When you think you`ve seen everything a Top Loading Fridge comes along

[mrboilwash]

at 4:50
What a clever design for this time period as it is not only saving space but also current which was obviously not cheap back then.

Find it also interesting that the electric range features a high speed Calrod unit but seems to have only on/off switches for the burners. (At 2:43)

 

[vacerator]

yes,

maybe that's where the top loading deep freezer idea came from. or visa versa.
Sub Zero has fridge and freezer drawers today, as well as other makers.

 

[launderess]

Posted that YT clip in another thread.

Top loading fridges didn't catch on for same reasons similar dishwashers died out; the design is a royal pain for most housewives/whoever.

Imagine having to unload half or entire fridge to get at something at bottom. And or to do inventory at a glance before going to shops/supermarket.

Top loading freezers are often used for long term storage, so one doesn't open the thing that often, well not at least compared to a fridge.

Other issue is as with dishwashers, top loading fridges are a pain because if top is used as counter space, whatever is placed must be taken off and on each time wants to get into the thing. For dishwashers (as shown in another similar clip)a cubby could be built since the thing was on casters.

 

[mrboilwash]

Wasn`t aware that it has been posted before.
Of course a top loading fridge is a pain, but if it was cheap to produce and run back in its time it must have been a godsend compared to an ice box or maybe even somthing like a chilly windowsill.
What do you think of electric cooking without having any control over the top burners other than on and off ? Suppose early stoves were rather low powered and the cook had to be very patient. Were they even wired to 220 Volts back in the 30`s ?

 

[launderess]

No Worries Over Double Posting

Just pointed it out, nothing more.

Imagine housewives of the period would have adapted well to electric burners with either "on" or "off" heating. That is precisely how clothes irons and many other "new" electric household appliances with heating elements operated back then.

The godsend was not having to heat things over coals, open fire, using an AGA type range, etc...

Of course not being able to control heat source limited one's cooking unless or until one got the hang of things anyway. Probably lots of double boilers, trivets, and other adaptations for low/gentle heat I shouldn't wonder.

 

[launderess]

Here you go

General Electric "LK" Series refrigerator.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-general-electric-liftop-1909763200

Thing used sulfur dioxide as refrigerant; no wonder so few are still around.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I knew someone staying in a rooming house in Atlanta and the place had one of these in the hallway for the tenants. They would have been economical to operate with cold air having a tendency to sink so it would not fall out when the lid was lifted. It was primitive and very old, but it did keep stuff cold.

I remember ads for these in old trade magazines. When I discovered these in the stacks in 1976, I knew I had discovered a corner of Heaven with my name on it.

 

[combo52]

Early Electric Surface Cooking

The elements in this GE film had three top heat selections, 3 was the minimum I ever saw, and most manufactures quickly went to 5 heat selections which is all you really need.

Early electric ranges in the US ran on 220 volts, the voltage increased over time in the US, to 230 in the 50s-mid 60s and then settled at 240 volts by the 70s and on.

The wattage of these early top surface elements were usually in the 1200 watts for the smaller elements to 1800-2000 for larger ones so they could get the job done almost as fast as later ranges.

John L.

 

[launderess]

Top loading fridges

Are still around, marketed mostly to the marine trade. That and various electric "coolers" for use while camping or perhaps in a mobile home sort of thing.

 

[athanasius80]

Ah yes, the GE model LK. I think collectors have found one or two of them. The problem wasn't SO2 refrigerant, the problem was that they were made inexpensively and tended to rust out. I think Travis saw one and said it wasn't built as heavily as a CK monitor top. So, take rust problems and add in the difficulty of using it, and you can see why not many survived.