What your kitchen looked like the year you were born

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I have proof...

Of what the kitchen looked like the year I was born!  My father insisted that I save the old family photos and albums - I found this relic and wanted to share it.  I hope this won't be deemed offensive but the nekkid little dude on the table is indeed me!   

 

That's a '57 GE refrigerator (white).  Not shown - the '57 Frigidaire Super range.   The picture has to have been taken in summer of 1963 at a house in Beaconsfield, Quebec that I do not remember.  We moved from that house to Hudson later that year.  

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I remeber what

the kitchen looked like from about 4 years of age because my mom gave me the third degree in it for wandering off up the alley to see my grandma without telling her.
Black and white checkerboard linoleum floor, watermelon color walls, a blue vinyl and chrome 50's dinette set with a grey and whitish laminate top, an older white Frigidaire with the bottom bin where bananas and potatoes were kept, an older white 36 inch Tappan stove with the gold embossed back console, and a white steel high boy cabinet. A year later before we left Pa., a neighbor gave my mom her first antique. A 6 ft. long walnut china cabinet. It only fit in the kitchen.
The neighbors moved to NY state and it didn't fit on the moving van, so they gave it to us. It has arched beveled glass doors, and a gate along the top. It was painted baby blue. Some years later, it finally got stripped and re stained. Still in the family.
Before my mom passed away, one shelf was filled with those Hall China Reagan tea pots. My sister has sold all but one.
 
 
Slide show pics --

#2 discusses the "the very roomy double sink" which has a dishwasher unit incorporated into the right side.

#11 discusses "1950: The Electric Range" but shows a gas cooktop.
 
I guess that goes back to Eddie's initial comment... Those slides and descriptions don't quite jibe.    That dishwasher shown in image #2 is a really early model - perhaps a Walker??
 
slide 11

FINALLY a photo that has the exact model O'Keefe & Merrit wall oven & 42" gas cooktop that was in coppertone in our brand new house in September 1961. 

 

Anyone identify the dishwasher in slide 28?

[this post was last edited: 2/10/2017-13:45]
 
our 1950 kitchen:

brand new house: 1950 Frigidaire fridge, 1950 Magic Chef 40" range, weird Jackson Pollack-looking linoleum floor: Kelly green with random yellow, red,and white irregular splotches/spots, knotty pine cabinets, light green flax-pattern Formica with stainless edging, white porcelain double sink with Hudee ring, 4 shelf chrome wire storage rack in the corner, Early American Ethan Allen kitchen table for 6 with 6 matching chairs, swinging door to the DR... and unfortunately no d/w until 15 years later :-(
 
I was born in 1951 and the earliest kitchen that I remember would be the house we moved into in 1952 and left in 1954. I can remember back to about 1953. The kitchen cabinets were painted what my Mom always called Forget Me Not Blue the walls were white. We had a 30 in., probably BOL O'Keeffe and Merritt gas stove and a small Servel gas refrigerator. The counter tops were black and white tile and the floor was red linoleum. The wooden kitchen table and chairs were also painted the same blue as the cabinets.

My Mom was very proud of her OKeeffe and Merritt stove, it was the first new appliance my parents bought since they were married in 1948. One Saturday morning my brother and I were up before our parents watching cartoons on TV. We went into the kitchen to get some thing to eat and saw a fly on Mom's new stove. Since we knew she wouldn't want that fly on the stove I took the nearest handy item I could find to kill it, which was unfortunately for me and the stove a hammer. I whacked the stove, missed the fly and left a permanent fly sized chip in the porcelain. This resulted in a spanking. Every time after that when I looked at the stove I saw that fly!
Eddie
 
I also question the accuracy of things like this. One photo of a kitchen is supposed to define every kitchen in America...except it really doesn't.

 

I have no idea what our kitchen looked like...but I doubt that it was a kitchen shown in a fancy decorating magazine as "Today's Kitchen." Indeed, I doubt we ever had anything remotely resembling a current kitchen. The one kitchen I recall was the one in my last childhood home, where we moved in the mid-70s. It was a mix of eras--wood cabinets probably original to the 1950s house, newer linoleum that might have been someone in date when we moved in, etc. The only remodelling we did in 16 years was adding a wall (the original dining room/kitchen wall had been taken out, and my parents added that wall back). Otherwise, the only changes were things like paint colors, and my mother pretty much did what she felt like doing, and who cares what the decorating magazines say one is supposed to do?
 
I'll have to find some pictures of the kitchen in the first house I was born to. Nothing fancy, just typical of the time.. L shaped counters across the front and side wall. Stove was on the very left end over to a single sink in front of the window looking out towards the street, and then down the side was a few more feet of counters and the fridge on the end of that,, then the doorway to the hall. What it did have I wished I had a picture of was the 9x9 tile flooring,, in the center they were arranged to look somewhat star shaped. On the other wall was a much larger window overlooking the driveway where we had the usual for the time chrome kitchen set with the red crackled ice formica and matching chairs.
 
I thought it was "somewhat" accurate, some pictures moreso than others.

The house I lived in as a baby (July 1955-August 1957) was built in 1903 - a large colonial revival style that had been divided into 3 apartments. We were on the first floor, with the Johnstons on the 2nd., and Ertels on the 3rd. My parents had the kitchen renovated sometime in 1953 after my dad returned from the Korean War. They put in new Youngstown cabinets, with a double porcelain enamel 66" sinktop. The other countertops were Gray pearl design Formica. The refrigerator was a new Westinghouse, as was the range (which I still have). The kitchen table had a wood frame with a Blue linen-look Formica top, and the chairs had Blue upholstery. The doors and other woodwork remained original to the house. The floor was some type of linoleum or tile; I can't remember.

Picture #8 (1939) is very accurate. That kitchen reminds me a lot of my Dad's Aunt & Uncle's kitchen, and their house was built in 1936. Their cabinets were made by Whitehead Metal Products, and had Monel tops.
 
Plain white

Wooden cabinets, red Irish Linen countertops ,Red brick Armstrong Linoleum floor,some wild green and gold flecked wallpaper, a 54 Hotpoint 30 inch range and a 50 Westinghouse fridge, a 1940 something Sunbeam waffle iron a Dormeyer Dormey Portable mixer and a Dormeyer Mixwell stand mixer and in the pantry a 1952 GE 815 Swivel Top, I was born in September of 1965....Oh yeah a Ugly American maple table and some UGLY maple chairs,I have a life long hatred for Early American because my Mother and Aunt LOVED it.
 
Our 1904 Home was rough & lacking most conveniences.The kitchen had a plain counter about 8ft long with a sink,plain stove and a Norge fridge.Also a formica table & metal legged padded chairs.We were poor in 1969 ,when I was 9,Except for my mom's mother who owned a successful carpet company.
One day after school I walked into a semi smokey kitchen & panicked,called my father at work yelling THE STOVE'S ON FIRE HELP.He calls the neighbors who try and turn the oven off but the door won't open and the red light is on.You guessed it.My grandmother bought us a new self cleaning stove which scared everyone including the neighbors who had never seen one either.
 
My parents' year 1968 built kitchen, in 1971 had a 40 inch Frigidaire coppertone range with matching hood, a double coppertone sink, and Frigidaire refrigerator also in coppertone.  In 1974 a Kitchenaid Superba in coppertone was added.  The cabinets were a neutral stained oak with almost white countertops and the floor through the whole house except for the bedrooms was this poured stuff with colored flecks sprinkled in it, was very popular in our area at the time.  They later covered that poured floor around 1976 or '77 with seamless vinyl in beautiful gold, red, brown, and yellow/orange. 
 
My great-aunt and uncle built a house in Tulsa in 1970 which to me was the epitome of a house of the 1970s and had a kitchen which was very cool. She was working on her first cookbook, which was published in 1973, and she was giving cooking classes, so the kitchen was an absolute showplace and was set up for giving classes. About 22 ft wide by 12 ft deep, it was an avocado showplace (avocado formica counters, dark wood cabinets, avocado appliances) with about a 15 foot peninsula counter with mirror above (where she taught from) opening into the clubroom/family room (where she could set up chairs for her classes), It was hopelessly exotic for me...both electric (Frigidaire) and gas (Modern Maid 2 burner) cooktops, two 30 inch built in Frigidaire ovens, 3 sinks (2 for prep, one for bar) multiple KitchenAid mixers, etc etc. She kept flour in a garbage can, for heaven's sake! Looked like Julia Child could step right in and host her show.
 
Being born in the 80s our kitchen looked nothing like in the article, however it seemed common in regards to other 80s kitchens in the area

We had an L shaped kitchen with medium wood tone Formica cabinets, beige Formica counters, an avocado GE gas range and matching fridge. On the counters sat a JCPenney microwave, the Sears Neil the Frog canister set as well as a set of Acrylic Tupperware canisters.

There was a brown brick patterned vinyl floor and a small wood dinette set

Now my paternal grandmother had the quintessential 60s Early American kitchen. Rustic wood cabinets, hammered iron hardware, the classic white Formica with gold flecks. Built in TOL 1965 GE 24" wall oven, dishwasher, and sxs fridge with ice dispenser all in avocado and matching range hood over a stainless 46" cooktop. There was a brown Spanish tile print glued down carpet, an aged copper and milk glass chandelier over a maple dinette with matching ladder back chairs and a matching serving cart. There was a red brick backsplash with her Revere Ware hung for display, Anericana wallpaper on the bulkhead above the cabinets, and white Priscilla curtains with Coppertone colored ruffles and avocado green Roman shades under them in the windows
 
Here I am in my grandparents kitchen in 1982. Not long afterwards it was gutted and became a 1980s country style kitchen with mustard sink and cooktop with brown laminate bench tops and black oak cupboards.

The kitchen of the house I grew up in was original from 1962 with pearl like Formica and wood vaneer cupboard fronts. I'll have to through the albums at mums to see if I have any pics of that

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"country kitchen"

My folks also had one in the 70's. Medium tone oak wood, light yellow Irish linen work tops, harvest gold appliances, and some paneling on a feature wall that had wallpaper on it with old fashioned coffee grinders.
Ours are Tuscan and transitional style today.
 
"poured floor"

Greg, I think the floor one of my neighbors put in their kitchen and bath sometime around '67 was the type you're talking about. I remember some type of resin (epoxy?) was poured onto the floor, and then colored plastic chips were spread, followed by a topcoat. Theirs was mainly blue, with some green and yellow specks mixed in. They tore it out in Summer of '72 when they did over that part of the house. At that time they put in inlaid vinyl in a gold & green tile pattern. They just replaced it last year.
 
 
The house I was "born into" was a rental and I don't recall anything about living there.  I have seen a (birthday party) picture that shows part of the kitchen, and told that the washer was in a closet behind my high chair.  We moved to a newly-built house in early 1964 which had a U-shaped kitchen with turquoise wall oven, cooktop, and hood, turquoise porcelain sink, white bottom-freezer refrigerator, orange Formica countertops, and custom-built cabinetry.
 
Snaidero "Old America" 1974

When I was born my parents had the same kitchen in the pic, except it was white with an ash-wood countertop and the dishwasher was all stainless steel. The name for this model was "Old America".
Sorry for the bad-quality pic, but it's the best I could find (my folks no longer have this kitchen: it was changed in the 90s).

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