period after. Reminds me of the Dupont Delux, which also has deco styling. Also notable: Wile E. Coyote worked for this company; beware: Does it explode? 🙂
From the ebay listing:
American Standard “Hostess” 1948 vintage porcelain sink with metal Acme kitchen cabinet. Measures 42×25. In excellent working condition! Still in use today! Made in the USA.
Mega thanks to ebay seller laursickler for allowing us to feature these photos.
You are now in the epicenter of all metal kitchen cabinet research:
- The Retro Renovation® Encyclopedia of Vintage Steel Kitchen Cabinets
- A Short History of Steel Kitchen Cabinets
- All my stories about steel kitchen cabinets
It looks like someone painted over it with house paint at one time. It’d be neat to see it sandblasted and powder coated – the design on the front would really pop out. I love the old school American Standard logo.
Oh, wow! This is making me really nostalgic. Remember I said I one lived in a cottage that was made out of an old hot dog stand that came ashore after a hurricane? Well, a close cousin of this sink was in that house. There was a drainboard on either side of the sink with one drawer and one cabinet under each one, and two cabinet doors under the sink. That and a small metal cabinet next to the window were the entire cabinetry for the kitchen, and there was no other countertop. As if being a beginning cook wasn’t challenging enough. 🙂
I hope you wrote a poem for your book about living in your hot dog stand by the sea Mary Elizabeth! That’s super cool. 🙂
No, I didn’t, because the book is all about one house. But that’s a good idea. Since the book isn’t published yet, I could write a poem about the owners finding some piece of flotsam and incorporating it into their house.
M.E.
Hi, Mary Elizabeth. I think I may have purchased a sink/cabinet like you described from your hot dog home! I’m planning to have it refurbished & placed in my kitchen. Thanks for sharing your story.