Regency steel kitchen cabinets — or were they Regency Quality Kitchens? — or just Quality Kitchens? — likely are a rare vintage brand. These were made in Rosedale, Mississippi. Further research indicates the parent company was Alabama Metal Products, which started around 1954 and by 1976 was one of the most important industries in town, with 350 employees manufacturing steel kitchen cabinets and vanities — wow!
The company seems to have a complete line.
The most distinguishing feature of the cabinets may be the second cabinet pull design. Not the chevron, the one on the bottom, above, that resembles a wide, short “u”.
Photo viewing tip: After the page fully loads, click on any photo and it should enlarge up to 1,000 pixels wide on your screen. Hit Back or ESC to go back to the story.
The wall cabinets show above have recessed cabinet pulls.
The “Deluxe One-Piece Wall Ensembles” are interesting. This might be another distinguishing feature.
The “Modernistic Glass Front Kitchen Line”, with what looks to be sliding ribbed-glass panels — also is quite notable. I need to doublecheck my own previous reporting, but I believe that Lyon and Crosley also had streamline-style sliding glass wall cabinets like this. (Other companies also had wall cabinets with glass within frames — but not these interesting sliding glass panels.)
Above: “Hang-Bar Construction” for the wall cabinets. That is: The wall cabinets seem to hang on this special bar, which is attached to a stud.
This rare brochure was a nice find, if say so myself!
More info:
- The Retro Renovation Encyclopedia of Vintage Steel Kitchen Cabinets — 80+ brands identified!
Alexandra says
Thank you for posting this! I have the wall unit with sliding glass in our 1967 built house in Irving Texas. Cool piece. We’ll definitely be keeping it
Sabrina Searcy says
I remember them! We had some in our home in Garland, TX when I was a girl. They were a light yellow. Later my Daddy bought a home with bright green metal cabinets. Talk about walking back in time!
Carolyn says
Have we maybe seen these in a home featured here?
A funny story – Ben from “Home Town” was struggling to remove kitchen cabinets when he and friend discovered all he had to do was lift them up. He looked suitably abashed and learned a lesson – you don’t need to take a sledge hammer to tap in a brad.
Jay says
Nice! They appear to be of solid construction. Would have liked to have seen a kitchen fitted out with these including the wall oven cabinet and some of those “Modernistic” glass fronted cabinets.
Jay says
Back in the day, homeowners did not typically buy kitchen cabinets directly from the manufacturer but worked with their builder or a local distributer/contractor. There were no DIY centers or IKEA where you could buy off the shelf.
Steven Keylon says
Morton/Kelvinator also had those distinctive sliding glass doors, and their upper cabinets were canted forward, very stylish!
Pam Kueber says
Thanks for the info!
ineffablespace says
What I find interesting about historical marketing is that consumers were completely willing to accept drawings and semi-photographic, black & white representations of the product enough to order it.
I think as a culture and maybe a species we are losing the ability to visualize things from photos and pictures and now need to see the actual product to really understand what it looks like.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with wanting to hold actual samples in your hand, but I think some have lost the ability to know what they are seeing without it physically in front of them.
As special effects and virtual reality get more realistic there is no need for our brains to visualize, imagine or fill in the rest, so the ability is being lost.
I have two clients who have actually failed to recognize pieces of furniture that they actually have, in catalog photos or photos of the actual piece out of context.
rhoda ciraolo says
Love the graphics and colors. How fun but silly there is a lady dressed up in a stole, pearls and long gloves posing by the cabinets. Not sure that would be convincing today.