This vintage GE steel kitchen is quite amazing: It’s chock full of many of the fabulous features that GE offered in its kitchens starting in about 1955. In addition to the steel kitchen cabinets, there’s:
- A wall refrigerator
- “Cabinettes” under the wall cabinets and below the refrigerator
- A countertop-level oven
- An undercounter freezer, the first time I’ve ever seen one in the wild — oh my!
- Original GE Textolite laminate countertops
- And bins and breadboards and other delights…
This kitchen is currently for sale on Facebook marketplace — and the seller Ariana sent me even better photos to show on the blog. Thank you, Ariana, and your sister Ligaya hosting the kitchen for sale for you! And thanks to the many readers who tipped me tot his kitchen! Let’s take a deep dive look inside >>
The kitchen is currently for sale for $500 in Quincy, Mass. Hey! That’s near me. But… but… I already have a vintage steel kitchen!
From the Facebook Marketplace listing:
A full metal kitchen cabinet set made by General Electric in the 50’s. It’s a fitted set in decent shape and includes the original electric cooktop as well as the original oven, both of which are fully functional. There’s a built in freezer within the unit, which will need to be thawed out.
Cabinets feature bread storage area, as well as a built-in combination fridge that will need some handy work if you want to get it running again, otherwise great for storage and aesthetics.
Cabinets have original metal wire shelves and additional storage below the top cabinets featuring most of the original frosted glass sliders. Double sink cabinet — can throw in sink, too, as well as the countertops.
It fits along 3 walls. Sink side is approx 41.6” long, 28” deep with countertop. Oven side is approx 32”deep, 53” tall max, 107.25” long. Food freezer/cooktop side is approx 31” deep, 83.5” tall, 181” long.
Doing a kitchen renovation and as much as we love the set, it no longer goes with our decor. Hoping to offload this amazing vintage unit ASAP! Won’t last long – definitely a retro lovers dream find!!
Well, I certainly agree with this: “A retro lover’s dream find!!” And what a beautiful looking mid century modern home — of course, I’m curious to see more of the house!
Back to the kitchen. The sellers were eager to learn more about its history, and I promised to share some of what I know about this kitchen and its provenance. So, following are some ways that this vintage GE steel kitchen cabinet set fits in with previous research on this blog.
#1 The GE wall cabinet refrigerator:
The GE wall refrigerator is a favorite vintage item spotted in kitchens. I’ve even heard from a few readers who have operational units.
The GE wall refrigerator was introduced by GE in 1955 in a variety of colors.
#2 The GE Refrigeration Center
Now things really get fun. To me, the most amazing “find” in this vintage GE kitchen is the undercounter freezer. As I said, I’ve never seen one in the wild before. But I’ve seen one in an advertisement in my personal collection:
Take a GE wall cabinet refrigerator …
… put two undercounter freezers directly below…
… connect the top and bottom with two “cabinettes” and a countertop…
…set the whole thing by itself… and you have:
…The GE Refrigeration Center!! I do not have an intro date for this unit — that is, I do not have an intro date for the undercounter refrigerators.
What an amazing kitchen feature — and in the GE kitchen set featured in today’s story, we are just one freezer short of an entire Refrigeration Center!
#3 GE Cabinettes
As I said above, this kitchen features GE “Cabinettes” too — and lots of them! Cabinettes were long narrow sliding-glass-door cabinets that tucked under wall cabinets. There were two heights. The smaller height was used in the GE Refrigeration Unit, the taller height was used under wall cabinets.
Golly, just count the Cabinettes in this kitchen! I’m seeing the (2) under the refrigerator, (2) under the wall cabinets and …
(2) corner cabinets on the left — wow, rare rare rare to see!
Here’s a look (squint) at the reeded glass doors. These things could also be lighted from the inside! (Have a pro check the wiring / Renovate Safe!)
#4 GE Textolite countertops
Yup, GE made countertop laminate, too. It was named Textolite. I don’t know the name of this pattern.
#5 Bins, bread bin, bread board, counter level oven, special cabinets:
It’s also fun to see all the other details in this kitchen:
Bins for… sugar and coffee? For bread? I’m not sure…Who knows?…
… A special base cabinet just for cookie sheets, including with separators….
… A pull-out bread board…
… A flour bin …
… and a stainless steel oven that sits about counter-level high.
Oh, and did we mention: It’s pink!
Wow. I’m thinking this kitchen was installed by people who wanted the latest and greatest in kitchen design. It’s a wonder to see it still together (but get thee a vintage dishwasher, stat). Fingers crossed that it will find a very appreciative home. Thanks again to sellers Ariana and Ligaya for taking these photos for us to feature and for permission to archive this kitchen here!!!
Nonna says
Drooling
Dan says
Does anyone have any experience living with that wall mount fridge? It strikes me as one of those gimmicky ideas that seems cool but is more an annoyance than convenience.
Penne says
I don’t have experience living with a wall-mounted refrigerator, but my home had one. I went to an estate sale not interested in buying any house but ended up buying this one. At the estate sale there was a GE wall-mounted fridge in yellow with pink interior mounted on the wall in the basement. It was running, clean, and in perfect condition. Absolutely no rust or crud. I think it ended up selling for $85. I would have loved to have kept it, but it sold and was removed before I could do the house deal. The house was built in 1965 and the ‘fridge’ was original to the kitchen. At some point the kitchen was remodeled and it was moved to the basement. My Dad built houses in the late 50s and early 60s and installed several of these. His opinion is that in houses without central air-conditioning the units tended to “sweat” and ruin walls and floors and generally caused problems. My home has always had central air, so perhaps that’s why the fridge survived 50 plus years.
Joe says
Dan, the only experiences I had with these built-in “dream” kitchens were stories repeatedly shared by my late mom. She was famous for constantly reminding us with examples of mistakes she didn’t want us to make (such as gas refrigerator and front loader washer)! She was always on-trend with the latest and most modern ideas for postwar homes and was really smitten with these GE kitchen unit walls, but something told her to hold back on it and wait to hear input from her friends who were getting them installed. Was she happy she waited! Everyone who got those eye-level refrigerators quickly regretted them. As if the parents of large families didn’t have enough to do already, they were constantly running to the kitchen to assist because the kids couldn’t reach to open the doors, let alone get to any of the contents. Adults of short stature couldn’t access the top shelves without assistance or using a stepstool. Rare was the home with central air or air conditioning and, in the humid weather of New Jersey, everyone was mad as heck about the condensation on the exteriors constantly dripping onto the countertops and running down the walls – causing mold, peeled paint and lifted wallpaper. It soon became apparent that these units were the ultimate in planned obsolescence, because if one of the appliances broke down and were deemed unrepairable, the entire wall unit became obsolete and needed to be torn out, in order to return to a conventional kitchen of standard upper and lower cabinets, with freestanding easily replaceable appliances.
Jackie says
Had seen this on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago, but by the time we rented a truck one way and with all of the other expenses that go with it, it would have gone from a $500 kitchen to a $3000 kitchen. Hope someone snatches it up.
Phyllis says
It would be a huge project to restore them but sooooo worth it for the right person willing to take it on.
Wendellyn Plummer says
Wow, oh wow, oh wow!!!!!!!!! One I wish I lived close enough and two, I wish my kitchen was large enough! My walls are already a mint green!
EA says
Pam , my husband and I were looking at old homes and found a house with this set up with the refrigeration in the upper cabinets etc. It was pristine , theclasy was a diligent housekeeper .
it was also Aqua colored …..we walked away because it would have been a longwork commute . Then we changed our minds but the house had already sold …..we drove by and saw that the new owner had trashed the kitchen appliances .
We went to the garage to see if they could be salvaged but he destroyed them by just ripping it all out ….hechas a
So sad he had a goldmine and did not even know it
Pam Kueber says
ugh
BobinAlabama says
I wonder if the GE company maintains an archive or museum for the vintage products contained in this kitchen. It deserves some respect, and I hope somebody who loves MCM buys it.
Lexi says
I totally would have bought it and driven out there but it went FAST. Hopefully to someone who truly wants it and not just someone who’s going to resell it
Pam Kueber says
What? It’s sold already? It wasn’t when I posted this story this morning!
Pam Kueber says
Lexi, it’s still available – I checked with the seller — ?
If you weren’t seeing the photo on FB, be aware there were issues with photos in some parts of the world yesterday. Try again! Snap it up!
Debbie Ricci says
I have always found theater kitchens amazing! I have had the pleasure of seeing one in place in a beautiful pink. Then it was removed from the home and auctioned off for a fundraiser. My question is,are there any companies doing reproduction kitchens? It is time for a update and I would love to have it be retro.
Pam Kueber says
See this story, 4 places to buy steel kitchens made new today — https://retrorenovation.com/2019/06/04/resources-buy-steel-kitchen-cabinets/
And, all my steel kitchen cabinet stories — it’s quite the museum archive if I say so myself — are here >> https://retrorenovation.com/category/kitchen/steel-kitchen-cabinets/
Melinda says
This has me “if only-ing” my heart out! If only Massachusetts wasn’t so far! If only i had time to go get it! If only i had a place to put this wonderous kitchen!
I sincerely hope that the lucky person who scores it will let you follow it’s journey to a new home to share with us.
carolyn says
My eyes and mind stopped at $500! Only $500?! Is it just us or is that not just a steal but grand larceny? Oh, how I wish I had a big truck and big fellows and an empty kitchen (notice how I prioritize?) So glad this is being sold and not trashed. You can bet I’m bookmarking this page for future reference even if my kitchen may not be steel.
Wow! What a way to start the holiday weekend! Thanks to both sellers and Pam.