British Kitchen Design Late 1968

[vacbear58]

I hope you guys enjoy this thread. This was a supplement produced for "Woman" magazine date September 1968. It was a promotion produced in conjunction with Hygenia, once the leading UK "quality" kitchen company before that great name was adultrated by MFI in the late 1970s.

Grab a coffee now, there is a lot to see

Front cover[this post was last edited: 1/23/2011-16:16]

 

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Page 2

..

 

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Page 3

The first kitchen

Cooker (range): Tricity President
Toaster: Hoover
Washer: Hoover - This is the first incarnation of the Hoover "Automatic" range. Introduced at the same time as the flat front Keymatic, it was not quite a sophisticated as the KM although having a good range of programmes. No powder dispenser and vitreous enamel drum
Fridge: Tricity Triumph

These appliances were all regular size for the time

 

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Page 4

A maisonette is like a two floor apartment

 

[appnut]

The cooker in that first photo

Allistair, I am assuming the cooker in that first picture has two ovens--the one below the hobs and the one above the hobs surface. 

 

[appnut]

I imagine automatic dishwashers were still considered extremely outrageous and luxury item.  when did they start to become more accepted an filter down to more commono acceptance?

 

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Page 5

Fridge: Electrolux
Dishwasher: Colston Jetstream
Cooker: Belling Compact 4

For those of you who complain about small cookers (ranges) this one was about 19 inches wide, the Tricity President above was 21 inches. BTW the President had a double oven, combines with the grill (broiler) chamber, which is above the oven. In the Belling, the grill chamber is somewhat smaller, but there was a small storage chamber under the oven, covered by an enlarged (taller) oven door

 

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Page 6

A luxury kitchen

 

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Page 7

Washing Machine: Bendix Washer Dryer - just visible on left. It the same machine that Ricky5050 has been posting about in Imperial
Cooker: Moffat - No longer Canadian manufacture, Moffat was part of the same group as Tricity.
Fridge: English Electric. Nowadays built in friges have doors to match the rest of the cabinets, but no such thing back then - this fridge is just a free standing version that has been built in.

Note the cooker connection point just to the right (in the picture) of teh pendant light. In the UK cookers have their own independent circuit, and back then this was the almost universal control box. Switch on the left is a main switch for the cooker, with a switched socket (also comnmon in UK) to right.

 

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Page 8

An ad for Pyrex

 

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Page 9

Design considerations

 

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Page 10

Cook with electric

 

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Page 11

More design

 

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Page 12

Some words from Hoover, mixer manufactured by Philips

 

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Page 13

Although hardly visible the twin tub washer is a Hotpoint Supermatic. The design of gas cookers somewhat lagged behind that of electric - the gas oven could almost be from the 1950s. It was common for gas cookers to have an eye level grill, and this was a common (although not the only) gas solution to the split level issue - yes, take a chain saw to a standard gas cooker

 

[vacbear58]

Page 14

And just to prove it, another electric cooker, this time Revo. A name long forgotten, revo was another brand for Uk Hotpoint. This is a sible oven cooker, the grill chamber above the oven

 

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Page 15

And back to our regular programming. Design considerations

 

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Page 16

Full page spread, this had to be scanned in two parts - I would kill for a kitchen like this

Fridge is a Hotpoint Iced Diamond, another freestanding model. Kettle by Russell Hobbs, the first to switch itself off when boiled
That is a TRIPLE sink, the wash brush VERY unusual for the time

 

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Page 17

The other side.

Dishwasher by Kenwood, I am not aware of one of these being collected, so far. Single oven and grill by Creda. In addition there is an additional "foldaway" grill in the foreground by Cannon - I think this had a rotesserie as well.

The hob is comprised of Creda "Quick Discs", these were solid plates (the only UK manufactured ones at the time as far as I know) supplied individually (but with a common control panel to control 2, 3 or 4 discs) and could be arranged exactly how teh customer wanted them as they are cut individually into the counter.

This design was quite forward thinking in having the dishwasher at eye level, even stil hardly seen in the UK