examples of "retro" sturdy appliances/housewares

My wife and I live in a 50s house that was owned by a lifelong Army bachelor (read as "preserved in a time capsule") for 35 years. Despite the most recent owners efforts to devalue the home via tasteless 80s redecorating, the house itself has really held onto its charm.

We are slowly bringing it back to a tasteful traditional style, gaining inspiration from pieces of furniture built by my grandfather and pieces of hardware original to the house that we've found tucked away. Although we replaced the late 1970s coil stovetop with a gas top, the original Westinghouse electric oven is still in perfect working condition. There's something sturdy and timeless about some of those appliances, before cheap plastic replaced bakelite and sub-par pot metal replaced real stainless steel or tin.

We're always on the lookout for something that fits into the home and I've been happy with some things we've found (I admit that sometimes ideas are brought on by watching Mad Men). Here are a few -- share yours! I'd like any ideas at all...


Crossley wallphone


KitchenAid toaster


Crosley "Solo" radio -- has a hidden aux input on the back for your ipod/etc


Awesome espresso maker by Kitchen Aid...

Good stuff, man! You may be interested to check out a magazine called Atomic Ranch, which is an excellent resource for those wishing to restore vintage homes to their original aesthetic. They have cool articles on 50's modern ranches and mid-century space-age jet set goodness. I own a late 50's home and have enjoyed making the most of the cool design and sense of style that is sorely lacking in many homes built in the present day.

We have an antique Chambers copper stove in our kitchen. Really sweet piece of equipment.

I have a 50's Hamilton Beach Milkshake maker. My dad got it from the local soda fountain when it was going out of business back in 1960. The owner knew my dad and insisted that he would not take payment for it he then went into the back room and got his backup mixer to give to my dad. It just come back from being factory rebuilt, with new brushes and cord.

Makes awesome malts and shakes and weighs a ton

My toaster - Designed early 50's, still selling well and most of the originals still work!

Gareth

Miles said:

Good stuff, man! You may be interested to check out a magazine called Atomic Ranch, which is an excellent resource for those wishing to restore vintage homes to their original aesthetic. They have cool articles on 50's modern ranches and mid-century space-age jet set goodness. I own a late 50's home and have enjoyed making the most of the cool design and sense of style that is sorely lacking in many homes built in the present day.

Click to expand...

+1. Take your time and learn what actually went in those houses. Also look for vintage appliances. Start going to estate sales in your area if you can.

http://www.antiqueappliances.com/ (good site but you should be able to find a much cheaper stove/refrig locally)

http://www.chicagooldtelephone.com/ (that repro telephone looks too old to me but it could be an early 50s model--get a real one instead.)

the beav said:

http://www.antiqueappliances.com/ (good site but you should be able to find a much cheaper stove/refrig locally)

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That's actually where I got my Chambers I posted earlier - in fact it's the one listed on the site.

I agree with getting a good old stove cheaper locally, esp. if you can get parts, have the know-how, and can do the work it's a cool project - the old stoves are definitely built like tanks.

OTOH, I can say from experience with these guys - they do an awesome job getting them all reconditioned and safe. They put a ton of work into it (I have before shots of how bad it looked) and they laquered the whole surface of copper to prevent corrosion (a step overlooked by Chambers which led to only 1 year of production and a lot of unhappy customers daily polishing their stoves).

There is also a company that does vintage speakers and amplifiers. The name escapes me at the moment...

Its pretty interesting to me how long these "old time" appliances last. Its like they were actually built to last instead of being replaced every 2 years.

My parent's have '50s vintage electric range and refrigerator in the basement. Both work. In fact, we use the 'fridge for storing extra food during the holidays.

Consider real retro items. They're often of better quality than the replicas and not necessarily more expensive than current/retro offerings. For example, the quality of our old razors here.

Items I've collected _and_ use:

- Model 500 telephone. NOS (new old stock). $80.

- Model M keyboard. NOS. This one's so good, it's difficult to use any other. It's loud (clicky), otherwise I'd buy one for work. $50.

Both of these items are incredibly well built. They may outlast our civilization.

- I also have my mother's Magnavox console stereo (just like this one, ain't the Internet grand!) from the 60's (?, need to ask Ma the year). Doubt I'll use the turntable for any my LPs (unless I can put a decent needle on it), but it also has RCA jack inputs for aux input. Use it for MP3/CD input. Sounds great, real wood construction. Beautiful. I can't believe my brother and I didn't destroy it. Priceless (it was my Mom's).

- I do have a replica of a Grundig 960 desktop radio, made by Grundig. High quality attempt which falls short of high quality. I'd bet the original 960 is much better constructed. I've used it for listening to Old/New Time Radio shows (I used to transmit wirelessly to it from my PC before 2001 when MP3 players became ready for prime-time).

Anyway, you get the idea. I own a 1950 house that my wife and I renovated. Love it. And hate that I have renters in it now.

Good luck on your quest.

Steve