Remember how Maile transformed her dark 70s kitchen into a bright, sunny 1940s delight? When we first featured this story, the kitchen was nearly complete, save the final pièce de résistance — her waiting-to-be-restored-and-converted-to-propane 1948 Magic Chef Stove. We finally received word that the stove — which Maile has affectionately named “Miss Lucille” — has taken its rightful place in her sunny vintage kitchen.
Maile writes:
Miss Lucille….my 1948 Magic Chef Stove is installed in my kitchen. I can’t tell you how much fun it is to cook with gas again! It’s like all the pieces came together for this. She was named Miss Lucille after my dear aunt who was an exceptional, contest winning, published, ‘oh yeah, James Beard called me for a recipe’ kinda cook.
I send a big, huge, humongus ‘thank you’ to Rex at Homestead Vintage Stove Company, dealers in antique stoves. He did a wonderful job retrofitting her from natural gas to propane, and she cooks like a dream.
Maile, the stove looks fantastic in your kitchen. I’m sure it was worth the long wait to be able to cook with gas on “Miss Lucille” every day!
Mary Lou Keller says
Oh how delightful to see the happy ending of this story! The stove looks perfect there! So happy you were able to get it restored and converted! I love the name. My mom’s name was Lucille and she was a wonderful southern cook.
lorraine says
Beautiful! And i’m following your Pinterist board. Finished the kitchen in my main house, now doing a “kitchenette” in my guest/office/studo in shades of Jadeite and red accents. I wanted to do linoleum counters but I don’t think anyone around here is qualified to install and I don’t want to be some contractor’s learning curve so I’m doing butcher block.
maria says
Perfection!
Ed says
Reminds me of the Tom & Jerry cartoons I saw as a kid in the early ’80s. They always seemed to have a strong 1940s/50s feel.
Scott says
Congrats, the “new” stove really ices the cake perfectly. I don’ t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like this model before, a very intriguing design indeed.
Maile says
Yes, this was such a hard model to track down! I spent hours going through old photos and adds trying to date this stove. I finally found a very grainy pic of an old Magic Chef brochure showing this model dated 1948. I’m still trying to figure out what the two side cabinets are for besides storage.
J D Log says
It looks great and such a huge difference for the look of the kitchen. I know I find pleasure cooking on my 1957 St George double cooker. Are you going to go the next step with a vintage fridge?
Mary Elizabeth says
Maile, your stove is beautiful and your kitchen happily completed. May you enjoy it for many years. J. D., are you British? That’s the only people I know who call stoves “cookers.”
J D Log says
I am Australian but as a kid we used what is known as the Queens English as my parents would say colour instead of color, bonnet instead of hood bog instead of bondo not sure if the younger generation are taught this anymore with the advent of computers.
Maile says
No, unfortunately the cost of a retro fridge isn’t in the budget. I wish you could just buy vintage door facades to put on current models!
LuAnn says
I just love this kitchen renovation and the stove is the crowning glory. I love how Maile chose the era she loved and was able to make here dream kitchen. 🙂
Janet in ME says
Maile, your kitchen is lovely and your stove is wonderful and the perfect choice. I love old stoves and have a 1958 GE in my kitchen. I know a lot of people admired the NOS Airliner and I just wanted to give a bit of advice on those older double oven sized stoves. Some of the early GE’s were 39″, not 40″ wide. If your stove is built right in between the cabinets, and you are getting another old one, be sure to check the width. Sometimes we had a problem selling the 40″ one because it wouldn’t fit and people couldn’t cut down the cabinets. Just a bit of a warning to be careful measuring.
Birgitte says
This renovation is one of my favorites on this site, and that stove is perfect! I hope we can do an equally good job when we start tackling our beyond worn-out 1949 kitchen.
Maile says
Brigitte, thanks for your kind words. Inspiration from favorite pieces in the colors I love steered me in the direction of choosing everything. Another big help was starting a board on Pinterest. You can check out my board for ideas: https://www.pinterest.com/aloham58/ideas-for-my-dream-retro-kitchen/
Birgitte says
I already have a board on Pinterest for the house, and your kitchen is on it. I am now following your board as well! 😀
Chris says
What a beauty! In my opinion, a lovely vintage stove is the keystone of a retro kitchen. (Wish I could afford one! What fun it would be!) Miss Lucille is just gorgeous!
Maile says
Thanks Chris. I found her on Craigslist in a house about to be demolished. She needed me as much as I needed her. It was meant to be! In fact, some of the cabinet handles came from that old house. They were happy to give them to me.