What was inside all the boxes?
We now get to see!
Close your eyes. Imagine it’s 1948. You recently ordered a big set of Youngstown Steel Kitchen cabinets. The delivery truck has just arrived. The delivery men tote the big boxes into your garage. They begin to open them up. You are so excited!
Now: Open your eyes. It’s 2015 — not 1948 — but we all get to experience the thrill of opening up all the boxes! Yes: Today we get to see the very first photos of the big set of New Old Stock Youngstown Steel Kitchen cabinets that reader Ben recently discovered in storage. As you may recall, we first showed these cabinets — but still hidden in their boxes — in this story earlier this month.
They are just as pretty — just as shiny and new — as they day they were packed into their boxes. So pretty! So shiny! So new!
And woah, Nellie, hang on, because, there is a 1948 General Electric stove to go with. It is brand new, too.
Ben said the price tag was still on it: $270.
In case you didn’t catch that: Brand new. Reader Janet in ME piped right in and said it’s a GE Airliner. A GE Airliner! Woot! Our readers are So Smart. Thank you, Janet in ME!
Not one crumb new.
Apparently, not one scratch new. It was all crated up.
Brand spanking new. Oh my goodness.
Never messed with new.
New new new new new. It doesn’t get much better than this.
But wait, it does get better than this. The best part, imho: New Old Stock Cusheen vinyl countertops to match up with the Youngstown Steel Kitchen cabinet bases.
There are a lot of steel kitchen cabinets around (of course, not NOS), and there are a lot of GE ranges around (ditto) — but pristine Cusheen countertops? These are flipping amazing.
Ben says that the Cusheen vinyl is adhered straight onto steel. As you can see in the photo above, there is a steel channel underneath and multiple short channels behind the backsplash to reinforce the structure. What I mean to say: There is no wood substrate to these countertops! They are Cusheen-on-steel. Ben says it’s 16 gauge. It’s honking heavy stuff.
You screw the countertops right onto the cabinets. I think those are the screws, above.
Note: The drainboard sink was used; Ben says it’s in great shape, though. Also: The sink front was used and needs some work; Ben says the paint has yellowed, and it will need to be repainted to match the other cabinets. Back story seems to be: The complete kitchen was purchased back in ’48 or ’49 with a remodel in mind. Obviously, the remodel never happened. But the owners used the sink base and the sink in another location. In addition, there likely were wall cabinets — but these were also used in another project, long gone.
What is the total tally of what was found? Ben has not made up a list — but he took photos of the boxes, and they are in the slide show, if you want to count.
Ben wants to sell these
What is going to happen to these cabinets? Ben wants to sell them. I really think they belong in a museum and am reaching out to my museum friends right away today to see if they can help get these things to a museum. Meanwhile, Ben is open to offers. He wants to sell everything as a set. (UPDATE: See below; sold. — great follow up story!)
Update: How the story ends
- UPDATE: The cabinets went to a museum — a result of our story! See how the story ends by reading this story here.
More about Youngstowns and Cusheen:
- Must see: “The Mullinaires” sing the praises of Youngstown Steel Kitchen Cabinets in 1953. Classique!
- See our story about Cusheen countertops here. It was an alternative to linoleum, available in a variety of rich colors.
- See the original Cusheen countertops in Brian and Keri’s kitchen here.
- Click here to see this late-1950s catalog showing these countertops — and lots of pretty Youngstown kitchens.
Yowza. Eight years nine-and-a-half years (yowza, I just checked — it’ll be 10 years soon!) into doing this blog daily. Just when I think we will run out of stories, stuff like this comes at us. Yay!
Thank you so much, Ben, for sending all the photos. What a great thing you did by rescuing these! Be sure to tell whoever buys them about RetroRenovation.com and to give them our contact info — we want to see where they land!
CONTINUE to next page to see the SLIDE SHOW — 80 double-sized photos:
Tips to view slide show: Click on any image… it will enlarge to 1000 pixels wide on your screen … click anywhere to move forward, and look for previous and next buttons within photo to move back or forth… you can start or stop at any image:
Eliza says
Covet. Such a fantastic find.
Les best says
My grandfather, Harry Hunt was superintendent ar Mullins for 17 years during that time period.
Anardana says
I just saw a house that had that exact stove. I wanted to buy the house.. but my husband vetoed it 🙁
Here is the link to the listing:
http://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/15948096/907-Innswood-Dr-Ottawa-Ontario-K2A3R9-Glabar-Park
Skip says
My grandparents had that exact stove, and they moved into their house in 1947. I distinctly remember it, especially because of the sunken slow-cooker, clock and the workspace on the right of the burners. Brings back so many memories!
Crickerbuns says
BREATHTAKING!
I literally kept finding myself holding my breath as I looked through the pictures.
No doubt, all of our imaginations ran wild going over all of this!
Where ever they end up, I hope the new owners will care for them dearly. If not in a museum, then I hope the new owners post pictures of their remodel.
Nice little slice of life, reading through this post! 😉
Teresa says
Call me crazy, but finds like these almost bring me to tears. Can’t wait to see who gets them and how they’re installed.
mimi says
Not crazy, hungry for the memory of that time in America. Proud of the country, proud of the people, proud of the craftsmanship. Sigh. Gorgeous.
oh Holland says
Well said, Teresa and Mimi. The value of quality goods made in the USA “back then” is profound because it represents much our nation longs for, yet has nearly lost.
pam kueber says
Yes and just the day before we ran this story we ran this story, exact same idea: https://retrorenovation.com/2015/09/21/making-yarn-woven-wood-roman-shades-a-labor-intensive-process/
Deb McCredie says
My hubby and I are renovating an 1886 house in Virginia. I wanted to do a retro kitchen and already have a 1947 GE Stratoliner range! This would be awesome in our kitchen – which right now is totally gutted and open to whatever configuration would work for these beauties!!
Wayne B. says
INCREDIBLE! Even more so, since I am originally from Youngstown, and I’m old enough to remember kitchens like these in many of my relatives’ and friends’ homes. The old steelworkers that made the town great in its day were very proud of all the products made from their raw materials! We even had the stand-alone double door single drawer floor cabinet (part of your entire group) installed as part of my mom’s kitchen. Our cusheen top was dark green though, instead of black. If by some miracle nobody else wants that double door cabinet, I’d happily buy that from you! 🙂
Hannah says
We rented a farmhouse here in northern Calif with this same cabinetry and black marbled countertop- hands down my fave kitchen ever in terms of functionality and attractiveness (the loads of windows looking out onto acres of almond orchard helped too). ,Although the house was built around 1920 give or take, the kitchen and finished basement were remodeled in 1950. I’m so curious about where in CA these were found….Thanks for this awesome story!
JKM says
I’m fascinated by the GE Airliner range – and not just by the great postwar name! Old appliances are so very interesting to me. I’ll admit having to do an online search to find out what a “Thrift Cooker” was and how it was used. So cool!
Jay says
My parent’s Hotpoint 30 inch stove from the early 50s had a similar feature. As I recall, the burner slid down into the well and you inserted the special pot to cook in – soup, potatoes, etc. When finished cooking and the stove had cooled down you pulled the burner back up into position. From a child’s viewpoint I thought it was magic.