My parent's house was built in 1965...the kitchen was redone 2 years ago (8 years after my mother died). The cabinets were contemporary walnut with slab doors, the countertop was burnt orange Formica, the backsplash was a mosaic of cream, orange and black with little flecks of brown. The appliances were changed out over the years, but I believe they were almond originally (later black). My mother loved that kitchen, even in 2000 (she was also amazingly frugal and didn't want to spend a cent to redo something she thought was fine, if dated). My high school friends still talk about my mother's "hip" kitchen. There was no dishwasher until about 1982.

In 1955 my parents designed and built the home I grew up in. They lived there until 2000 when my Dad died and my Mom had a stroke and had to live in a nursing home. When us kids sold the home in 2002, the kitchen looked the same as it did in our childhood. Narrow galley kitchen overlooking the backyard. Tan Formica countertop and ceramic backspash, huge SS double sink (I remember taking a bath in it!), and painted cabinets that my Dad built. My Mom loved her kitchen, but it was definately a one person work space. I think she'd approve of my own kitchen remodel, but think I spent way too much. Miss her!

My parents built our home in 1975. We had what was considered a huge kitchen (10x20) with avacado green linoleum that had a tiled brick pattern. We had dark walnut framed cabinets, a stainless sink, electric range and there was light green formica. The appliances were green. We had a dark wood patterned formica table with chrome chairs. The kitchen hasn't changed too much. The floor and countertops still look brand new today. The appliances are all white now. My dad had the cabinets refinished in a lighter color with new hardware. The green floor and counters still look great. It's got a dated color with the green, but everything was such high quality and so well cared for that I think it still looks fabulous. They have a new table now. I made them window toppers that have white fabric with very colorful spring flowers that coordinate with the Lenox Butterfly Garden dish pattern (their dishes). They also have artwork of flower and herb prints. They made their kitchen look updated by using that Lenox pattern to bring in the green. I'm sure when they sell it, someone will hate the green. But it looks great and doesn't have the feel of a super-mod 1970's kitchen. I'll have to take photos next time I'm there so you can see what I mean.

I'm still in the planning stages of a new kitchen. In thinking about what I wanted, I was thinking about my DM's kitchen.

In 1958 the old farmhouse was totally remodeled. The kitchen cabinets were slab white birch, cook top a Frigidaire electric drop in. We had a built in oven, Frigidaire French Door (loved it) SS double sink, built in refrigerator. It was quite the modern kitchen for it's time.

After years of traditional oak cabinets, I'm sure I am going to have something similar to what my DM had in 1958, with 2010 upgrades.

I remember the steel sink/cabinet combo that sells to the retro renovators like hot cakes now. The walls must have been bad because they were paneled with that thin wood paneling. The whole thing was totally a bad layout. My mother wanted wood cabinets with a countertop but she never got them.

Since I am the head of household I do what I want here. I have a new kitchen in my OLD dream farm house. My pets shed where ever they want. It's a one hundred degree turn from how I was raised.

My mom is very short, just barely 5'. Her kitchen had no upper cabinets and most of the lowers were regular cabinets, not drawers. She had extensive pantry closets lining the eat-in side of the room. It made it easy for children to set the table, etc. My parents moved last year and gave the old house to my "little" brother who is 6'2". Needless to say the kitchen isn't working out as well for him.

My kitchen is completely different with upper cabinets that reach to the ceiling. I am much taller than my mother and have ridiculously long monkey arms to boot, so even the top shelf can be reached when on my toes. I built-in a folding step stool storage space specifically with my mom in mind when I designed this kitchen. DS2 pulls that step stool out all the time when we bake.

My Nana built her dream house in 1959 in Lubbock, Texas. Grandpa owned a furniture store and she chose Henredon and Drexel furniture throughout. She was very proud of her "St. Charles kitchen" and I was surprised recently to discover the company is still in business today.

Nana's kitchen was totally high tech for the time. She had all GE appliances: a PINK bottom-freezer fridge, PINK wall ovens and stainless warming oven, a stainless electric cooktop, and a PINK dishwasher. Her drawers were fitted with dividers, two silvercloth lined flatware drawers had slots for individual pieces with a cloth cover attached. She had a bread drawer, a lift-up mixer stand, and more. She had a slide-out table built in her peninsula, like a large breadboard. We ate many snacks at that slide-out table.

Her countertops were tan Formica with stainless edges and there was a stainless trivet built into the landing space beside the cooktop. She had fluorescent undercabinet lighting throughout and a wonderful built-in chrome paper towel holder that was recessed in the wall.

My Nana was ahead of her time with her many kitchen conveniences. I fondly recall many many Southern culinary gems from her kitchen: fried chicken, black-eyed peas (we would go to her friend's farm and pick the peas then shell and cook them), and her two signature dishes - cornbread to die for and heavenly banana pudding.

My mother inherited the house in 1989 and renovated the bathrooms, but she didn't touch the kitchen. I inherited and sold the house in 1997 and often wonder what the new owners have done to it. If I ever go back to Lubbock I will stop by and see.

The same as it does today. The house began as a chicken house built by my Papa. It was then turned into a "cabin" with livingroom, kitchen, bedroom, bath, and sun porch. Next, it was moved to it's current location on a lake in the country and my parents added a short hallway for the dishwasher, fridge, and freezer as well as two huge bedrooms and a bath. The kitchen has green (60's pea green) cabinets, white formica countertop with gold and black flecks. The stove is still an old white GE and sink is original porcelin. The dishwasher has been replaced but everything else, including the "pea green/white grasscloth textured" wallpaper. My SF repainted the cabinets a couple of years ago but painted them the same color.

The childhood home in San Diego seems to always be my inspiration for so many decorating ideas. My Mom still owns that house and rents it out. It is small; 3 bedroom, 1 bath, kitchen, living/dining combo, 1 car garage with laundry room behind it.

The kitchen had wooden built in cabinets on one side, flanked by the free-standing stove & fridge. The other side was classic San Diego built metal cabinet sink console with two overhead cabinets and the window right over the sink. Stainless steel double sided sink counter top all one piece, garbage disposal and spray hose...think my Dad upgrade to the one-handle faucet at one time...I don't remember the original. We had the 50's chrome dinette set in yellow with 4 chairs. There was a 2-tiered skinny peninsula with gray linoleum tops and chrome edges by the back door right next to the dining table. The kitchen was small, but busy.

The most memorable thing I remember was the stove. The original stove (which I don't remember) had to be replaced. We went to the local appliance store and the dealer talked my Dad into the most modern stove. It had the broiler on the left upper side and oven on the right upper side with glass doors. I remember over time the broiler door had a hinge issue and a couple of times came off in my Mom's hand...nothing like holding a scaling hot glass door in your hand...LOL. The neat part was that pull out burner section with the wooden ledge where you could set your hot pans and prepare items on the cutting board. Many of our meals were cooked in the Blue Cornflower patterned Corning Ware. I still love this whole look to this day and even have a repo chrome dinette in my kitchenette area. My Mom is 91 now and still cooks in her country kitchen...she fries a mean chicken!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: just a nice site I found

Diane, I think your my mother could have been your Nana! My parents built their home in 1955 and they also had St. Charles cabinets with a bread drawer, fluorescent under-cabinet lighting, a stainless landing space alongside the range, two large pull-out bread boards, and pinkish formica countertops with stainless edges. The backsplash was gray ceramic tile. There was a drop leaf gray formica top table with chrome edges and legs in the middle of the kitchen. The chairs had chrome legs and pink vinyl seat cushions.The fridge had a bottom freezer with a foot "pedal" that you stepped on to open the freezer door. When my mother sold that house in 1992, the St. Charles cabinets still looked like new, having been painted a couple of times in the intervening years. I believe they were updated to "Harvest Gold" around 1970. What fun remembering all of that on Mothers' Day.

My mom's kitchen was a plain jane kitchen built in 1958 when the house was built. It had nice maple cabs, with a good layout, but it was totally not her style. Then in the mid-1980's she decided to redo using money that was to left to her by her father. She must have been WAY ahead of her time......

Granite counters (dark almost black) with backsplash done in granite too, all the way up to the cabs. Snaidero modern cabinets with no pulls/knobs in a creamy beige. A whole wall of pantry cabinets. To this day, over 20 years later, it still looks fairly good. Hard to believe her kitchen was done in 1985 and I wonder whether 25 years from now mine will have the same "timeless" quality that hers does.
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firsthouse_mp, that is one great kitchen! Talk about timeless! That one qualifies in spades!

I remember moving from one house to my parent's "final" house in 1962. It had been recently built, and I remember that the kitchen was much more modern than the one we had had before. It was a galley kitchen with natural maple cabinets and pink ceramic tile countertops. Instead of a free-standing range/oven, we had built-ins, the latest rage, I believe! And even more amazingly, they were stainless steel. I particularly remember the stove top and the oven; the oven had a round porthole-like window. After about 5 years, the window broke, and because my mother could not find a replacement window, it is embarrassing to recall, we (permanently!) replaced it with a metal pie tin (they fit perfectly, though I'm sure that they compromised cooking times). I also remember my mother desperately wanting harvest gold appliances, but never getting them, though she did get some small appliances in that color, which looked pretty awful with the pink countertops, but she didn't care; she had her harvest gold! Needless to say, she WAS NOT TKO in the design-sense, but she was a natural homestyle cook. Our peach tree in the back produced the finest white peaches every summer, which she made into delicious peach cobbler, and her homemade noodles, potato salad, spaghetti, and fried chicken were the best ever. When she sold the house in about 1978, it was torn down and 2 homes were built on the lot (it was in a beach area where lots were typically very narrow). She was a fun, fun lady. She always loved the latest gadgets and new inventions, and bought a brand new Ford Mustang when she was 72 years old with the money from the sale of her house. She has been gone since 1990, and I miss her sense of humor and her easy-going nature. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Still looks the same as it did in 1969 except for 1987 ish wallpaper and balloon shades, and a late 90s cooktop to replace the original Chambers.

Early island, thin cooktop with a real drawer underneath, swing-out shelves pantry, a Nutone Food Center and the white color scheme (originally with white and black wallpaper) were all pretty innovative in their neck of the woods.
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We moved many times as I was growing up, I can not even recall one specific kitchen.

I do recall smells.....chocolate chip cookies that tasted incredible when warm, just off the cooling racks. Homemade bread, that had risen just a bit too much, but had a beautiful golden brown crust on the top, and also best when fresh and warm out of the oven.

I remember one white fridge with this kind of triangular handle that pulled down. Mom said my 2 brothers, liked to hang on it, and the handle had to be replaced at one point. Mom and Dad bought it when they got married. It lasted so many years... They finally got rid of it a few years ago. Last week they celebrated their 55th anniversary.

There was one of those gold appliances at one point. I used to wonder why Mom and Dad picked out everything in their home to be either gold or brown or green. Even cars! I thought maybe they were choosing what was less expensive or what was just sitting on the shelf at the time. (I love blues and white and greys!) Later, I realized that is just what they like.

Even now, countertops are a gold/beige laminate. They aren't interested in the granites or marbles, soapstones, or even corian. Mom's splurge was a triple sink. That was what she liked.

I wonder how my children will recall the kitchen of their childhood. I hope they all do well in school so they have better kitchens to begin with, better even than our remodel, but most of all, I hope they felt the love in all the food we make for them....in all the family meals we share together!

Wonderful thread! Thanks all for sharing.

My parents house was built around 1956. Mom's kitchen was L-shaped with cabinets that were pretty durable; they never replaced any of them or needed to. Mom went through a stage where she pickled everything--all the kitchen cabinets, the hutch, the dining table. I don't remember the original countertop, but ahe also put ceramic tile on the counter. That was when I swore off pickling and tile due to breaking dropped glasses, chipping the tile, and grout cleaning.

We also had the top-loading dishwasher that you had to roll to the sink to hook up. It was wonderful--as the eldest daughter...you know what I mean!

The far left drawer was the "Junk drawer". We didn't have a hood over the stove but above it we had some plaques made into a 1800's Mr & Mrs made from fabric & glued on some platters. They were from my aunt & uncle: I have reclaimed one of those platters.

She went through the stage of carpeting the kitchen in the NEW kitchen/bath carpeting. Before we sold the house, she had wallpapered in an American Eagle motif--must have been around 1976 and the bicentennial.

We would come home from school to find her in the middle of a painting job so I'm sure the wall color changed with her mood.

Thanks for the memories.

Ours was pretty awful. The house was built around 1860 and the kitchen seemed pretty large for the size of the house - maybe about 13x 15. In one corner was a porcelain sink with attached drain board. In another corner was a refrigerator. And on another wall was a stove. I considered anyone with kitchen cabinets "rich." In the center was a kitchen table. Then there was a large pantry that held everything. I have no clue how my mom managed to make the fantastic things she did without a single counter.
And why in the world I like "vintage" kitchens!

It was probably 8x10', in "avocado brown", and probably pretty nice by 1964 standards. She somehow managed to feed a family of 6 with it for ~15 years. And large gatherings at holidays. We ate very well, and everything she cooked was delicious. Well, unless it had mushrooms in it. ;)

They had it refaced sometime in the 90s, so I actually have a few doors and a section of 1-1/4" plywood countertop covered with the original flecked white Formica. And somewhere I even have its coolest features: Stainless steel tip-out paper towel and wax paper holders that were recessed into the wall.

She would have had a fit if she knew I went looking at Viking appliances yesterday. I miss her so much.

My mom did some updates to her kitchen the past few years. When I lived there (up til I got married 5 years ago), my mom's kitchen had oak cabinets that were very orangey and varnished, and a u-shape. Laminate countertops that were trying to look like marble. A peninsula with a sink on it, with a soap dispenser that we ALWAYS knocked over to the other side. We had family meals in a slight bay window, on a round glass table that was a pain to clean and got smudges all the time. The bay window was, and still is, loaded with tons of plants that you couldn't even see outside. She'd load the table up with tons of layered placemats...fabric ones underneath, then plastic ones on top. Magnets GALORE on the fridge with tons of coupons, photos, newspaper clippings (partially from my dad). She never had a distinct style - some country influences for sure, but had much more stuff and chatchkis...she is and was a pack rat which is why I'm such a minimalist. I love her dearly!!!

It was a big square with white cabinets with big red knobs on two sides of the kitchen and a round red table and chairs in the middle. I remember it had a big tilt out flour bin and we always had a huge bag of flour in there. I can't remember what color the counters were but I think they had the metal edges. The floor had those linoleum tile squares - can't remember what color. The sink was a white double as I remember cleaning it with Ajax. We had white appliances - fridge and a big range that had a cigarette lighter and a window above it. We had a big window over the sink and those open shelves on either side that were attached to the cabinets. The kitchen opened out to a wonderful screened porch. On the wall opposite the porch door there was a little broom closet that held a broom, dust mop and our canister vacuum. Also adjacent to the kitchen was the utility room - complete with wringer washer.

We had what I recognize as being a very large kitchen it was 16 or 18 across and a good 24 feet long.

The funny part of that is that there was a kitchen table in the center with cabinets running along the two long walls. Like a galley kitchen but with our large 8 person dining table in the center. The right side had a fridge in the corner then 3 feet and the kitchen sink then another 3 feet ending at the range... all along one wall with the window above.

So everything was stored on the opposite side of the room where you had to walk around the large table. I hated it then and looking back now I'm suprised I'm not a serial killer.

At the end of the room was a large walk in pantry, probably 8 feet deep. We must have stored 4 dozen different types of canned goods in there so we could open them on those 6 feet of countertop. It was hot and humid in there. Easily and always the warmest room in the house.

Ugh.

Death first.

Well, these have been great follow-ups to my original post. We've been gone all day, so finding this many responses has reminded me: some of us truly are our mothers' daughters, some of us, not so much....but the smells, the tastes, and the loving feel of the kitchen are really what it's about.

@vampiressrn, that BTW is a Frigidaire Flair stove, which the company (then owned by General Motors!) sold in the 1950s and '60s; the cooktop retracted into the stove (like a drawer) when not in use; the oven doors, which were almost entirely glass, lifted straight upward. Storage cabinet at the bottom. All the controls on top; along with the disappearing burners, this made it very kid-safe. I've seen alot of these IRL; they're very well made. Lots of pix on Google Image Search.

My mom's house (at least the first one she had after I was born) she moved into after it was built in 1963/4. Small room right near the front entrance, with cabinets and appliances in an L shape along two walls, and just enough space for a table against the other wall. The room was oddly positioned right near the front entrance. Although it was a starter house - a rambler small enough to fit in a McMansion's living room - the kitchen had much better fittings than I would expect a builder to include. All the appliances were from RCA; the cooktop was stainless steel gas with three dual-ring burners, cast-iron grates, and one thermostatically-controlled burner that kept a preset temperature. The oven, also stainless steel, was a 30" wide gas oven with a rotisserie in it. Fridge was white and small; the freezer was way too small, this having been made before frozen food became commonplace. No dishwasher was originally included, but one of the cabinets was quickly ripped out to make room for an RCA/Whirlpool dishwasher, which lasted less than a decade. It strangely had the control knob near the bottom, about 10" from the floor. A top-of-the-line Kitchenaid Superba replaced it in the early '70s. A single base cabinet ran the length of the floor, accessed by four large doors. There were several wall cabinets, including some with sliding doors. All cabinets were a dark woodgrained laminate. Countertops were white Formica with gold starbursts, a pattern which also graced the matching table which I still have. The small wall near the entry had some shelves filled with (rarely used) cookbooks and a Zenith vacuum-tube radio. The coolest thing in the whole kitchen though was the phone, a Western Electric

In the early '90s, her neighbor and friend with the same house floorplan renovated her kitchen, which of course meant my mom had to keep up and do the same. I wound up doing most of the design, although I didn't care for her taste in colors (the then-trendy everything-white look, preferring the warmth of cherry wood). We went with another stainless-steel gas cooktop, a rarity in 1992 but kept it looking modern when SS later became in vogue again.

She lives in a retirement community now, and though the service amenities are mostly great, the apartment itself is all builder-grade junk, the cheapest stuff available. Even the original '60s kitchen in her old house far outclasses it.

My parents built their home in 1958. Kitchen was probably 15x18 with a large round maple table and chairs where we ate most meals. Double-ovens, Formica counters and a floor of some kind of layered vinyl if we dropped anything small we had to find it with a broom because it was lost in the pattern. Dad was a salad maker extraordinaire and had two maple cutting boards built into the counter: one next to the fridge and another next to the range. We had a tin-lined bread drawer and a SS sink but no disposal. I hated carrying the trash to the basement for the incinerator. I always thought someone would grab my ankles through the open-backed stairs (as my older brother once did.) The kitchen window over the sink looked onto my DadÂs huge vegetable garden. They were newly-weds in the depression and never lost that feeling that you had to be able to sustain yourself hence, a separate canning kitchen in the basement that really cranked out the pickles, chili sauce and tomato juice. My uncle worked for an ice cream company and found us a used 8-cell, top-opening freezer for the garage, like used to be in ice cream shops. It was fun to find when he put in there for us on holidays.

Great topic. Thanks for a walk down memory lane!

In case you ever wondered why I like wide aisles:
5 kids, 10 x 7 working part of the kitchen, pantry on the other side of the house. Total of 3 base cabinets, 5 uppers. Stove and ref front to front across that 3 foot aisle. Yeah, baby - can a few bushels of tomatoes in that! With 6 others wondering through.

Avocado green for counters, floor tile, paint on cabinets and floral wall paper-but that had orange flowers and a lot of white too.

She built a counter height narrow depth bar with stools that wrapped around an outside corner - if you sat there, you faced a wall. Nobody ever sat the stools that I recall, although they were handy for grocery bags.

It did teach me that even narrow depth counters can be very usable. And that I just hate 3 foot aisles.

well, i don't think it was pretty but it worked. it seemed "large" at the time; about 16x16 with a kitchen table right smack in the middle of it that sat 4-6 and functioned as an island while cooking and prepping. the floors were a red and green checkerboard linoleum, appliances (GE if i remember correctly) were some kind of '70s brown. 4 burner electric range, top freezer refrigerator and some sort of stand-alone dishwasher that sat out under a window and was seldom used except for holidays. when my mother actually used it, she had to hook it up to the sink faucet with a hose. -yeah, it was no trouble at all! the house was built in the early 50s so there was no space for one when they finally hit the market. cabinets i think were pine and of course, formica countertops. i can't think of the the color, but they were sparkly and i remember there was a metal strip around the edge. there was a pantry which was about 4x10 with a wall of shelves on one side. there was a JFK campaign button stuck to the opposite wall ...wonder where that went??

Donnnakay- what a lovely thread...

The kitchen I remember most fondly was my grandmother's where I lived as a child while my father was in the service and off and on until the early 60s. My grandparents built the house in 1922. It had a pantry with wood and zinc counters, a big soapstone sink, an ice box (for refrigeration) , upper and lower sage green painted cabinets (uppers with glass panes) and a long circular dish towel that hung on a wooden dowel. The kitchen was a large rectangular room: one long wall had two windows and a large porcelain sink with drain boards on each side that was in a painted wood cabinet. The other long wall had lower cabinets with open shelves above where she displayed old Quimper pottery. At one end there was a white painted brick alcove that housed a wonderful old but working gas stove that was probably converted from wood or coal. The other end opened into a small dining area with a pine table and chairs and a large dry and canned goods cupboard. In the middle of the kitchen was a long wood table that served as the only prep area and had 2 stools that we used to "visit" on. On the walls were hung things like the coffee grinder, a school like clock and various kitchen tools - like the wooden paddles with ridges on one side that I was allowed to use to make the butter balls. The kitchen had red and white checked curtains, the walls and cabinets were white and the floors were a dark wood. The most important element in this kitchen were the delicious scents and smells that floated through the air into the rest of the house....I can still smell them when I close my eyes.... Alas this wonderful home was torn down to make way for a Trophy Home (read McMansion)....with none of the charm and warmth of the original...Had I lived closer I would have tied myself to the wrecking ball to save some of those treasures: the stove, the cabinets, the sinks and oh so much more...these are the very elements I have seen in many kitchens here...that porcelain sink with the drainboards was on another thread...being used in a garden!! Now we are talking about sustainable products!!

Thank you again for bringing us this thread...I have had a lovely time reliving my childhood in that warm and inviting kitchen where yummy goodies and memorable meals were produced in a slower and gentler time.... Belated Happy Mother's Day to all...

Actually, my mom's main kitchen (the one in the house where I grew up) would be right in style today, and pretty functional, too. It was a long galley with a large pantry at one end and open to the family room/dinette at the other, then the outer long wall had cabinets, sink under window (fancy pierced concrete block screen outside window for privacy while letting light in--a very popular mid-60s item), coil cooktop with cabinets below and wall oven with cabinets above and below. Opposite wall had doorway to dining room, fridge, short run of upper and lower cabs (mostly used as bar space) and ended with a white painted brick surround with a desk that overlooked the family room and back yard. Walnut colored formica slab-style cabinets, turquoise appliances, white formica countertop with little turquoise stars on it. Totally classic MCM all round, and an easy space for two or three people to work in, although it was pretty small by current standards.

A great, functional kitchen. Later, after they retired, they wound up in a standard newer space waster--the kind of kitchen that needs a couple of acres of island in the middle to use up some of the excess empty space in it.

My mother's kitchen is tiny but brilliantly conceived. She and the carpenter designed it together in the mid-'60's. I borrowed a lot of the elements for my own kitchen. The one thing I couldn't manage in my bigger kitchen that she did in her small one is two ovens at optimum height, instead of stacked. But I have more windows and doors. It's still beautiful, though there is a little deferred maintenance. The hood is the last of the original appliances. The Chambers oven just gave up. The vestigial Nu-Tone motor is still there.

The look is timeless--walnut stained birch (I think), partial overlay, slab doors. Off white tile, with accent tiles containing colored glass. Stainless appliances (always were). Panelled SubZero fridge, and panelled DW until the current stainless one. Small galley with white cast iron sink, DW and fridge on one side, and oven, large cooktop area, and mixer station on the other, with a shallow pantry wall on the other side of the cross corridor, with a counter except where the second oven it. Dish storage, bar, coffee and toaster, and bread, cereal and cookies, are all in the adjacent breakfast room. Same cupboards, but white Formica counters with stainless bar sink in the breakfast room.

There is a spice pullout, ROTS in the mixer station cupboard, and under the cooktops, horizontal tray storage, a can storage cupboard with wrap around shelves, otherwise all drawers. Vertical tray storage in the breakfast room. Additional, bulk, rare use, and paper storage in the service porch.

This is a neat thread. The house I grew up in was built around 1959. It had a combination kitchen/dining/family room. The cooking area was a pretty small u-shaped configuration. The white, double oven was on one side, then a lazy susan in the corner. Can't remember whether it was a single or double ss sink with a window above. Plain maple cabinets with copper hardware. White sparkly formica countertops, linoleum with little squares of various shades of beige and tan. Wallpaper with images of kitchen items in aqua and tan. The other leg of the U was like a bar, and we sat on bar stools that swiveled to eat breakfast. We had a portable dishwasher. The fridge actually stood alone on the wall opposite the sink. There was a built in desk nearby. In the middle of the room were the table and chairs in front of a picture window that looked out into the backyard, and a fireplace that opened up into the living room which was at the front of the house. The other end of the room was the tv viewing area.
Interestingly enough, in 1974, when my parents built another new house, the size of the cooking area didn't change much, but a pantry the size of the kitchen was added. Walnut cabinets, butcher block counters, triple ss sink with chrome faucet, white appliances, decorative hammered bronze oven hood, luxury vinyl brick-look floor tiles layed on the diagonal. Pull out drawers in the base cabinets, built in spice rack, built in drawer dividers.
The 70's kitchen has held up well, except the countertop wasn't maintained adequately, and it doesn't look that great.

My Mom has a great kitchen. My parents added on 1500sqft to their house over 2.5 years when I was 3-5. I have fond memories! My brother picked hundreds of slivers out of my hands from 'skateboarding' on my bum on the subfloor

The original kitchen was in the back of a split level so when they added out the back, the kitchen became a walk-though to the other new areas of the house. It's the typical late 70's/early 80's modern with the 'chrome' type handles that run the entire door length. Most people went with white, cream or black---my Mom went for bright pollen yellow with white countertops and *gasp* huge pull out pot drawers (that my Grandmother swore would fall apart but which are going strong 30+ years later). It' a large adapted galley, about 10 x 30 with the kitchen table at the end. Her pantry cabinets wrapped around the wall toward the back entry where there is also a full size upright freezer and desk. It has been an incredibly functional kitchen. My Mom really takes care of things, every door is still straight and her carefully templated (by her) original countertops and cabinets are still decent. The flooring went from lino to pergo (flood) and finally 3 1/4" ash. I have every hope that it will be the kitchen my Mother will live out her days with. She still loves it. Everyone thought she was nuts---it was a huge reno.

Avocado and knotty pine - use your imagination!

A one-woman U-shaped cubbyhole with a chrome-legged table set alongside it. No dishwasher, a giant breadboard for pies and rolls and etc, in-wall round vent over range that exhausted into the garage, lots of blue painted cupboards built for a woman taller than I was. Deep flour bin in lower cupboards, two awful blind corner cupboards that were useless in Mom's crippled old age, and upper cupboards holding all those postwar fancy glasses and vases that were the gift of a grateful congregation to a returning POW, all needing dusting and storage. Oh, and a tier of round open shelves with ceramic chickens on them. Yellow, blue, and white paint and a camouflaging linoleum floor and ditto for countertops.

My mother had stylish and impeccable taste. I grew up in a beautiful home. Mom and dad's house was built in 1944. The kitchen was renovated in 1971, I think, but I was around 10 years old.

Her cabinets were cherry with carrera marble counters, white cast iron double sink, double walls ovens (before they were popular) and a 48" range with stainless steel hood.

During the renovation, she also had something done that wasn't really heard of back then, a combined kitchen and family room with a wall of sliding doors out onto a stone patio.

My mom passed away last year. I sold her house this past fall. Besides newer appliances, very little updating needed to be made to her kitchen. Even after almost 40 years, that kitchen was still in style. This is one reason I had to fight the urge to go trendy and decided to choose cherry cabinets for my new kitchen.

Palimpset,

I only just noticed your moms kitchen table. I must have owned that exact set at least twice.

They were the most comfortable dining room chairs I've ever had! I can't count the beers I've had on that table! An exboyfriend got the last set as part of the separation. So sad.