norgeway
Well-known member
KELVINATOR!! These cabinets were built by Morton for Kelvinator, beautiful!
MY choice for a steel kitchen!!
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polkanut
Well-known member
Do I see a road trip in your future Hans?
Wow! Now that's a picture-perfect 50s style kitchen!!
Looks like the cabinets in Margo Channing's apartment.
AND, Margo had a Kelvinator refrigerator for ice cubes. It's so important to have ice cubes when dealing with alcohol that's out of the bottle. The colder temperatures slow the rate of evaporation from the glass, don't you know. I wonder if, since she had a Kelvinator kitchen, she would have had a Kelvinator electric range. I don't think that was shown in the movie because that wall was missing for the cameras. I have watched her stir that bicarb into water closely many times hoping for a glimpse of a range, but, alas, I don't stink it is there.
I still love the lines of the GE cabinets. They looked so modern.
Why don't we ever see the Homart cabinets for sale? That was the Sears brand, right? I remember when my parents bought a new sink & cabinet for the house in Illinois, we bought it at Sears and I, at three or 4 years of age, saw the drain piece in the bottoms of the sink bowls and opened the cabinets underneath in the store and thought I would be able to see the water drain down into the cabinet. I loved watching water, but did not have a good grasp of plumbing at that age. Imagine my disappointment when daddy finished installing it.
I still love the lines of the GE cabinets. They looked so modern.
Why don't we ever see the Homart cabinets for sale? That was the Sears brand, right? I remember when my parents bought a new sink & cabinet for the house in Illinois, we bought it at Sears and I, at three or 4 years of age, saw the drain piece in the bottoms of the sink bowls and opened the cabinets underneath in the store and thought I would be able to see the water drain down into the cabinet. I loved watching water, but did not have a good grasp of plumbing at that age. Imagine my disappointment when daddy finished installing it.
firedome
Well-known member
anyone know...
who made GE's metal cabinet line?
who made GE's metal cabinet line?
norgeway
Well-known member
GE=
Republic Steel.
Republic Steel.
The tricky part about re-using vintage cabinets is that every kitchen seems to have its own unique layout. Maybe there is a clever kitchen designer out there who could figure out how to incorporate cabinets from one layout to a different one.
If you needed infill cabinets, for example, I'm guessing it would either be impossible to find them, or very expensive to have someone fabricate them in a style that would visually match the originals.
If you needed infill cabinets, for example, I'm guessing it would either be impossible to find them, or very expensive to have someone fabricate them in a style that would visually match the originals.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Those ARE....
....The cabinets seen in All About Eve, which was made in 1950.
Here's a shot of the kitchen set, designed by Lyle Wheeler; what's interesting is that the refrigerator (not seen in this pic) was also a Kelvinator. That could mean some "placement" was going on, with the cabinets and appliances on loan from the manufacturer.
Steel cabinets make for very timeless, handsome kitchens. My top choice in steel cabinets has always been St. Charles, but Kelvinator cabinets have always caught my eye because of those beautiful ribbed-glass sliding doors. Modernism doesn't get much more modern than that!
....The cabinets seen in All About Eve, which was made in 1950.
Here's a shot of the kitchen set, designed by Lyle Wheeler; what's interesting is that the refrigerator (not seen in this pic) was also a Kelvinator. That could mean some "placement" was going on, with the cabinets and appliances on loan from the manufacturer.
Steel cabinets make for very timeless, handsome kitchens. My top choice in steel cabinets has always been St. Charles, but Kelvinator cabinets have always caught my eye because of those beautiful ribbed-glass sliding doors. Modernism doesn't get much more modern than that!
danemodsandy
Well-known member
P.S.:
All About Eve was made by 20th Century-Fox, and another Fox movie from that era raises similar "placement" questions.
It's 1949's Letter to Three Wives, with Kirk Douglas, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Paul Douglas and Thelma Ritter. In that one, the cabinets are St. Charles, but with one exception, the appliances are all GE, including an electric sink, some punkins for the era. The range is a 1948 GE Airliner. The exception was a Thor Automagic which is barely seen; I guess we can assume it didn't have the dishwasher attachment, since there was already an electric sink:
All About Eve was made by 20th Century-Fox, and another Fox movie from that era raises similar "placement" questions.
It's 1949's Letter to Three Wives, with Kirk Douglas, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Paul Douglas and Thelma Ritter. In that one, the cabinets are St. Charles, but with one exception, the appliances are all GE, including an electric sink, some punkins for the era. The range is a 1948 GE Airliner. The exception was a Thor Automagic which is barely seen; I guess we can assume it didn't have the dishwasher attachment, since there was already an electric sink:
danemodsandy
Well-known member
"Letter to Three Wives" Fridge:
A very fancy top-freezer model it was, too; remember this was still the era of the tiny freezer compartment in most fridges. What's odd is that the nice fridge and electric sink were paired with the Airliner range I mentioned; the Airliner was way down in the line, with the Stratoliner at the top:
A very fancy top-freezer model it was, too; remember this was still the era of the tiny freezer compartment in most fridges. What's odd is that the nice fridge and electric sink were paired with the Airliner range I mentioned; the Airliner was way down in the line, with the Stratoliner at the top:
danemodsandy
Well-known member
A Better Shot:
Of the '48 Airliner in Letter to Three Wives:
Of the '48 Airliner in Letter to Three Wives:
Some distant relatives of my dad, who lived around the corner from us, had cabinets like that in the house they built in the early 50's. The kitchen was replaced by the new owners sometime in the 80's, with standard issue oak cabinets.
robinsondm
New member
Wow, this group should put together a coffee-table book on classic appliances. A unique twist could be stills of appliances in the movies, like those Sandy has been posting. (Forget shots of the actors, let's get some good views of those appliances, even if the frame includes the back of a star's head!) 
Of course, such a book would be time-consuming and expensive to make, and I don't know how broad a readership it would get. It also might drive up the prices of mid-20th-century appliances, and maybe we don't want that!
I haven't seen "Letter to Three Wives," but the cast list reminded me that Kirk Douglas is still alive at 97!
Of course, such a book would be time-consuming and expensive to make, and I don't know how broad a readership it would get. It also might drive up the prices of mid-20th-century appliances, and maybe we don't want that!
I haven't seen "Letter to Three Wives," but the cast list reminded me that Kirk Douglas is still alive at 97!
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Dean:
Letter to Three Wives is very much worth your time both as a movie and as a look at 1949 home fashion. It's on DVD. The main attraction for AW members is the kitchen you can glimpse above. The way the scenes in the kitchen are filmed, no one still can show it all; you just have to see the movie.
I'm a writer and editor, and I hate to say it, but a book like you're mentioning is not affordable for publishers to do. The market is limited, and photo rights cost a fortune. Anyone looking at a proposal would see two things: A) Small market and B) Huge cost.
Believe me, if I thought for an instant anyone would bite, I'd be out there shopping it like gangbusters.
Letter to Three Wives is very much worth your time both as a movie and as a look at 1949 home fashion. It's on DVD. The main attraction for AW members is the kitchen you can glimpse above. The way the scenes in the kitchen are filmed, no one still can show it all; you just have to see the movie.
I'm a writer and editor, and I hate to say it, but a book like you're mentioning is not affordable for publishers to do. The market is limited, and photo rights cost a fortune. Anyone looking at a proposal would see two things: A) Small market and B) Huge cost.
Believe me, if I thought for an instant anyone would bite, I'd be out there shopping it like gangbusters.
robinsondm
New member
Yeah, I figured the cost of producing such a book would easily surpass the potential revenue. And I hadn't even thought about photo rights -- that would make an expensive coffee-table book even more costly to produce.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Dean:
Just to give you an idea, to use one copyright photo at a quarter-page size, one-time print publication in a magazine with a small circulation, American distribution only, is at least $400, and you don't often get off that cheaply.
Larger sizes, book publication and world-wide distribution get considerably upwards of that.
Just to give you an idea, to use one copyright photo at a quarter-page size, one-time print publication in a magazine with a small circulation, American distribution only, is at least $400, and you don't often get off that cheaply.
Larger sizes, book publication and world-wide distribution get considerably upwards of that.
Some history
Morton Manufacturing Company
Description Located at 628 East Church Street in Libertyville, Morton Manufacturing produced steel cabinets, mostly for use in kitchens. The cabinets were sold through a division of Nash-Kelvinator Sales Corp. The local plant was founded in 1942. In the mid-1950s there were some 130 employees. John Cannon was president, Charles Motter and James King, vice presidents, Earl Smith, secretary and Walter Klopsch was plant superintendent.
Morton Manufacturing Company
Description Located at 628 East Church Street in Libertyville, Morton Manufacturing produced steel cabinets, mostly for use in kitchens. The cabinets were sold through a division of Nash-Kelvinator Sales Corp. The local plant was founded in 1942. In the mid-1950s there were some 130 employees. John Cannon was president, Charles Motter and James King, vice presidents, Earl Smith, secretary and Walter Klopsch was plant superintendent.
