For Toggleswitch and others....... My Other Vintage Kitchen Appliances

[aquarius1984]

As promised I have posted some pics of the cooker I daily drive with which is a Main Honey Mink S.

Gas throughout with the traditional British Eye Level Grill and Conventional Gas oven.

Dont ask me for specific burner KW or power output as I dont know for this specific model.
I can hazard a guess that this appliance is Circa 1983 or so I think.

I love this style of cooker as more often than not I cook something like a small piece of meat for myself and some vegetables and it means I can keep close eye on my meat while I do other things. Grills under the hobs as you find on most modern cookers require a lot of attention and bending down when cooking such things.

ok so some pics

 

[aquarius1984]

The controls

 

[aquarius1984]

The oven

Gas Burner at the back creating a hot at the top cool at the bottom flow of air.

Traditional Brittish cooking at its best.

Except for the Pizza lol

Nick

 

[aquarius1984]

Ok

The Fridge Freezer!

Time Tested Electrolux Circa 1984/85 at a guess.

Almond in colour and a bloody quick chiller.

 

[aquarius1984]

The Bejam Catalogue Shot

 

[aquarius1984]

Bejam add no.2

OOOO Look Housewifey...... All this space and more!!!!!

By the way, buy this appliance at like double the regular price and get your interest free credit and the contract of a lifetime to buy your groceries from us!

LOL

Nick

 

[hoover1060]

very interesting...

can we see some more of the eye-level grill thing? That looks very interesting!

Also the fridge is quite different than US models, namely it appears smaller than our models, and the fridge/freezer appear to be a 50/50 split. I think I would prefer the 50/50 setup over the pretty standard 2/3 fridge 1/3 freezer I have now.
More pics please?

 

[gadgetgary]

Thank you for the pics

Very interesting....

Yes, please show us more....Keep them coming...

 

[aquarius1984]

Hoover1060

Here ya

The grill on full whack lol

 

[aquarius1984]

50/50 split FF's are probably the most popular here. everybody I know has a 50/50 although you can get more "American" style 70/30s.

Im more of a FF in the kitchen with essentials in but prefer a Chest Freezer in the garage/cellar for large joints of meat and stuff I dont use often such as bulk frozen fruit and stuff I harvest off the allotment.

Only problem is I dont have a chest freezer currently and have not got much to harvest yet lol

Nick

 

[hoover1060]

ok so thats the broiler?

Very interesting setup, and unusual at that, I've never seen anything like that here anyway.
I am thinking it would be kinda handy at that, although I don't grill much.
One thing I am wondering, does an "open" grill like that make the kitchen smoky when in use?
Maybe smoky broiling is just my problem??

 

[aquarius1984]

Smoky Grills are for those who cant cook.............

LOL im joking!

I cant answer your question really in associaton to your case.

Factors that contribute to smoky grilling are...

1 Dirty Grill pan with fat burning away
2 A dirty grill element/burner area
3 Grilling at too high a temp although when cooking meat here as long as you turn when you need to, the high setting should still not create smoke

These grills when used properly rarely create anything other than the smell of the food your cooking.

but then im guessing maybe our Grills are less powerful than yours perhaps.

Food for thought..... il think about it more and get back to you Hoover1060

Nick

 

[seamusuk]

Eye level Grills....

Hey Jeff !

They are a very "British" thing apparently. Having said that they are nowhere near as popular as they used to be- I can maybe think of 6 models off hand. As long as things dont burn they dont really create excessive smoke, although fat splattering can be a problem......

With regard to the Fridge Freezer thing a lot of our models are a 50/50 split but there are lots of other proportioned models availiable. One major difference is that most of ours have the freezer below the fridge- from what I can gather thats not very common over there??????. Its only really small models and "US style" machines that have top mount freezers.

Cheers
Seamus

 

[hoover1060]

smoking grills...

My broiler is part of the oven, and yes the smoky broiling is probably from the stuff thats spilled inside the own when I make a roast or a turkey or something like that. My broiler has two settings, low and high, so I may not have the control over it that your models have.
Overall think I'm an OK cook...

Seamus, bottom freezer models were around in the 1960's and then kinda disappeared as the side-by-side and top freezer models came out. I think there are a few bottom freezer models available over here today, but they are more high end.
I've always found it very interesting that refrigerators in the UK and Australia too are so small. I think of dear Hyacinth Bucket(thats BOOKAY)and her fridge built in under the counter, then I go hug my 18.0 cubic ft capacity Maytag top freezer model! I'd hate having such a small fridge!

 

[lavamat_jon]

We used to have that fridge freezer before we got our tall fridge and freezer in the old kitchen! I remember mum consistently cursing at it when coming back from Asda as she couldn't get anything in as it was so small for a 5 member family! Even now, with a fridge freezer built into the kitchen and a separate one in the utility room we don't have enough fridge and freezer space!

We used to have an eye level grill cooker... not too keen on the style of them though. They juts scream out Last Of The Summer Wine to me! Though Nana still has her 1972 New World which is going strong, but have to say I prefer built in stuff

Jon

 

[brisnat81]

The Aussie Fridges have grown in the last few years

Hi Jeff,

Up until recently, the two door freezer on top fridges were as big as it got and the most popular. The average capacity ranges from 350L (12CUF) to 600L (21CUF), which would make them larger than the UK models. They've always been in the 70/30 split, and the freezer is available top or bottom. Freezer on the bottom is typically a 60/40 split.

The mamoth Side by Sides were never popular, because domestically there were only 1 or 2 models, and the rest were imported from the US at very high cost. Most Australians have never liked the width restriction you get from a S/S nor liked the fact that it is so much deeper than wide.

Since LG and Samsung came on the scene, there is now a flood of S/S fridges that are cheaper than the normal domestic top and bottom models, this has lead to an increase in sales and popularity. (Until they buy one and find out how impractical it is compared to the top and bottom fridge). The Side by Sides here range from 500L (17CUF) to 750L (24CUF).

Most people in AU, aim for a Fridge only, or a Fridge Freezer and then have a chest freezer to provide extra capacity.

 

[maytagbear]

Thanks, Nick!

Thank you for showing us your cooker and your fridge/freezer. How about the microwave and the dishwasher?

In the American gas heated ovens I know, the oven flame is not visible at all.(is underneath the oven floor.) I think the open flame in the oven cavity would make me very nervous. I never had one with the broiler/grill at the top of the oven.

And again...another difference is that larger fridges allow for once a week shopping, instead of daily or every other day shopping.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[hoover1060]

fridge

Hey Nathan,
I have a good friend in Sydney, and I remember when I saw pictures of his place at how small his fridge was. What I would call here "apartment sized" for sure.
John did tell me that he shops 3-4 times a week for food, so he doesen't need a big fridge.
I can barely tolerate shopping for food once a week!

 

[petek]

Those stoves bring back memories of when I stayed with my great aunt in Manchester back in 72. I quite liked it for making open top sandwiches and stuff. None of my many relatives over there at the time had a large fridge and I can't remember any of them even having a washer/dryer. The main reason was that none of the houses had very large kitchens, none had basements other than aunties which was basically a coal cellar and mostly because appliances were phenomenally expensive compared to what they cost in the US and Canada at the time. I remember going with my cousin to Woolworths or Littlewoods one day because she was buying a new iron.. I couldn't believe how expensive it was for nothing overly fancy either..at least 3 times the price we would have paid and on top of that it didn't even come with the plug on the end of the cord..you had to attach your own because there wasn't a UK standard for electrical plugs and outlets at the time I guess.
Another reason for the smaller fridges at least back to the 60's and 70's was that there were few if any US style supermarkets, people bought what they needed at smaller shops on a daily or every few days basis, not stocking up like they do here.