jakeseacrest
Well-known member
Qualin I bought a Kenmore trash compactor with my tax returns in January of 2003 and could not live without it.
Childhood Kitchens
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xraytech
Well-known member
Two more kitchens I remember as a child were my grandmothers kitchens, as I spent alot of time there as well.
Grandma Mary has an eat in galley kitchen with 5 windows so it is always light and airy, as a child the walls were celery green, and there were sheer Sears Perma-Prest priscilla curtains on the windows(still have them) on one wall of the kitchen is a set of plain maple finish cabinets with grey cracked ice formica counters, and grandma also had the same Sears frog family canister set as mother, and set in the middle of the cabinets was a white 1967 GE 40" range with P*7 oven(later replaced by a 6 Frigidaire then a custom built 40" Frigidaire in 2009) on the other side of the kitchen was an early 1980's Kenmore 21 cu ft top freezer fridge, a microwave cart with a shelf full of Corningware and a 1984 Tappan solid state microwave with browning element, and a metal sink cabinet with porcelain top and sink. And always sitting on the GE range plugged into the timed outlet was a GE coffeematic II drip coffee maker, and she has a brown small stone patern Congoleum floor.
Grandma Rose has a larger eat in kitchen with a nice bay of windows around the table, her kitchen has medium wood cabinets with black hammered iron drawer pulls, white formica with gold flecks, a red brick backsplash, chestnut brown glued down carpet, and she had all TOL GE appliances from 1966 in avacado(afterall they were GE dealers) there was a side by side fridge, 24" P*7 wall oven, and Dishwasher with Rinse-Glo(DW is only appliance left) and there was also a 1970's GE glass cook top, and she has one of those built in Nutone food center thingys and the Cory crown jewel percolator and Mixmaster model 10 sat on the counter along with a police scanner, and there is also a Tell City dinette set and matching serving cart in the kitchen.
Belowis a pic of part of Grandma Rose's kitchen
Grandma Mary has an eat in galley kitchen with 5 windows so it is always light and airy, as a child the walls were celery green, and there were sheer Sears Perma-Prest priscilla curtains on the windows(still have them) on one wall of the kitchen is a set of plain maple finish cabinets with grey cracked ice formica counters, and grandma also had the same Sears frog family canister set as mother, and set in the middle of the cabinets was a white 1967 GE 40" range with P*7 oven(later replaced by a 6 Frigidaire then a custom built 40" Frigidaire in 2009) on the other side of the kitchen was an early 1980's Kenmore 21 cu ft top freezer fridge, a microwave cart with a shelf full of Corningware and a 1984 Tappan solid state microwave with browning element, and a metal sink cabinet with porcelain top and sink. And always sitting on the GE range plugged into the timed outlet was a GE coffeematic II drip coffee maker, and she has a brown small stone patern Congoleum floor.
Grandma Rose has a larger eat in kitchen with a nice bay of windows around the table, her kitchen has medium wood cabinets with black hammered iron drawer pulls, white formica with gold flecks, a red brick backsplash, chestnut brown glued down carpet, and she had all TOL GE appliances from 1966 in avacado(afterall they were GE dealers) there was a side by side fridge, 24" P*7 wall oven, and Dishwasher with Rinse-Glo(DW is only appliance left) and there was also a 1970's GE glass cook top, and she has one of those built in Nutone food center thingys and the Cory crown jewel percolator and Mixmaster model 10 sat on the counter along with a police scanner, and there is also a Tell City dinette set and matching serving cart in the kitchen.
Belowis a pic of part of Grandma Rose's kitchen
In the mid 60's we had: a coppertone Welbuilt gas stove with an oven on the top and one on the bottom. I bought mom a 1967 coppertone Lady Kenmore portable dishwasher with the roto rack, a 50's Philco refridgerator and a 1963 Coronado automatic washer and gas dryer in white. In the 70's the fridge was replaced by a Kenmore in harvest gold and the washer was replaced with a avocado Kenmore automatic in 1971. I moved out in 72 and had a brand new Hotpoint harvest gold kitchen in the new apartment that I rented.
What great photos and memories!
I wish I had photos to share, but growing up we had a galley style kitchen with a sink and long counter on one side and a stove, short counter and fridge on the other side. Our first kitchen had a white 30 inch Norge stove - circa 1955 and a seafoam Frigidaire two-door combination.
In the early 70's, mom got caught up in the Early American design craze, and the kitchen was completely re-done. New maple cabinets, faux marble Formica, Z-Brick on the walls, and a coppertone Frigidaire Corning topped range and a matching side-by-side fridge, complete with woodgrained handles! Those were in service through the late 80's, when she remodeled once more.
Mom had a four-slice Proctor Silex toaster, a Sunbeam Mixmaster and a Proctor Silex "Lifelong" perculator with glass body that had lights on the bottom and was a lot of fun to watch!
While I wasn't fond of the decor, I'd trade everything I have for one hour in that Z-Bricked kitchen with mom.
I wish I had photos to share, but growing up we had a galley style kitchen with a sink and long counter on one side and a stove, short counter and fridge on the other side. Our first kitchen had a white 30 inch Norge stove - circa 1955 and a seafoam Frigidaire two-door combination.
In the early 70's, mom got caught up in the Early American design craze, and the kitchen was completely re-done. New maple cabinets, faux marble Formica, Z-Brick on the walls, and a coppertone Frigidaire Corning topped range and a matching side-by-side fridge, complete with woodgrained handles! Those were in service through the late 80's, when she remodeled once more.
Mom had a four-slice Proctor Silex toaster, a Sunbeam Mixmaster and a Proctor Silex "Lifelong" perculator with glass body that had lights on the bottom and was a lot of fun to watch!
While I wasn't fond of the decor, I'd trade everything I have for one hour in that Z-Bricked kitchen with mom.
I grew up in our house that was built in 1949 the same year I was born. Was a huge kitchen had a Tappen Dough Boy range and Frigidaire refrigerator and next to it was mothers pride and joy the Ironrite. Utility had the Maytag EL2 wringer and a Norge upright freezer. 1964 saw the Tappen got and the wonderful Frigidare double oven Flair on its own base and a Frigidaire fridge with bottom freezer also in utility the wringer was replaced with Maytag A700 and Matching auto dryer. I got married in 1966 and the next year dad bought my mother a Whirlpool TOL portable diswasher that instead of tearing up the cabinet he want it. My older brother and I did place it at the end next to the fridge and pumbed it in for water and for draining. The kitchen sink was the big Crane with the large curved back and the built in faucets. Up until 64 when the kitchen was redone our countertop was solid varnished oad and so was the back splash. That year mother had the gold fleck formica put in. Our kitchen table was an oval green cracked ice formica table with 6 chairs with the yellow cracked ice vinyl.. It was used lots with preping for canning and freeze things for use. Had double windows that looked out toward the small town a mile away and also to the mountain range 6 miles east of us.
sdlee
Well-known member
went like this to the best of my knowledge.
An 1889 wood cook stove ( a vision of my parents trying to live 187os in the 1970s) thank God that went away.
Next a counter top roper range and wall oven and big Sears frezzer on the bottom fridge in copper brown Range was gas
Remodle in 74 brought on green cross top GE fridge and a green Tappan gas stove.
remodle in 1981 mom went all white and all Kalvinator and those appliances left the house when we left. The house was never lived in again and later torn down
An 1889 wood cook stove ( a vision of my parents trying to live 187os in the 1970s) thank God that went away.
Next a counter top roper range and wall oven and big Sears frezzer on the bottom fridge in copper brown Range was gas
Remodle in 74 brought on green cross top GE fridge and a green Tappan gas stove.
remodle in 1981 mom went all white and all Kalvinator and those appliances left the house when we left. The house was never lived in again and later torn down
"Little boxes...made of ticky-tacky"
I grew up in a 1950s ranch house out in the burbs. We were among the first residents in a development that literally sprang up overnight out in a corn field. The kitchens were all very simple galley-style affairs. We had a free standing 30" GE electic range and a Coldspot fridge. Mom's first washer down in the basement was a small FL Westinghouse purchased secondhand. None of the houses had the option of a dishwasher, or even a garage for that matter. There were no lawns, not even paved streets for the first year, just sand (or mud) as far as the eye could see. The only upgrade options were a fireplace (in the two larger models) or an "appliance package" which consisted of a builder's model GE electric built in range or separate cooktop and oven in your choice of the current colors....that medium brown, pink, yellow or turquoise. Probably about a third of the houses I remember had the built-ins and most were the brown color.
In the early 70s we got a portable dishwasher from Ward's and a year or two later a new Kenmore range with a self-cleaning oven. I remember the heat shield in the oven door you had to raise before putting it in cleaning mode. The fridge didn't get replaced until the mid 80s and I think that was a Kenmore too. Mom got a new TL washer at some point around the time my sister was born in 1962 and a dryer around that time too but they weren't a matched set and I can't remember what brands they were. I think one was from Ward's or Sears and the other might have been purchased at Gambles.
In about 1976 I altered the cabinet by the sink and converted the portable dishwasher to built-in. In the mid 80s that was replaced by a Whirlpool.
[this post was last edited: 2/28/2012-20:52]
I grew up in a 1950s ranch house out in the burbs. We were among the first residents in a development that literally sprang up overnight out in a corn field. The kitchens were all very simple galley-style affairs. We had a free standing 30" GE electic range and a Coldspot fridge. Mom's first washer down in the basement was a small FL Westinghouse purchased secondhand. None of the houses had the option of a dishwasher, or even a garage for that matter. There were no lawns, not even paved streets for the first year, just sand (or mud) as far as the eye could see. The only upgrade options were a fireplace (in the two larger models) or an "appliance package" which consisted of a builder's model GE electric built in range or separate cooktop and oven in your choice of the current colors....that medium brown, pink, yellow or turquoise. Probably about a third of the houses I remember had the built-ins and most were the brown color.
In the early 70s we got a portable dishwasher from Ward's and a year or two later a new Kenmore range with a self-cleaning oven. I remember the heat shield in the oven door you had to raise before putting it in cleaning mode. The fridge didn't get replaced until the mid 80s and I think that was a Kenmore too. Mom got a new TL washer at some point around the time my sister was born in 1962 and a dryer around that time too but they weren't a matched set and I can't remember what brands they were. I think one was from Ward's or Sears and the other might have been purchased at Gambles.
In about 1976 I altered the cabinet by the sink and converted the portable dishwasher to built-in. In the mid 80s that was replaced by a Whirlpool.
[this post was last edited: 2/28/2012-20:52]
spookiness
Well-known member
1973 modular ranch house
Pretty modest house, so modest appliances:
SS Magic Chef gas cooktop
SS Magic Chef gas wall oven
Avocado Frigidaire fridge, 21 cf?
Avocado Frigidaire washer/dryer pair
The washer was the first to bite the dust. All I remember is that it was noisy, shook the house, and the agitator went up and down. A Maytag replaced it, which has since been replaced by a DD Kenmore. The dryer hung on a few more years, then was replaced by Whirlpool which is still in service. House did not come with a DW. Added one in the early 80's, a 18" Kenmore/D&M unit because that fit in without redoing the cabinets. It was crap, noisy, leaked a lot, didn't clean very well.
Kitchen appliances were all replaced around 1995 when mom & dad remodeled. The cooktop was pretty good.
Pretty modest house, so modest appliances:
SS Magic Chef gas cooktop
SS Magic Chef gas wall oven
Avocado Frigidaire fridge, 21 cf?
Avocado Frigidaire washer/dryer pair
The washer was the first to bite the dust. All I remember is that it was noisy, shook the house, and the agitator went up and down. A Maytag replaced it, which has since been replaced by a DD Kenmore. The dryer hung on a few more years, then was replaced by Whirlpool which is still in service. House did not come with a DW. Added one in the early 80's, a 18" Kenmore/D&M unit because that fit in without redoing the cabinets. It was crap, noisy, leaked a lot, didn't clean very well.
Kitchen appliances were all replaced around 1995 when mom & dad remodeled. The cooktop was pretty good.
ptcruiser51
Well-known member
ptcruiser51
Well-known member
Picture It: 1960
My parents looked for a long time to get us out of the 'hood. Finally, the day came, my OM came home and said "Ann, I found a place where you can pull the car in right next to the kitchen and bring the groceries right in!!!" That sold my OL right there! After years of parking the car outside our tenement (or down the block), hauling bags through the alley and up the stairs and through the back porch into the kitchen, this was nirvana!
We moved into the typical 50s-60s split-level. Pink-and-grey. In a development of about 70 houses. All exactly the same floor plan. Everyone in the development was from somewhere else, so families bonded immediately. 90% of us were Catholic, so all us kids went to the same schools, had the same doctor, went to the same dentist, etc.
Kitchen was a choice of Frigidaire for electric cooktop and wall oven. Pink, turquoise, charcoal, yellow. I don't remember white being a choice. Only one family on the street had the charcoal. Wall ovens could be french-door or drop-down. We had the pink. Everything was BOL. Blondwood cabinets!!! With coppertone masks around the knobs. In the 1970s, most had them refinished into a darker color. Again, everyone used the same contractor.
Floor was linoleum, but was rather "soft", I can't remember what it was called. Ours had a confetti pattern. I remember my OL bitched when her GF's from Penna. came to visit and their high heels left "dents" in it. They eventually replaced it with Armstrong "Solarian" in the 1970s. Red brick=big mistake! Showed every crumb or dust mote!
My parents brought the 1948 Westinghouse "Two Temp" that they got when they married. It was replaced by a 1965 General Electric frost-free top freezer. You can see it in the opening scene of the movie "That Thing You Do!". They sold it with the house in 1993.
We had a laundry room, my OL's 1953 Crosley Rollamatic semi-automatic washer called that home until about 1968. We had no dryer until 1965 (Kenmore 500 electric), she hung everything on a "spinner" clothesline in the yard and still did until they moved. The dryer was for inclement weather only. That, too, was sold with the house in 1993.
The washer was replaced with a Kenmore "70" series (just like practically everyone else on the street), and then another Kenmore "penta-swirl" later on. That, too, was sold with the house.
Our kitchen was "eat in", something you don't find anymore. It faced east, which made it nice and cheerful in the morning. The houses across the street got the sun in the evening, which made them hot as hell in the summer/fall.
Oh, yez. Pink tile behind the cooktop and sink. Pink Formica counters in the "boomerang" pattern. A GE toaster-oven, and later (1990s) GE microwave (NON-rotating glass tray), 500W. We didn't have a dishwasher until I bought a 1970 GE Mobile-Maid portable. My OL didn't want to "give up" one of the cabinets to house a DW. Most of the other homogenized homes adapted a Hotpoint DW to fill the bill.
Only other quirk was everyone had a NuTone stove vent that was controlled by a pull-chain. When you yanked the chain, it would open and start. Since we had a "Car Porte" and not a garage, it would often freeze shut in the winter. Someone would have to go outside with a knife or screwdriver and pop the vent door open so the fan would start.
Our next-door neighbors had a million kids and were the only ones to have a Hotpoint bottom-freezer fridge. Everyone else had a TF.
Neighbors across the street were a childless couple who had top-of-the-line everything. Their Maytag washer and dryer (I can't recall the series, but it was center-dial) were always illuminated when guests were visiting. This used to piss my OL off to no end.
And my OL ironed everything with her GE steam iron in front of the TV in the rec room while watching "her stories". I still do almost the same, except I'm usually watching Mets games!
Memories are made of this.
[this post was last edited: 2/29/2012-02:23]
My parents looked for a long time to get us out of the 'hood. Finally, the day came, my OM came home and said "Ann, I found a place where you can pull the car in right next to the kitchen and bring the groceries right in!!!" That sold my OL right there! After years of parking the car outside our tenement (or down the block), hauling bags through the alley and up the stairs and through the back porch into the kitchen, this was nirvana!
We moved into the typical 50s-60s split-level. Pink-and-grey. In a development of about 70 houses. All exactly the same floor plan. Everyone in the development was from somewhere else, so families bonded immediately. 90% of us were Catholic, so all us kids went to the same schools, had the same doctor, went to the same dentist, etc.
Kitchen was a choice of Frigidaire for electric cooktop and wall oven. Pink, turquoise, charcoal, yellow. I don't remember white being a choice. Only one family on the street had the charcoal. Wall ovens could be french-door or drop-down. We had the pink. Everything was BOL. Blondwood cabinets!!! With coppertone masks around the knobs. In the 1970s, most had them refinished into a darker color. Again, everyone used the same contractor.
Floor was linoleum, but was rather "soft", I can't remember what it was called. Ours had a confetti pattern. I remember my OL bitched when her GF's from Penna. came to visit and their high heels left "dents" in it. They eventually replaced it with Armstrong "Solarian" in the 1970s. Red brick=big mistake! Showed every crumb or dust mote!
My parents brought the 1948 Westinghouse "Two Temp" that they got when they married. It was replaced by a 1965 General Electric frost-free top freezer. You can see it in the opening scene of the movie "That Thing You Do!". They sold it with the house in 1993.
We had a laundry room, my OL's 1953 Crosley Rollamatic semi-automatic washer called that home until about 1968. We had no dryer until 1965 (Kenmore 500 electric), she hung everything on a "spinner" clothesline in the yard and still did until they moved. The dryer was for inclement weather only. That, too, was sold with the house in 1993.
The washer was replaced with a Kenmore "70" series (just like practically everyone else on the street), and then another Kenmore "penta-swirl" later on. That, too, was sold with the house.
Our kitchen was "eat in", something you don't find anymore. It faced east, which made it nice and cheerful in the morning. The houses across the street got the sun in the evening, which made them hot as hell in the summer/fall.
Oh, yez. Pink tile behind the cooktop and sink. Pink Formica counters in the "boomerang" pattern. A GE toaster-oven, and later (1990s) GE microwave (NON-rotating glass tray), 500W. We didn't have a dishwasher until I bought a 1970 GE Mobile-Maid portable. My OL didn't want to "give up" one of the cabinets to house a DW. Most of the other homogenized homes adapted a Hotpoint DW to fill the bill.
Only other quirk was everyone had a NuTone stove vent that was controlled by a pull-chain. When you yanked the chain, it would open and start. Since we had a "Car Porte" and not a garage, it would often freeze shut in the winter. Someone would have to go outside with a knife or screwdriver and pop the vent door open so the fan would start.
Our next-door neighbors had a million kids and were the only ones to have a Hotpoint bottom-freezer fridge. Everyone else had a TF.
Neighbors across the street were a childless couple who had top-of-the-line everything. Their Maytag washer and dryer (I can't recall the series, but it was center-dial) were always illuminated when guests were visiting. This used to piss my OL off to no end.
And my OL ironed everything with her GE steam iron in front of the TV in the rec room while watching "her stories". I still do almost the same, except I'm usually watching Mets games!
Memories are made of this.
[this post was last edited: 2/29/2012-02:23]
westingman123
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2009
- Messages
- 1,541
Ah, memories. We had a good-sized kitchen which I'm sure was intended to be an eat-in, but Mama liked her space. 40 inch Westy Commander range, International Harvester fridge, Westinghouse chrome toaster, and a parade of coffee makers through the years. White boomerang-pattern counters with stainless steel edging, and the deepest double porcelain sink I've ever seen.
Mama changed the colors like she changed clothing, too many times to list.
Mama changed the colors like she changed clothing, too many times to list.
jetawayjuan
Well-known member
1970's both my parents and both Grandpas worked for GM so I was around alot of frigidaire in my day!My mom had a rollamatic she got for my grandma and when we moved she got a 1-18 set also we had frigidaire stove and frige in avacado green with a white kitchenaid dishwaher.also white frigidaire upright frez in the basement,early 1980's we had that huge microwave from JC penny!!
My parents' first house had boring non-descript MOL to BOL gas stove and fridge, both in white.
The washer was a basic 1965 one-cycle, two-speed,three-temp, and three water-level Maytag A206 with the turquoise backslash.
The dryer was a gas-fired Maytag DG306- 1966- with three timed cycles, and one temperature. It had a Normal cycle (5 minute cool-down) and Permanent Press cycle (10-minute cool-down) and a 15 minute Air-fluff cycle. (The dryer was slowly dying by 1991, by then in their 2nd house) when it got replaced by another Maytag that is still in service. Mother dearest has only ever owned those two dryers.
The dishwasher (back in the first house) was added in 1968. It was a TOL Lady Kenmore with Roto-rack and 155*F (68*C) Sani-wash cycle. Hidden timer. Neon lights illuminated a round plastic "bowl" that showed progress in the cycle. The DW also had indicator lights to show the water temp as "Cool"," Normal", or "Sani"(tary). The thing had more lights than a science-fiction movie UFO/Space-ship. LOL.
The parents bought their 2nd house in 1973 and added a dishwasher there. It was a MOL Sears Kenmore, again with a "Sani" feature. (In this case a "Sani"-rinse on any cycle) Mother was obsessed with sanitizing kitchen wares so one kid would not infect the others when ill. Again more lights than a space-ship.
The stove that came with their 2nd house was a gas Hardwick brand stove from the late 1960's, being 30 inches (75 cm) wide, the then and now standard size range/cooker/stove. It had a waist-high broiler. The boiler was a 2nd gas tube at the top of the oven cavity. This meant it was a TOL cooker. The pilot flame/light to ignite this thing was taken from the left two top-burners and flashed down. (This pilot light only came on when the broiler was selected). I was 10 years old at the time and had to show my mom how to select and ignite the boiler and that one could broil (Grille=>UK) below the 550*F (285*C) position. Such configuration meant one could not broil and bake/roast at the same time wash was (sort-of possible when in a gas stove there was one flame tube and you place your baking in the large coven cavity above it, or your broiling in the drawer below it!
The oven came with two shallow broiling pans, so mother learned to broil meats and broil potatoes at the same time. It was all about the thickness of the "coins" one slices the potatoes into so they'd cook through.
It was amazing that a house built in 1955 by 1973 was so outdated electrically and needed to have a DW and a clothes dryer added to it.
My parents tossed out a 1955 40" wide (100cm) fancy gas stove that was in the 2nd story rental apartment for a really shitty cheap BOL "Welbilt" brand (CLUE: IT'S NOT!) gas cooker. It was so cheap it was NOT approved by the AGA (American Gas Association) because was of the design that had a hole in the oven floor where one placed the match to light the oven. WOW!
My aunt and uncle's early 60's ranch was where I had seen my first wall-oven, and my first dishwasher. the DW was a mid 60's whirlpool with a blue tub and a dial-telephone-look timer. There too I had seen my first forced warm-air heating system (they used to be very rare in my location) and central air-conditioning!
AH MEMORIES!
You know I had to play with my parents' friends GE electric wall-oven (stainless-steel) finish (from the 60's) with controls on the bottom and light-up push- buttons! Again, electric cooking in New York City was EXTREMELY rare. Normally, it was only ever chosen by those coming to this area from other states.
The washer was a basic 1965 one-cycle, two-speed,three-temp, and three water-level Maytag A206 with the turquoise backslash.
The dryer was a gas-fired Maytag DG306- 1966- with three timed cycles, and one temperature. It had a Normal cycle (5 minute cool-down) and Permanent Press cycle (10-minute cool-down) and a 15 minute Air-fluff cycle. (The dryer was slowly dying by 1991, by then in their 2nd house) when it got replaced by another Maytag that is still in service. Mother dearest has only ever owned those two dryers.
The dishwasher (back in the first house) was added in 1968. It was a TOL Lady Kenmore with Roto-rack and 155*F (68*C) Sani-wash cycle. Hidden timer. Neon lights illuminated a round plastic "bowl" that showed progress in the cycle. The DW also had indicator lights to show the water temp as "Cool"," Normal", or "Sani"(tary). The thing had more lights than a science-fiction movie UFO/Space-ship. LOL.
The parents bought their 2nd house in 1973 and added a dishwasher there. It was a MOL Sears Kenmore, again with a "Sani" feature. (In this case a "Sani"-rinse on any cycle) Mother was obsessed with sanitizing kitchen wares so one kid would not infect the others when ill. Again more lights than a space-ship.
The stove that came with their 2nd house was a gas Hardwick brand stove from the late 1960's, being 30 inches (75 cm) wide, the then and now standard size range/cooker/stove. It had a waist-high broiler. The boiler was a 2nd gas tube at the top of the oven cavity. This meant it was a TOL cooker. The pilot flame/light to ignite this thing was taken from the left two top-burners and flashed down. (This pilot light only came on when the broiler was selected). I was 10 years old at the time and had to show my mom how to select and ignite the boiler and that one could broil (Grille=>UK) below the 550*F (285*C) position. Such configuration meant one could not broil and bake/roast at the same time wash was (sort-of possible when in a gas stove there was one flame tube and you place your baking in the large coven cavity above it, or your broiling in the drawer below it!
The oven came with two shallow broiling pans, so mother learned to broil meats and broil potatoes at the same time. It was all about the thickness of the "coins" one slices the potatoes into so they'd cook through.
It was amazing that a house built in 1955 by 1973 was so outdated electrically and needed to have a DW and a clothes dryer added to it.
My parents tossed out a 1955 40" wide (100cm) fancy gas stove that was in the 2nd story rental apartment for a really shitty cheap BOL "Welbilt" brand (CLUE: IT'S NOT!) gas cooker. It was so cheap it was NOT approved by the AGA (American Gas Association) because was of the design that had a hole in the oven floor where one placed the match to light the oven. WOW!
My aunt and uncle's early 60's ranch was where I had seen my first wall-oven, and my first dishwasher. the DW was a mid 60's whirlpool with a blue tub and a dial-telephone-look timer. There too I had seen my first forced warm-air heating system (they used to be very rare in my location) and central air-conditioning!
AH MEMORIES!
You know I had to play with my parents' friends GE electric wall-oven (stainless-steel) finish (from the 60's) with controls on the bottom and light-up push- buttons! Again, electric cooking in New York City was EXTREMELY rare. Normally, it was only ever chosen by those coming to this area from other states.
Our kitchen was pretty MOL too... but the coolest parts of it may have been the countertop and dishwasher! My parents bought our home in 1969 from previous owners who had owned it for over 20 years... and who had updated the kitchen in the very early 50's... including a rolled marbelized yellow linoleum countertop and breakfast bar with chrome edge trim and matching yellow with chrome framed chairs! The only surviving appliance was the earliest dishwasher in our neighborhood, a Kitchen Aid KD9 or KD10 (I am not as familiar with dishwashers!) workhorse that lasted well into the 1970s and was still working fine but the metal racks were rusting and it was replaced with Kenmores that probably cost Sears several times the purchase price in warranty repairs and replacements. The newer appliances were the refrigerator which was a 1960 RCA Whirlpool and the stove was a mid-60s 30" GE P7 self cleaner; both lasted through the 80s and at least into the early 90s. Fun to remember, I wish that I had a picture to post!
polkanut
Well-known member
When my parents were married they bought a 2 story house that had been built in 1922. It came with a 30" Monarch gas range that lasted until 1983. The fridge was an Amana frost-free with a "Fast Freeze" shelf which lasted until about 2007. The washer & dryer were in the basement. The 1967 GE FF washer was on the right side of the double tub concrete laundry sink, and the matching electric GE Versatronic dryer on the left. That laundry sink came in very handy because mom has only ever had suds-saver machines. The washer lasted until the mid 80's when it was replaced with another FF machine. The dryer lasted until approx. 1997 when Mom got a matching set of Dependable Care Maytag's. The reason the first dryer lasted so long is that Mom hangs quite a bit outside to dry, and only uses the dryer when the weather doesn't allow it. In the mid 80's we also upgraded from a 60 amp service to 100 amps. The Monarch stove got replaced witha GE gas range, and that one was replaced in about 2006 with another GE range. An Amana Radarange came into the house around 1981, and lasted until 2005 when my wife and I gave them a new Amana mw for Christmas. With the exception of the first mw, and various small appliances, all of the major appliances my parents have owned have been white.
passatdoc
Well-known member
1958 and 1961 kitchens, San Diego
The first kitchen I can remember was in my parents' brand new 1958 tract home. Because we left that home when I was five, most of my memories of the details are from visiting my former neighbors at an older age. Because my father's office was within a mile of the old 'hood, I was invited by my friends in the 'hood for sleepovers during school breaks, such as Easter break or during the summer. We kept up this routine to about the end of elementary school, so I was a repeat visitor in homes identical to ours up to about age eleven. My father was very gracious about dropping me off there on the way to work or picking me up a few days later after work, which allowed me to continue social contacts with friends from the old neighborhood long after most kids (with no transportation) would have lost touch.
<span style="text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;">1958</span>: GE single wall oven (not sure if gas or electric) with the double Dutch door configuration. Built in cooktop, which was gas and also GE. No disposal or dishwasher, but that was middle class living in those days.
<span style="text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;">1961</span>: we moved to a 1930s house in a more affluent section of town, mainly to avail the kids of better schools. The kitchen was original. I remember it had white cabinets with black Colonial hardware, and there was a large white gas range. I don't know the make and whether it was a collectible, but me thinks "yes" since it was late 1930s.
Within several months of moving in, mom had the entire kitchen ripped out and remodelled. Cabinets were maple finish, counters an off-white Formica. Very space age at the time. Oven was a Frigidaire steel built in double wall oven, but I remember the lower oven was smaller and lacked a window. Cooktop was steel, electric coil by Frigidaire, there was a hood above it and I don't remember the name.
Over by the sink, we had a KA garbage disposal and a KA KDS-14 Superba dishwasher, with a wood panel to match the cabinets (no steel panel as depicted below, thanks to Variflex for the image). Some of our neighbors lived in larger homes with kitchen approaching "commerical" in scale, but they were designed for families "with help" (servants) and no one had yet remodeled to include such luxuries as a dishwasher.
Given that the kitchen likely had no 220V appliances before our move-in (discarded gas range was original), the remodel must have included running some new electric circuits to the kitchen, since we were installing 220V wall ovens and a coil cook top.
The only survivor from the old kitchen to the new kitchen was the GE refrigerator, with lower freezer that opened with a foot pedal. Fridge shelves were semi-circular and rotated out for access. You could move them up or down via a lock mechanism on the center post mount. My guess is that my folks bought it new for the 1958 house (the house prior to that was a rental and most likely included a fridge) and so it was only 3 1/2 years old when mom remodeled the 1961 house. She had an enclosure built around it so it looked semi-built-in.
We stayed in that house until 1971, at which point my parents had divorced and each bought a condo or townhome in a different part of town; my sister and I were allowed to continue at our original schools per school district policy. The only appliance that was replaced during 1961-71 was the fridge when it died c. 1969. Replaced with a Frigidaire side by side with icemaker inside the freezer.
Over in the laundry room, off the kitchen, waa a 1958 GE paired washer and dryer, and an upright all-freezer by Frigidaire. What I seem to remember was that it was NOT frost-free and did require defrosting once a year or so. The 1969 unit was frost-free. The 1958 unit with lower freezer was not very large, so I guess mom bought the upright freezer to augment her frozen storage capacity. I don't remember it ever being filled to the gills with frozen food. I remember sometimes she'd buy meat or bread in large quantities, if on sale, and she'd freeze it.
The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">1961/30s</span> home's laundry room had a large laundry sink which served as the drain for the washer. When the home was built, America was in the wringer washer era and so there were no drains built into the wall. The plumbing may have been adapted from the sink's taps to run lines over to the washer, I don't remember for sure.
PS: we NEVER used the third cycle, Utility/Pots, because mom had misplaced the manual and did not know what would happen should the dreaded button be pushed. We used only Rinse/Hold and Normal cycles.
The first kitchen I can remember was in my parents' brand new 1958 tract home. Because we left that home when I was five, most of my memories of the details are from visiting my former neighbors at an older age. Because my father's office was within a mile of the old 'hood, I was invited by my friends in the 'hood for sleepovers during school breaks, such as Easter break or during the summer. We kept up this routine to about the end of elementary school, so I was a repeat visitor in homes identical to ours up to about age eleven. My father was very gracious about dropping me off there on the way to work or picking me up a few days later after work, which allowed me to continue social contacts with friends from the old neighborhood long after most kids (with no transportation) would have lost touch.
<span style="text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;">1958</span>: GE single wall oven (not sure if gas or electric) with the double Dutch door configuration. Built in cooktop, which was gas and also GE. No disposal or dishwasher, but that was middle class living in those days.
<span style="text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;">1961</span>: we moved to a 1930s house in a more affluent section of town, mainly to avail the kids of better schools. The kitchen was original. I remember it had white cabinets with black Colonial hardware, and there was a large white gas range. I don't know the make and whether it was a collectible, but me thinks "yes" since it was late 1930s.
Within several months of moving in, mom had the entire kitchen ripped out and remodelled. Cabinets were maple finish, counters an off-white Formica. Very space age at the time. Oven was a Frigidaire steel built in double wall oven, but I remember the lower oven was smaller and lacked a window. Cooktop was steel, electric coil by Frigidaire, there was a hood above it and I don't remember the name.
Over by the sink, we had a KA garbage disposal and a KA KDS-14 Superba dishwasher, with a wood panel to match the cabinets (no steel panel as depicted below, thanks to Variflex for the image). Some of our neighbors lived in larger homes with kitchen approaching "commerical" in scale, but they were designed for families "with help" (servants) and no one had yet remodeled to include such luxuries as a dishwasher.
Given that the kitchen likely had no 220V appliances before our move-in (discarded gas range was original), the remodel must have included running some new electric circuits to the kitchen, since we were installing 220V wall ovens and a coil cook top.
The only survivor from the old kitchen to the new kitchen was the GE refrigerator, with lower freezer that opened with a foot pedal. Fridge shelves were semi-circular and rotated out for access. You could move them up or down via a lock mechanism on the center post mount. My guess is that my folks bought it new for the 1958 house (the house prior to that was a rental and most likely included a fridge) and so it was only 3 1/2 years old when mom remodeled the 1961 house. She had an enclosure built around it so it looked semi-built-in.
We stayed in that house until 1971, at which point my parents had divorced and each bought a condo or townhome in a different part of town; my sister and I were allowed to continue at our original schools per school district policy. The only appliance that was replaced during 1961-71 was the fridge when it died c. 1969. Replaced with a Frigidaire side by side with icemaker inside the freezer.
Over in the laundry room, off the kitchen, waa a 1958 GE paired washer and dryer, and an upright all-freezer by Frigidaire. What I seem to remember was that it was NOT frost-free and did require defrosting once a year or so. The 1969 unit was frost-free. The 1958 unit with lower freezer was not very large, so I guess mom bought the upright freezer to augment her frozen storage capacity. I don't remember it ever being filled to the gills with frozen food. I remember sometimes she'd buy meat or bread in large quantities, if on sale, and she'd freeze it.
The <span style="text-decoration: underline;">1961/30s</span> home's laundry room had a large laundry sink which served as the drain for the washer. When the home was built, America was in the wringer washer era and so there were no drains built into the wall. The plumbing may have been adapted from the sink's taps to run lines over to the washer, I don't remember for sure.
PS: we NEVER used the third cycle, Utility/Pots, because mom had misplaced the manual and did not know what would happen should the dreaded button be pushed. We used only Rinse/Hold and Normal cycles.
philcoford
Well-known member
1961 Hotpoint
Great thread. Ours was formally the model home for the neighborhood, and had all Pink Hotpoint units, 2 door fridge, dishwasher with one control knob, the great raised pushbutton cooktop I am still trying to find another one of, and a wall oven. Over the years, my dad first replaced the stove with a Stainless Steel Thermador, and then one day the motor fell out of the dishwasher flooding the laundry below.. and was replaced with an 80's GE Potscrubber. The Oven was still working when they moved, having had a few elements replaced, but worked fine otherwise. In late 67 my dad bought a matching pair of GE washer/dryer with the lighted controls. The washer was rebuilt by him a couple of times and was replaced in the 80's with another GE, the dryer was still working away in the house when they sold it in 97, 30 years.
Great thread. Ours was formally the model home for the neighborhood, and had all Pink Hotpoint units, 2 door fridge, dishwasher with one control knob, the great raised pushbutton cooktop I am still trying to find another one of, and a wall oven. Over the years, my dad first replaced the stove with a Stainless Steel Thermador, and then one day the motor fell out of the dishwasher flooding the laundry below.. and was replaced with an 80's GE Potscrubber. The Oven was still working when they moved, having had a few elements replaced, but worked fine otherwise. In late 67 my dad bought a matching pair of GE washer/dryer with the lighted controls. The washer was rebuilt by him a couple of times and was replaced in the 80's with another GE, the dryer was still working away in the house when they sold it in 97, 30 years.
passatdoc
Well-known member
Utility/Utensil cycle on KA-KDS14
From ads and manuals that I've seen on this site, one key difference between Normal and Utility/Utensil cycle was that the latter lacked a heated drying cycle. The washing cycles seem more or less the same, unless Utility had an extended soak cycle that Normal did not feature. Utility was supposedly for pots and pans. If there was no heated drying cycle, I wonder if they assumed people would remove the pots and pans at end cycle and dry them by hand. Not sure. But it wasn't a modern day "Potscrubber" cycle with heated dry (and without a modern high temp rinse and steel sides, I doubt that "drying by evaporation", as is common with Miele and Bosch, was something that existed back then). I remember my mom making us scrape and rinse the dishes pretty well before loading, but the KA always got them clean, with a little help from Cascade.
Note: we have exceptionally hard water in San Diego, most of it came from the Colorado River in those days (today, some comes from the State Water Project, i.e. imported water from the north of California) and we had a whole-house water softener. Mom never used rinse agent (e.g. Jet Dry) and yet the glasses almost always were spotless. We did use Cascade, rather than any bargain brands.
From ads and manuals that I've seen on this site, one key difference between Normal and Utility/Utensil cycle was that the latter lacked a heated drying cycle. The washing cycles seem more or less the same, unless Utility had an extended soak cycle that Normal did not feature. Utility was supposedly for pots and pans. If there was no heated drying cycle, I wonder if they assumed people would remove the pots and pans at end cycle and dry them by hand. Not sure. But it wasn't a modern day "Potscrubber" cycle with heated dry (and without a modern high temp rinse and steel sides, I doubt that "drying by evaporation", as is common with Miele and Bosch, was something that existed back then). I remember my mom making us scrape and rinse the dishes pretty well before loading, but the KA always got them clean, with a little help from Cascade.
Note: we have exceptionally hard water in San Diego, most of it came from the Colorado River in those days (today, some comes from the State Water Project, i.e. imported water from the north of California) and we had a whole-house water softener. Mom never used rinse agent (e.g. Jet Dry) and yet the glasses almost always were spotless. We did use Cascade, rather than any bargain brands.
cornutt
Well-known member
My parents' first house here was a house that they bought new in 1957; it was one of the first houses built in a new subdivision. (My dad has told me that when they moved in, all of the surrounding land was a turnip field.) I was born in 1959.
The kitchen was eat-in despite being fairly small. It was an L-shape, starting with the fridge, a bit of countertop, the sink (typical white porcelain double bowl), more countertop going around the corner, and then the range. This was a GE with the pushbutton controls, four of the typical double-element Calrods, and a single oven with the storage drawer at the bottom. The opposite corner of the room was where the kitchen table sat. I remember little about the fridge, other than that it was a top-freezer, non-frost free model. In the South, you needed to defrost your freezer about once a month, especially during the summer. And pulling it out and cleaning the rear-mounted condenser coils was part of spring cleaning. The controls on the range did kind of fascinate me, though; when my mom was cooking and needed to turn on a burner, she'd pick me up and tell me which button to press (they were mounted on top of the backsplash), and I'd press it. I guess it was inevitable that I'd become an engineer... I was also interested in the way that, on the "2", setting, one of the two Calrod elements glowed red but the other one didn't.
The kitchen was mostly white, with gold-fleck Formica countertops and a similarly-colored linoleum floor. The table had a gray marble-patterned Formica top. We didn't have a lot of other appliances. A Kenmore electric can opener parked on the countertop at the corner of the L; I remember it being noisy and really slow. Mom originally only had a hand mixer, but when I was about 5 she got a Mixmaster, which must have cost a pretty penny at the time. We had one of those chrome-and-Bakelite toasters that had a main lever and two side levers. One controlled the darkness, and the other had two positions, marked "POPS UP" and "STAYS DOWN". If you put it on "STAYS DOWN", the toast didn't pop up by itself at the end of the cycle. The toaster usually parked at a corner of the table. There was a wall-mounted telephone, which was the only phone in the house. The room was heated by a wall-mounted electric heater. One of the house's two window-mounted air conditioners was in the adjacent den, and in the summer, when my mom cooked, she'd set a fan in the doorway to blow cool air into the kitchen. The only light came from one overhead incandescent fixture.
One thing my mom didn't like about the kitchen was that it was a main thoroughfare. It had three doors: one to the garage, one to the dining room, and the aformentioned door to the den. The garage opened to the rear of the house, and it contained the washer and dryer; there was no other door to the back yard. We eventually wore a path in the linoleum between the den door and the garage door. The door to the dining room was a two-way swinging door. It eventually got taken down after several incidents where someone approaching the door got clobbered by someone coming through the other way.
Continued...
The kitchen was eat-in despite being fairly small. It was an L-shape, starting with the fridge, a bit of countertop, the sink (typical white porcelain double bowl), more countertop going around the corner, and then the range. This was a GE with the pushbutton controls, four of the typical double-element Calrods, and a single oven with the storage drawer at the bottom. The opposite corner of the room was where the kitchen table sat. I remember little about the fridge, other than that it was a top-freezer, non-frost free model. In the South, you needed to defrost your freezer about once a month, especially during the summer. And pulling it out and cleaning the rear-mounted condenser coils was part of spring cleaning. The controls on the range did kind of fascinate me, though; when my mom was cooking and needed to turn on a burner, she'd pick me up and tell me which button to press (they were mounted on top of the backsplash), and I'd press it. I guess it was inevitable that I'd become an engineer... I was also interested in the way that, on the "2", setting, one of the two Calrod elements glowed red but the other one didn't.
The kitchen was mostly white, with gold-fleck Formica countertops and a similarly-colored linoleum floor. The table had a gray marble-patterned Formica top. We didn't have a lot of other appliances. A Kenmore electric can opener parked on the countertop at the corner of the L; I remember it being noisy and really slow. Mom originally only had a hand mixer, but when I was about 5 she got a Mixmaster, which must have cost a pretty penny at the time. We had one of those chrome-and-Bakelite toasters that had a main lever and two side levers. One controlled the darkness, and the other had two positions, marked "POPS UP" and "STAYS DOWN". If you put it on "STAYS DOWN", the toast didn't pop up by itself at the end of the cycle. The toaster usually parked at a corner of the table. There was a wall-mounted telephone, which was the only phone in the house. The room was heated by a wall-mounted electric heater. One of the house's two window-mounted air conditioners was in the adjacent den, and in the summer, when my mom cooked, she'd set a fan in the doorway to blow cool air into the kitchen. The only light came from one overhead incandescent fixture.
One thing my mom didn't like about the kitchen was that it was a main thoroughfare. It had three doors: one to the garage, one to the dining room, and the aformentioned door to the den. The garage opened to the rear of the house, and it contained the washer and dryer; there was no other door to the back yard. We eventually wore a path in the linoleum between the den door and the garage door. The door to the dining room was a two-way swinging door. It eventually got taken down after several incidents where someone approaching the door got clobbered by someone coming through the other way.
Continued...
cornutt
Well-known member
In 1967 we moved to a larger house across town. This house was not new, but it wasn't old; it had been built in 1964 and my parents bought it from the original owners. The kitchen was much larger than the one in the old house. The appliances were all GE; cooktop, vent hood, wall oven, diswasher and disposal. They were all a bronze color. The cabinetry was stained a similar color. The floor was a brick-pattern vinyl. The fridge came with us from the old house; it was white and didn't match anything in the new kitchen.
I've seen photos of the cooktop here. It had the control panel that was slightly raised and tilted forward, at the front edge. There was a GE logo in the middle of it that lit up red when a burner was on. One odd thing: it was left-handed. The control panel was on the left, and the burner arrangement was reversed from the photos I've seen here. The vent hood had a pecularity too: there were four settings. Three were low, medium, and high speeds. But the fourth was an oddball; it started out at a low speed and gradually sped up over a few minutes. The oven was not self-cleaning.
The kitchen arrangement was a bit odd. There was a door to the back yard in the middle of the exterior wall; going to the right from there you had the dishwasher, sink, countertop going around the corner, cooktop, more countertop, wall oven, and come floor-to-ceiling cabinetry. The fridge was on the wall opposite from the sink, next to the door to the main hallway. To its right there was counter space running to the side wall. The fridge and counter space was kind of a long way from the rest of the workspace, and as a result, that counter space didn't get used very much. There was space for an eat-in table, with its own lighting, to the left of the back door. Going through a swinging door behind the table was the dining room. This was a far corner of the house that wasn't used much, so we didn't have the door-danger problems with it that we had at the old house.
The door to the kitchen was directly opposite the front door, across the main hallway. When you entered the front door, you looked right to the kitchen sink. As originally built, that doorway had no door. The previous owners had solved that problem with... saloon doors. They were very out of place since nothing else in the house was of a Western motif. Eventually one of then broke and my parents decided "the heck with it" and took them down.
Despite the bits of weirdness, I remember that kitchen fondly since it was the last house we lived in before my parents divorced in 1970. After that, it was a succession of rentals, apartments, and trailers until I was in high school, some of which I only vaguely remember, and some others of which I hated.
I've seen photos of the cooktop here. It had the control panel that was slightly raised and tilted forward, at the front edge. There was a GE logo in the middle of it that lit up red when a burner was on. One odd thing: it was left-handed. The control panel was on the left, and the burner arrangement was reversed from the photos I've seen here. The vent hood had a pecularity too: there were four settings. Three were low, medium, and high speeds. But the fourth was an oddball; it started out at a low speed and gradually sped up over a few minutes. The oven was not self-cleaning.
The kitchen arrangement was a bit odd. There was a door to the back yard in the middle of the exterior wall; going to the right from there you had the dishwasher, sink, countertop going around the corner, cooktop, more countertop, wall oven, and come floor-to-ceiling cabinetry. The fridge was on the wall opposite from the sink, next to the door to the main hallway. To its right there was counter space running to the side wall. The fridge and counter space was kind of a long way from the rest of the workspace, and as a result, that counter space didn't get used very much. There was space for an eat-in table, with its own lighting, to the left of the back door. Going through a swinging door behind the table was the dining room. This was a far corner of the house that wasn't used much, so we didn't have the door-danger problems with it that we had at the old house.
The door to the kitchen was directly opposite the front door, across the main hallway. When you entered the front door, you looked right to the kitchen sink. As originally built, that doorway had no door. The previous owners had solved that problem with... saloon doors. They were very out of place since nothing else in the house was of a Western motif. Eventually one of then broke and my parents decided "the heck with it" and took them down.
Despite the bits of weirdness, I remember that kitchen fondly since it was the last house we lived in before my parents divorced in 1970. After that, it was a succession of rentals, apartments, and trailers until I was in high school, some of which I only vaguely remember, and some others of which I hated.
