Electric Cooktop

[retromania]

I was invited to an elderly friend's house tonight to see her Christmas decorations and have a glass of wine. Her kitchen is huge with original cabinets, etc. I noticed her cooktop. It was a chocolate color and said Modern Maid. I have never heard of that brand. I kept looking at it to see if I missed anything like other writing that might identify it, but there was none. Has anyone ever heard of Modern Maid?

 

[danemodsandy]

Division of McGraw-Edison....

As was its sister brand, Caloric, and based - at least for a time - in Topton, PA.

They made decent drop-in ranges, and they made a chateau-style range (the kind with the oven up above the cooktop) that had a dishwasher below.

The custom kitchen I had during the '80s had a Modern Maid self-cleaning drop-in. Not bad, really. But nothing exciting, either.

 

[DADoES]

 
Modern Maid cooking appliances & dishwashers, surely.

 

[rp2813]

We looked at a Modern Maid range when we remodeled the kitchen at our old place in 1990.  We went with Jenn Air, which was probably not the best decision we made during the course of that project.

 

[norgeway]

Modern Maid...

Was made in Chattanooga Tennessee and specialized in wall ovens and cooktops, they were a cheaper product than Frigidaire or Westinghouse, but had lots of features , making them popular with builders, there were lots of them in my hometown along with Enterprize, which was another Tenn. brand.

 

[retromania]

Thank you all for that info. The original exhaust hood is over the cooktop. The badge read something _____Wind. Does anyone want to take a stab at that? The two and a half bathrooms had the wonderful colored tile with colored fixtures. Like other houses I have been in that had colored fixtures (except one), the toilets have been replaced with white. That always leaves me cold, but that's the way it goes. She said the house was built in 1957. She and her late husband bought it from the original owners. The original owners had built the house after their children were grown. My friend and her late husband had no children so that explains how everything was so minty. Yesterday was rainy and cold. It was 100 degrees in her house. I had on wool slacks and a wool turtleneck. I thought I was going to pass out!

 

[pulltostart]

The range hood could have been "Tradewind".

lawrence

 

[petek]

I never remember seeing Modern Maid for sale in any stores here in Canada except for seeing the stove dishwasher combo in some of the then new 70's subdivisions. As well Sears sold a downdraft range a la Jenn Air and a 40 or 48" side by side range both in black and chrome back around that time which were both Modern Maid rebadges. Their downdraft had the vents along either side of the cooktop iirc unlike the Jenn Air which had it in the middle. They looked nice, black wasn't really on the radar back then. Probably can find it in a 70's Sears US catalog. I don't think they were ever shown in the Canadian catalog, just in the store and not for all that long either. 

 

[retromania]

Thanks!

The hood is white. Looks like it may have been painted. I bet it was that coppery brown color to compliment the cooktop.

 

[combo52]

Trade Wind Range Hoods

Were a product of Thermador appliances. Modern Maid was not sold in stores, it was sold only by kitchen cabinet companies, they made nice looking but fairly crappy appliances overall, very much like Dacor does today.

 

[danemodsandy]

John:

While I know Modern Maid to have been sold by kitchen design companies as you describe (that's where mine came from), I also remember very well that at least in Atlanta, the Modern Maid range/dishwasher combo was sold by West Lumber Company, a precursor of today's big-box DIY stores.

The West location on Piedmont Avenue usually had one on display.

 

[davey7]

Was it Modern Maid which was going to be brought back or somebody else?

 

[retromania]

I tell you what....

I forgot to tell this part. She opened up folding doors in the hall to display a nice laundry station complete with shelving and a utility sink. Instead of a standard washer and dryer which it appeated it was designed for she had a teensy weensy Kenmore washer/dryer stack unit in the space where the washer would normally be. Then the sink and then where the dryer would normally be there was a wooden drying rack. Everything was so neat and orderly! Anyway, I had never seen a stack unit that small!! It looked like something a child would play house with. Obviously designed for scant quarters.

 

[jamiel]

I think Modern Maid was the 1st electric cooktop mfgr which made a really shallow tilt-up cooktop...think they had the 1st 2" cooktop (which let them do the kitchen center with the dishwasher underneath and the oven above). Also they had a "closed door" electric broiling apparatus early on...they were mashed together with Amana and Caloric at the end by Raytheon, I believe.

 

[retromania]

Jamie

What is closed door electric broiling apparatus?[this post was last edited: 12/24/2012-16:27]

 

[ptcruiser51]

At least monthly

I am approached by a customer at THD if we have anything that can approximate a Modern Maid tri-set. Unfortunately, there is nothing. These poor customers are almost in tears thinking about the cost of re-doing an entire kitchen because of one semi-functioning appliance. The last time I remember seeing one of these "new" was in 1974 when a friend moved into a brand-new apartment in NYC.

 

[danemodsandy]

Tri-Set?

Not familiar with that term - can you explain?

Thanks!

 

[retromania]

I think he meant oven, cooktop and dishwasher all in one.

Sandy: Do you know what a closed door broiling apparatus is?

 

[jamiel]

I don't have any knowledge, just a vague recollection of an advertising slogan or something.