Graceland's kitchen

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tomturbomatic

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At about 1:07 they show the cooktop and hood and next to it, what looks like a high oven range. Can anyone figure out the brand? The oven doors are not a Roper/Kenmore design; it's something fancier, but the doors do not look like a Tappan either. I can't figure out the little square medallion on the front.

Was Hotpoint the only side by side to have a tilt-out ice service?

Note the Thermador microwave on the counter.

117,000 square feet the guide says. That must be more than the house proper.

 
Tom,

I was there a year ago and took some quick snapshots on the way through. I didn't remember the range photo being so bad, they had a Plexiglass guard over it. The tour group was pretty full and I had no time to dwell.

kb0nes++7-12-2013-12-04-24.jpg
 
It's a Tappan Fabulous 400 & when I went to Graceland, I don't remember seeing a plexiglass guard around it; maybe they finally decided to make an effort to keep all the dust off it!

As for the tilt-out ice chute, Hotpoint was the first to offer that, while Whirlpool followed behind, w/ the Sears Kenmore (after the Coldspot moniker left, in '77 like The King did!) 'Tilt Ice' and Whirlpool's own 'Ice Magic', ice chutes!

-- Dave
 
From my recollection there was a theater rope keeping the tour group out of the kitchen. I don't think I could have touched the range had I wanted to. I remember puzzling as to why then needed the Plex shield...

It was an interesting tour. I was never an Elvis fan but Annette is and her 9 year old daughter wanted to see Graceland. All in all the entire estate was kind of Mid-century Tacky.

I don't know where the 117,000 square feet comes from. Wiki reports Graceland as being enlarged to 17,500 square feet. Perhaps if you add up all the out buildings on the property.
 
I figured the glass was to keep people from taking the knobs.  They seem to always disappear from ranges for sale around here.  Also, I have that pitcher by the microwave with avocado where the orange is!  It's a great design!
 
For Some Reason

A damned fool in the 1960's or 1970's decided having carpet in the kitchen was a great idea. Well it had to be a man because obviously was someone who never had to clean the place.

Father thought it would be a good idea and when he granted permission for a kitchen redo sort of got Mother to go along. It didn't last very long! *LOL*

Grease and food spills, constant traffic from pets, not to mention the area near doors to backyard and mud room quickly became so soiled that only weekly deep cleaning sufficed. So a new machine came into the house, a Hoover carpet/floor scrubbing machine. Which in theory *should* have worked but cleaning carpets is more work than mopping a floor. Not to mention carpets took longer to dry than a floor and so forth.

IIRC the thing lasted a year give or take and was removed an new tiles put down.
 
I believe that the figure of 117,000 must be all the buildings at Graceland, including the ones added on to create a museum. When our family saw Graceland, I noticed that the house itself was no bigger than most large suburban houses around here. The living room struck me as a bit small. I figured all of the "halls of fame" with the exhibits were add ons. The racquetball building he had was higher than a 3 car garage but no larger and it had a dinky bar. If I were Elvis, I would have had more than that. Actually, it looked like Elvis led close to a middle class life.
 
Graceland Wasn't Always This Way:

There are photos of Graceland in the '50s and early '60s, when it was originally decorated, largely by Elvis's mother.

At that time, it was sort of Old South meets Hollywood - certainly not an old-money family's house, but still, a pretty fair amount of restraint was shown.

But in the late '60s, Elvis (and some say Priscilla Presley) started redecorating, and that was the end of any good taste. It was as if Elvis decided to turn the place into one big conversion van, with crushed velvet everything.

I can't look at photos of the place as it looks today without shuddering.
 
Thanks, all. It was the reflections from the plexiglass, and the poor angle for appliance gawking, that prevented me from seeing the range very well. It is a funny arrangement with the big Thermador cooktop and those rather small ovens. I guess Elvis's cook liked electric cooking. From the corner of the control panel in the video, I thought those three round lights on the control panel looked sort of Tappanish. I don't think the white knobe and the blue on the control panel look as dressy as the ones with black knobs and accents. Another appliance mystery solved.

Jon, we have seen that even Monarch had a range like this and Westinghouse, in their Continental had a cooktop where the back two elements disappeared when the front of the cooktop was flush with the cabinet. That was in the early model without the lower oven. Norge had a high level oven range but I think it had a lower oven, too. There was also a Thermador that was styled like the Tappan and don't forget the one by Modern Maid which could be used as the top half of the cook and clean center. Does anyone remember all of the Magic Chef high oven ranges in both gas and electric? Friends of my parents had the 36" wide model with the upper and lower ovens. The high rise in Silver Spring where I lived had ranges by Welbilt and in the non-studio apartments, they had 30" gas ranges with high and low ovens. The upper oven was of a funny design with the baking compartment floor about 5 or 6 inches above the oven bottom and the burner was visible under the floor of the baking compartment and I guess you could broil under the burner. It looked like a tough thing to keep clean. In the 70s, many of these manufacturers put a microwave oven on top and that's when Litton got into the range game, sadly with a losing lineup.
 
That place looks so dark and forboding inside. The kitchen ceiling looks pretty yellowed or was that the color it was painted?

Elvis wasn't really known to be in the upper class. Most of the time, in fact he was pretty much the opposite. As Rosanne Barr once said "We're America's biggest nightmare, white trash with money!". I think this could probably apply in this case.

Only once did I have an opportunity to go to Graceland and this would have been in the mid 80's. The lines were so long it would have taken all day just to get to the head of the line. So we never made it. Thanks for showing us this video!
 
Middle class living is right! Then again, look at all that money spent on people Elvis bought Cadillacs for! (Regardless of how many records Elvis could sell, the budget probably eventually couldn't keep up... And does a certain Michael Jackson come to mind?)

I can't see a kitchen like that sufficient or efficient enough to feed the many people The King had over, either! (Unless there's a good double-wall oven tucked away somewhere...)

And don't forget about washing all those dishes! There's at least a Kitchen Aid D/W, in avocado, but it's not top-of-the-line, so somehow anything even under Superba, did good enough as long it was a K-A...! But, then, scrubbing all those pans & pots!

-- Dave
 
Tom please tell us more about 36 MC stoves...?

I have been on the tour with relatives in and out of here that wanted to see Graceland.  I got the feeling that the Tappan pull out stove may have been in the house when Elvis bought it.  The house IIRC was built by a local physician, it may have a had a kitchen remodel before Elvis purchased it explaining the Tappan Fabulous.  The white and gold speckle  countertops appropriate for the late 1960's early 70's  makes me think some of the Presley's  remodeled the kitchen again during that period explaining the built in cook top and hood.  Not to go off topic but Tom yes I remember the 36 Magic Chefs with upper and lower ovens anyone have any pics???? Susan St.James has the a 36 inch gas stove in McMillan and wife.  Sally McMillans stove was coppertone. I am glad this came up. Again I would be greatful to see this stove, always lots of kitchen chit chat with Sally and Mildred. Thanks. arthur
 
Arthur:

"I got the feeling that the Tappan pull out stove may have been in the house when Elvis bought it. The house IIRC was built by a local physician, it may have a had a kitchen remodel before Elvis purchased it explaining the Tappan Fabulous."

Elvis bought Graceland in 1957, years before that range and the other appliances were made. The kitchen remodel dates somewhere from the late 1960s to the early 70s, during the years Elvis was married to Priscilla Presley.
 
Sandy, Thank You.......

 for bringing the manufacture period of the tappan to my attention. I don't know how i get these things confused. Maybe the Presleys updated twice? Somehow I got the impression there were more than one update to the kitchen by the Presley's. It may well be  something I misunderstood.  Now, about those 36 inch upper oven stoves anyone have any pics?  Please start a new thread.   Sandy thanks again on getting me straightened out on the time period, I was probably yapping with relatives.   Arthur
 
The high top style range came out around 1961-62 and were very popular at the time.

Yes, Elvis' generosity was legendary. He gave away quite a few Cadillacs and other expensive gifts. He never forgot anyone who helped him to the top, or their friends.

As for Elvis personally, Priscilla Presley had the upstairs bathroom remodeled right after she and Elvis were married. It had 12 different shower heads "strategically" placed at different levels to ensure "everything" was washed.

But Elvis was known as being a nice guy for the most part. But drugs gave him an overbloated sense of self importance and this lead to his downfall. Remember the time he popped in on Richard Nixon at the white house? He wanted an FDA badge because he wanted to join the war against drugs. Too bad he was high as a kite when he did this.

At some point in time Gaffers & Sattler was absorbed by Maytag and the name was never reused.
 
If that were the only oven on the premises, whether one or two, it would not be the most convenient to use...

Surely there has gotta be a nice wall-one somewhere, especially given Elvis' hearty appetite, most everything on the table had to have been oven-made...

Cooktop stuff, no matter how many burners, wouldn't do much, unless the ones under the oven weren't used when the oven was, but if so, then the cooktop w/o the oven over it would be; just my speculation...

-- Dave
 
 
The video says the 2nd floor is closed to the public, private domain of the family.  Surely another kitchen is up there.
 
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