Advice! New GE Wonder Kitchen / GE Kitchen Center

[eden]

My big news ... after years of debating and collecting, I'm bringing my GE Kitchen Center out of the garage and setting up my "new" kitchen.

I started my own thread because I think I'm going to be needing a lot of advice.

First question ... has anybody used the Kitchen Center as an island? All my other walls are too short. I'd love to hear what other people have done on the back of their islands.

There's 5" of wasted space between the back of the Kitchen Center (29") and the back of the regular Kitchen center cabinets (24"). Should I put 30"hx12d (upper) GE cabinets on the floor and the 12" cabinettes on top of "uppers" facing away from the kitchen center. 42" is roughly the same height as the top of the backsplash and the cabinettes make a shallow bar. Only problem is it's probably too shallow for eating.

There's an old GE ad with the kitchen center as an island, but I've never seen pictures of one in real life. We have a reasonable size kitchen, but even so, the Kitchen Center is HUGE at 102wx29dx42h. There's no way I could put the 12" of cabinettes on top of the 42" tall kitchen center like in the picture. That would be nearly 5' high. I wouldn't be able to see the rest of the kitchen!

Wait! Now that I'm looking at that vintage ad more closely, it looks like they used some vintage photoshop techniques. The cabinettes cover half the backsplash of the Kitchen Center! Without the backsplash the kitchen center wouldn't work! That pot on the stovetop must be cold because there's a cabinet covering the On/Off button for the burner! That's advertising for ya.

If you have a Kitchen Center where did you put your 9' of cabinettes?

 

[sfh074]

Oh dear god .....

That is going to be awesome!

 

[yogitunes]

I would built a half wall, possibly sides too, with a shelf/bar area across the top, back your kitchen center up to that on one side...

the other side could be a counter height sit-at bar, or more base cabinets and counter space...

you could even hang cabinets down from the ceiling above it....pot rack, wine/glassware rack, pendant lights, vent...

all very similar to the ad drawing....the controls for the stove top are to the left, above the dishwasher, you may have to stoop to see them, but still accessible...

 

[turquoisedude]

GE Kitchen Center as an Island

Melissa, getting your Kitchen Center installed will be fun and very rewarding to see it back in service!

I had considered installing mine as an island at some point during the "where the hell is this going to fit" stage of planning my 2009 kitchen renovation. However, my kitchen area was too narrow to accomodate such an installation...

It could work but I have a couple of ideas based on lessons learned with mine. My first suggestion is to have some sort of a frame behind the unit with brackets to hold the counter in place. I did not realize this was needed so mine just sits on top of the cabinets and appliances; cosequently it rattles like hell when the dishwasher or washer/dryer are running!

About the 'cabinettes' - these should rest right on the top ledge of the counter units (two should be 9 feet in total to cover the unit from end to end). They will be fairly high installed in this fashion and may make having an eating counter behind the unit feel closed off from the kitchen center.

If you have the washer/dryer and dishwasher units, I'd recommend that any panels you use to enclose the rear of these appliances easy to remove. Trust me, it may be easier to take apart a couple of panels instead of pulling appliances out of the Kitchen Centre!

I've got a service manual for the 1955 version of the Kitchen Center buried somewhere in the house in Ogden - I'll see if they have any installation suggestions or guidelines about an island installation.

Good luck!!

 

[eden]

Confession

I feel like I have to get this out of the way before you kind folks are too kind or helpful ... Um, well, I don't plan to use the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, or stovetop. I'm just going to use the stainless island, the sink, hopefully the clock and radio with plain steel ge cabinets and cabinettes.

Gasp, I know.

Please forgive me.

I have many reasons for this... First, (the amazing) vbatmat63 who I inherited the countertop from, did not have the original dishwasher or washing machine. The original turquoise stove was previously painted white & so were the cabinets. I already had a really nice GE stove of this era and with shipping costs ... well the stove just wasn't worth it.

Second, my first love, is my 1950 chambers range, which now has "new" mint green panels. I love cooking on it and so the cooktop just wouldn't be useful for me.

And finally, I have zero electrical skills and I don't think you could pay somebody enough money to rewire this thing. I want to at least make the lights light up on the back of the countertop, but that's about all I think I can manage.

Even without the appliances, I truly love the kitchen center. Those 9' of stainless are just an amazing especially with the integrated sink. Second, the cabinets are fabulous - I love the in door "cleaning center." Yogi Tunes I think the bar on the back is the way to go.

I hope I can still get advice and support from you guys even though I'm not going totally original.

turquoisedude, or anyone else, I would love to see the installation manual or any manuals or advice you have.

Paul Thanks for the advice re: reducing movement, I could screw the counters to a plywood top and put the countertop on top of the plywood? As for the the cabinettes on top of the ledge, I just can't do it. Considering I'm 60 inches tall total, if my island was 54 inch tall, it would be more like a wall than an island!

 

[dermacie]

I love your confession. This is your kitchen and you can do what you want with it. I know this is going to be amazing and look forward to see the photos and progress of this project.