Copper Chambers built ins! CHEAP!!

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Here's the smaller version

of the cooktop (we've since found the missing knob!). This pic shows the original type of daisy burners, but the RF one is converted to a Plane of Flame type for about 30% hotter output. No griddle/broiler in the center. They also made an intermediate 33" version, and the Big One w/ griddle was 42" wide - wider than a 40" range. We had one but deemed it too large.

We also have the copper oven, a NOS electric version that we found in Indiana, and which still has the wrapping paper on the oven racks and broiler pan! Both should be operational by next summer.

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WHY, Oh Why Oh Why....

....Would anyone gut that kitchen? Why does it never occur to people that cleaning and refinishing and restoring such a one would give them something better - to say nothing of far more unique - than anything on the market today?

Here's a photo for the Archives:

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Re-doing the copper

is possible, somebody over at chamberstoves.net had their panels redone and had them up for sale, having decided to not finish their project - a Model C range iirc. Not sure what it cost them, but not too bad if memory serves. Must admit the copper looks just perfect with that knotty pine... Sandy's right, why on earth change it out?
 
One of the really nice features

of the Chambers In-A-Wall oven is that, like here, one could opt to install it NOT IN a wall. They came with a highly insulated stainless top that allowed one to install it on top of a 24" base cabinet but leave the top completely exposed, creating a large shelf, or part exposed with a shallower cabinet above, as in this picture, still leaving a smaller shelf for clutter and dirty dishes as shown.

We installed ours flush in a wall to both sides with the stainless shelf left completely open above, very useful as a plate warmer.
 
Knotty pine

Can make for a very, very dark kitchen. When I was very young, my grandmother's kitchen was varnished knotty pine. Early in my childhood, she had it painted white. I must say that I liked it much better then. It was more cheerful. I'm planning to leave the walls but tear out the cabinets. I'll post more on the Super forum.

So, Sandy, I don't think I would consider tearing out a kitchen like this one--especially with the cool Chambers appliances, but I might paint it white and change the hardware. (both reversible processes--I used to be an historic renovation purist. Now, I've come to think that reversible "improvements" are OK.) Ten years ago, I spent a lot to have two of our original (1950) windows restored. I have always been adamantly against window replacements becuase it can never be undone; however, it recently occurred to me that it can be if one stores the original windows in the attic for the future owner who wants to bring the house right back to original condition.

Sarah
 
RE Knotty Pine

I LOVE knotty pine cabinets, as much as I love steel, knotty pine would be my second choice, to me they make a kitchen warm and inviting, they look great with copper or coppertone appliancea and red floor and countertops, you cant get more 1950s than that.
 
knotty pine...

has such a warm homey look, we have on in a house we own where our son lives and I'd never touch it, just wish we had knotty pine here! We found the key to having it not too dark is wall paint that is light and cheerful, like a pale yellow or light salmon pink. There's a bunch of threads on Knotty Pine kitchens on: http://www.retrorenovation.com
 
The Trouble With Knotty Pine:

Is not that it is dark, in and of itself.

The trouble is midcentury wood finishes used on it, which were browny-orange when new, and which darkened with time and UV exposure. The era's heavy cigarette habit didn't help.

If knotty pine is stripped and refinished with today's finishes which are less prone to darkening, it has a very agreeable tone similar to birch.

Even in knotty pine's heyday, there were those who did not like the dark orange-y color. My mother designed the kitchen she wanted after our house burned in January of '59. Knotty pine was the must-have of the moment, but Mom wanted no part of the usual color. She had the cabinets built (it was a time when cabinets were built on-site), and then stained and finished them herself. What she used was a dark walnut stain, and it was very attractive. It also held up better stylistically in the fifteen years after it was built; orange-y knotty pine was looking pretty damn dated by the early '70s. The walls were a light daffodil yellow, counters were turquoise confetti-patterned Formica, and the floor was Armstrong Excelon tile in white with grey and black spatters. So, there was a lot of light and bright color to offset any feeling of gloom from the dark cabinetry.

So - lighter. Or darker. But not the color you usually saw back in the day.
 
I actually like...

that orange-y color, mainly because orange is my fave color! I have a feeling a lot of those knotty pine kitchens ended up looking that way because varnish, which is made from a beetle shell, was used as a coating often back then, and it would darken with age. They didn't have modern polyurethanes. I love the smell of varnish, it was always used on boats back then too.
 
Roger (firedome):

That's exactly what I meant about "midcentury finishes"; they were often varnish.

The other thing about varnish is that nicotine somehow bonds with it, contributing to the darkening if smokers are present, which they nearly always were back then. I have no idea what the chemistry is behind this situation.
 
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