Mary and Duane’s 1948 time capsule house is a sweet little Cape Cod. Quintessentially post-war New England, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a Royal Barry Wills. I need to go through all my books and see if I can find the plan — wouldn’t that be something? Oh. I’m writing about the kitchens. Yes: This house may be small — but this house is mighty! There is an original kitchen downstairs… and a second equally useful kitchen upstairs. Both have original vintage steel cabinets — and more.
The main kitchen downstairs:
The downstairs kitchen is most notable for its fantastic stainless steel combination countertop + double sinks + backsplash. This must have been SOMETHING back in the day! Remember, the original owner was a plumbing contractor, we are told, so we see lots of little extra something in this house.
This is my third story on Mary and Duane’s house. The other two:
The original metal cabinets remain. I can’t identify the maker on sight, I might be able to find these in my vintage marketing materials. Don’t hold your breath, though, my piles have piles.
No more photos of this kitchen. The rest of the space is taken up by a small kitchen table ‘where I’m standing while taking this photo’. As you can see, the original flooring is still in place, and the stove and refrigerator have been updated.
But wait til you see…
The upstairs kitchen:
Above: An original steel sink cabinet unit with dual-drainboard enameled sink.
To the left of the sink, a vintage Universal stove!
To the right of the sink: A cute little vintage GE refrigerator.
To the right of the refrigerator, there’s a door to storage in the attic eaves. But lookie close: There’s a can opener attached to the door frame!
Photo dump:
Note: A while back, I did a lot of research going through brochures. The most popular color for countertops in the 1940s, I decided: Black. These countertops are some sort of plastic or vinyl or… ? … mashup. They are not laminate.
Floor is original. Molly let me help her choose colors for new paint in various parts of the house. In this room, I recommended a beige that was found in the floor tile (she wanted something neutral). The new color looks very nice!
Bonus photos: Vintage Maytag in the mudroom downstairs. Doggonit: Even the washers were prettier back then!
Ree says
Thank you for sharing these pictures with us. I love, love, love the stainless steel counter with what looks like a seamlessly incorporated sink. Would be a breeze to keep clean.
Joan S., Cleveland, OH says
Thank you, Miss Pam, for the detailed photos. A testament to USA-made appliances from way back. Not energy-efficient but they sure kept on ticking.
Pam Kueber says
Unless you put a meter on them, you can’t say whether they were energy-efficient or not!
Carol says
When my Grandmother passed away, Mom rented her house. The 1949 Frigidaire was taken to Mom’s house for me to preserve. I didn’t know that she kept it running for a year, until she called me to inform me that it added $15 a month to her electric bill. She was an avid gardener and used it for her canning produce. Since she had produced a smaller garden, she didn’t need it anymore. She said we could unplug it or use it as my Dad’s fishing fridge. It was unplugged! This was 15 years ago, but still, I think that was very energy efficient. Those old refridgerators used ammonia for cooling. I don’t know if this makes a big difference or not.
Joan S., Cleveland, OH says
I didn’t know that. Thanks 🙂
Felicia Alexander says
Both kitchens are wonderful, but the upstairs kitchen is ingenious! I wonder whether the daughter worked odd hours (a nurse, perhaps?), hence her very own kitchen. Looks like the freezer has just enough room for an ice cube tray and a pint or two of ice cream–should defrost in a jiffy, as they would have said back then.
Pam Kueber says
Yes, a nurse.
Karin says
Jiminy! Two lovingly preserved steel kitchens because you know
we can’t get enough of them here, lol. I love the Streamline
Moderne design of the blue kitchen. I’ve never seen that
particular type of arched curve sink bowl before. The electrical
outlets line up perfectly with the curved ends of the porcelain
backsplash. That incredible Buck Rogers faucet is sitting on its
own pedestal. And how pretty is that picture window shining over
it all. I’m just going to pore over all the two kitchens’ amazing
features. Thank you for the great post, made my day.
Cynthia says
The stainless counters downstairs are wonderful. If the bedrooms are upstairs, I’d convert the upstairs kitchen into a laundry room. Put washer and dryer in place of range and cabinet. That is, if they would fit…but keep the fridge as an extra fridge for drinks!
Jay says
Nice efficient kitchen, even though it’s small it has much more counter space then I have in my kitchen. The floor appears to be a shade of olive green and that small picture window is great – looks out on all that greenery.
The daughter really had it made upstairs – not only a private bath but a kitchen to boot. Like how the fridge was given a space saving niche under the rafters.
The stove reminds me of the push button Hotpoint my parents had with the deep well retractable burner. A common stove feature of the era. Check out the auto washer museum for all sorts of neat washers with various control panels and lights.
Carolyn says
Oh, boy, Pam, you should probably put a bunch of links to previous stories for some of this stuff. I, like Linda, have always wondered about the sunken pot burner – is this a leftover from woodstove days of the hot water reservoir? I can see cooking soup or stew all day but then how heavy would that full pot be to serve? While I’ve seen this stove in use, never was it that back burner since no one knew what it was for.
We have the same problem with our new fridge – can’t get into the junk drawer unless you open the fridge door. I wonder how much the new deeper (orangutan arms!) fridges are contributing to the 40% food waste since we can’t see or reach the science experiments! The original fridge is in our garage and I’ve been in several neighbors mobile homes – everyone has the same appliances! But different home companies and year of manufacture.
Could the countertops be the same industrial/institutional material found in the science labs of schools?
Ugh! Don’t even get me started on washers & dryers! you can’t figure out the “intuitive” knobs and the manual makes no sense. My goodness – if you’re longing for the days of the wringer washer and clothes line, something is seriously not right!
So, back to the subject at hand – about how big is this house overall and how large/small are the two apartments/flats? I’ve seen some rather small 1 family homes turned into 2 family with good results and others that completely missed the mark.
Thanks Mary & Duane for letting us snoop!
Carolyn says
I’m sorry, the point of my rambling about appliances such as stoves and fridges is that, if you don’t take scale into account, the appliances won’t fit in to the space. Apartment-sized appliances and furniture for that matter will fit in the spaces better than the behemoths made for today’s open-concept homes. Unless you can find stuff made up to about the 1990’s when everything got super-sized.
There have been comments previously about the Energy Star appliances with arguments both against old appliances and anecdotal evidence that refute.
Mary says
I was curious so I googled the Steel Kitchen Cabinet Institute. The top results that came up were Retro Renovation posts. Pam, I think YOU are the Steel Kitchen Cabinet Institute now!
Pam Kueber says
indeed! 🙂
Dan says
A cousin redid his kitchen using that black, dense rubber- like material used for laboratory counters; possibly the same stuff here?
Pam Kueber says
I tend to think this, or a similar material: https://retrorenovation.com/2013/11/11/retro-kitchen-counter-top-youngstown/
lynda says
How fun to look at these photos. Amazing everything is still so nice. I do wonder why one would have an upstairs kitchen? Maybe another family or the in-laws lived upstairs? Appliances are amazing. The pot in the range is so interesting. Maybe I missed this, but are the appliances still working?