Still have the International Harvester refrigerator ~ and it still works great. Still have to defrost it - but it looks good (my mother covered it with the same fabric as her drapes in the 70's). I used it for a beer fridge and passed it along to my sister who was desperate for another fridge with her 3 kids. It is as old as I am (I will keep you guessing LOL). This was a good post - really enjoyed it.

I found another picture of the IH "femineered" refrigerator-click to enlarge:

Ah, but if only we could get the old automatic down, pop-up toaster!! It was a simple mechanism, easy to repair, and lasted 20 years. Most of all, it made the best toast ever.

Actually, I know the technology hadn't quite caught up with the thinking at the time, but aren't the refrigerator uppers just a then version of the armoire style fridges we have now?

And aren't the fabric covered fridges just an era appropriate version of custom panels? Nowadays we usually get panels to match our cabinetry, but I've seen them done as chalkboard, airbrushed surfboard art, tiki carvings, and all kinds of things behind glass. Could be commercial fabric too, if anyone wanted to do it...

Whereas I think things like steamers are thing people like if they do a lot of steaming, rather than a random gizmo dreamed up by an overactive ad/sales corps trying to entice the little lady... :)

Thanks for the giggles!!

The wall hung fridge was shallower than counterdepth (somewhere around 18"), and left less than the standard 18" between counter and wall cabinet unless it was hung high.

The pluses it had were front-to-back access, and the "look" that could be created without the standard fridge (think of the all drawer designs done now).

One big minus is that you had to be very tall to reach the top shelves. The other was that since the freezer was up close to the ceiling, the compressor struggled to keep things cold and eventually gave out.

I don't think the built-in steamer is a marketing gimmick, I think its a useful appliance--its just very specialized, and the sizes of some of these things are non-modular, so if something changes, its not easy to adapt the space or replace with the latest (unlike new fridge, cooktop, DW, can be found that will fit the old spot). Think of all the worn out 15" trash compactors that sat there waiting for the 15" secondary fridge or wine cooler to be designed.

When I was looking for these pictures, I came across other highly specialized appliances such as integrated deep fryers and pressure cookers. Specialized appliances of the day, but ones that are no longer used in the same way.

There are blogs devoted to these things. Vey fun to read and look at the pictures. The people who have new complete old kitchens have done a great job on them. I recently saw a new remake of a turquoise ........stove?? I think stove. It was attractive but I don't think I could live with it every day. The new Old Look stoves are perfect if you are doing a restore type remodel. The price will scare you, though. After I read a few of those blogs for a while I knew I wanted a bit more modern stuff in my 129 year old farm house. I'm going with mission or shaker cabinets and farm sink. I did buy some OLD porcelain light fixtures that have to be rewired and I've saved a bazillion ideas from the finished kitchen forum and from pictures posted here. Did it take all of you months and months to solidify your ideas and settle on all the details? I'm almost afraid to ask to have my latest cabinet configuration estimated. Everyone knows my name since I've been "dropping in" to look at cabinets once a month since I've started working on this kitchen. February is fast approaching and I have to have everything decided. It sounds like a long way out but it will be here before I know it.

Our house, MCM built in the mid 70's, had the in wall toaster which had stopped working by the time we moved in in the mid 80's. It also had a NuTone which still worked but after I had used it a couple of times, it broke and we couldn't find any parts to repair it. But since we already had a KA mixer and a blender, we didn't try that hard. The whole cabinet below it was dedicated to space for its motor to hang down and its accessories.

The house also had a Thermador wall double wall oven where the top oven was suppose to also be able to microwave (the original speed oven?). The microwave function didn't work when we moved in but we had it repaired. It only worked a few times and then broke again. On a visit to my sister, I realized she had the same oven - it turns out that the microwave in hers also broke shortly after they got it, they had it repaired and it broke again. So for the next 20 years until we remodeled, we just used it as a regular oven. The timer/clock module on the thing was also replaced a couple of times and broke again shortly before our remodel and self-clean required it to work.

I wonder how the baskets and loading worked on that full height drawer dishwasher. In the picture it looks like it is paneled to match the cabinets - a pretty modern touch too.

Our chest freezer is more than 30 years old. Now that's an appliance with staying power. It isn't self defrosting but being a chest design, it doesn't accumulate frost very quickly (there is less air interchange when a chest freezer is opened). Once a year or so we take the baskets and the food in the bottom out, wrap them in a sleeping bag and pull up a button that turns on heat coils in the walls. The ice lifts out in big chunks so defrosting is pretty fast and easy. Then the food goes back in. Simple, effective and no self-defrost means little or no freezer burn.

Oh my...that fabric decorated fridge is too cool. Knowing my sewing skills (whether it was no sew or not) mine would be a mess I'm sure, either off kilter with the design or not smooth lol. I don't think I would have been a very good 50's housewife I'm afraid.

Great post, very fun seeing the pics and the not so new ideas!

Kat :)

Love the IH fridges. Gosh, I would love to be able to customize a fridge like this.

Of course, there are the Big Chill and Northstar retro fridges, and then Amana now has some color fridges.

We had that built in toaster when I was a kid in the 60's-70's. It tilted out and made some great toast.

I'm finally going to get rid of my 1955 kitchen!

Our in wall toaster didn't tilt out, it was on rails and pulled out. I think there was some kind of interlock to prevent the heating elements functioning when it was pushed into the wall, but I still found the idea of storing heating elements in the wall a bit dicey. If that interlock failed it might cause a fire.

On the other hand, our mid-70's house had a counter height window with a pass through and counter in the back yard which we have found very practical and retained in our new kitchen. The window was a smaller replica of our sliding glass doors with a fixed panel, sliding glass panel and a sliding screen.

The "Groovy Kitchen" thread had something I had never seen before: A cooktop with the upper cabinet height oven, but instead of a lower oven it is a dishwasher. Apparently any standard dishwasher could be fitted in. Called a Cook n' Clean Center. (click to enlarge)

Well, in Europe (and Australia), they have a new version, called the Candy TRIO:
{{!gwi}}

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"We had that built in toaster when I was a kid in the 60's-70's. It tilted out and made some great toast."

I had one of those in my kitchen! might have been by nutone, I don't remember. it was handy - and out of the way.

Love that plaid refrigerator - what a hoot!

The problem with a lot of the items you discussed is that they are essentially fads, and no fad that ever was ever lasted. So, when you wrap a kitchen design around a fad Which is not to say that I don't like and appreciate the different. Quite the contrary, actually.

I am constantly seeking out the new and different for the blog site I run with a fellow woodworkerÂa monster that requires five new blogs a week, rain or shine. I am also constantly looking for ideas for my own remodeling ideas as I have a too-small kitchen and two bathrooms that are also much too small. I would like to do something different then the typical box with a "choice of doors and drawer fronts." But it's a tough sell in a lot of respects, because ours is a tract home, which lets out a lot of the modern European designs I see that really inspire me a lot.

In the end, though, I always come back to what my wife says whenever I get going on some kind of "really neat, really different" design idea. "Stick with the classics," she tells me. "That way you won't grow tired of them."

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabinet & Furniture Trends & Information