Colors of the 60's/70's

[Trip]

The other day I was watching a show on HGTV, and they showed this stove, which pulled out like a drawer....When we were looking at homes years ago, and one of the houses had this feature, in pink. Very Jetson like

Today on Oprah, her set was designed like the 60's...,and they showed a stove in harvest gold..they also had a Kenmore washer, that was also a dryer, in copper....never heard of that, but......

This leads me to my question, "IF" you are of a certain age....what color was your kitchen? I had pink, copper, and harvest gold....my gf had turquoise, I never suffered the avacado, but have seen yellow too....

Ahhhh.....the olden days

[Mike M]

Trip,

The only kitchen I've had that was the "retro" colors was my first apartment and the appliances were Copper. Looked brown to me.

Growing up we had white, avocado green and harvest gold. I hate white appliances and the harvest gold didn't show fingerprints as bad as the darn stainless steel stuff. I'm constantly cleaning the stove and refrigerator with stainless steel cleaner because the finish is nothing like commercial appliances.

Take care,
Mike

[Manuel]

We were kind of conservative so we allways had white appliances.

TM

[Delft]

We always had an almond color and then one year my mother got the new "copper color", which I agre with Mike M, looked brown to me. I hate it and any other colour for a fridge. I HATE stainless , it is cold and unfriendly in MY eyes, I realize many like it, I also really hate wipping finger prints. I have all white, and would stick with all white.

[Sid1962]

Our first stove and fridge were the copper color. TI think it was called some two word name, which I can't recall. Then we also had the yellow....and almond. Now in the condo, everything is white...what goes round comes round, although Mrs S has cast a glance or 2 at the stainless finishes that don't show fingerprints.

We had some friends (whom we have lost track of over the yeras) who had a red set of appliance. This was in the '70's.

Hey, as long as they cook and cool correctly, they can be any color....well, almost any color.

[Sid1962]

It was called Coppertone....

[ToddDH]

I'm of the age where when I was young, everything was still white enamel.

We rented and so had whatever was in the various apartments which if I remember correctly was either Harvest Gold or Avocado (which I have always referred to as (pardon the brutal honesty as well as apologies those who like the color) "puke green").

Todd

[beenie weenie]

My appliances are white, my walls are white... it's all white . Not too exciting but it looks clean and coordinated. I have at one time or another in the past bought or have inherited appliances of all the previously mentioned colors. I once viewed an apartment I was considering renting and you could tell it still had all of the original appliances from the 50's or 60's (a testament to how appliances used to be constructed) because they were all a lovely shade of aqua or turquoise blue.

As a child I grew up in an old farm house and we had an old Chamber's Stove that looked like this:
Fortunately ours was yellow .

[Captain Tennille]

All black appliances here.
Soon we plan to install black granite (or some other similar substance, like corian) countertops to match. Our kitchen floor is already granite.

[BetWes]

We always went with white. If one broke down we could always find white replacement. Like the new refrigerator doors that don't show fingerprints. Cleaned houses for a while and I hated polishing stainless (ha!) steel appliances.

[Cruwysie]

We always had white appliances growing up, but when my husband and I got married and bought our first house, we bought a harvest gold fridge for less than the equivalent white one would have been. Of course, a harvest gold stove followed! As someone has already mentioned, they don't make them like that anymore, because we just traded in the fridge and stove for new, white ones last year . The fridge was 30 years old and the stove was still going strong after 28 years.

[nlb1050]

We had harvest gold when we lived in MS and since then white.

Beannie, love that old stove. It probably would still work today if you still had it.

[beenie weenie]

Originally Posted by nlb1050

We had harvest gold when we lived in MS and since then white.

Beannie, love that old stove. It probably would still work today if you still had it.

Yes I tell ya, I would love to have that stove today (sans color lol) they were pretty much bullet proof, and made of industrial quality materials. You sure don't find that in today's appliances.

I am sure that my parents wish they had hung on to the stove as they routinely sell as antiques these days for around $4,000

[BetWes]

Our first appliances lasted a good many years, but their replacements don't seem to stand up as well. Sign of the times!

[VegasCrossfire]

I had an avocado refrigerator that we just recently got rid of (after 35 years). It was in the garage for the last 15 years of it's life - but it kept on tickin' even in the hot Las Vegas summers!!

BTW....I felt the same way about stainless steel, but ended up buying one because my husband really wanted stainless. We have discovered "Sheila Shine" to keep it free of fingerprints. So for those of you who hate the stainless because of that, you might want to give it a try.

[Mike M]

WD-40 works great to clean stainless steel refrigerators. It really does but it does have a smell that lasts for a couple of hours.

I use the 3M commercial stainless steel cleaner. It works great at "removing" fingerprints and water stains, from the ice/water unit, but it doesn't "prevent" them.

I have a 20 year old "almond" stove that I love but now that we're re-doing the kitchen I will say goodbye and go for a new one.

Take care,
Mike

[ToddDH]

They certainly don't make major appliances to last as they used to do. Ever wonder why fridges from the forties and fifties can still be found (we have a friend who bought their fridge in '52 and it's still running as brand new)? It's the size of the compressor.

The average life of a fridge today is I think 8-12 years. A refrigerator repairman told me years ago that this is a result of putting in smaller compressors to save energy. But the smaller compressors have to work harder, hence they wear out much faster. When the compressors go, it's often not worth repairing as opposed to getting a new one.

Of course there's always "planned obsolescence," isn't there?

Todd

[Angela Z.]

Oh my gosh....what a great thread.....our kitchen is a combination of old and new....the appliances are black but the wallpaper is the original 1971 yellow, orange and green flowers! It's a really hard room to have a hangover in but it's really grown on me over the years and I'm not as anxious as I once was to redo it. I guess these colors are "in" again since I saw all kinds of kitchen accessories in these colors at pottery barn or one of those stores.
Angela Z.

[TwiceAroundTheBlock]

My late parent's house which was built in the late 50's, had all light yellow appliances (could be one reason why it's been on the market for over a year too....lol).

Our first home had avocado or harvest gold back in the late 60's.
Now I've got all almond appliances which is a good thing for as much as I like colorful cookware!

[cuzzx]

My dad was the Frigidare Dealer in our home town.
This was back in the 70's.
All these colors have brought many memeries.
But in our home it was always white, with white cabinets , green countertops and tan floors. Go figure?

Thanks for the past.

[Chuck Palm]

I must admit my first brand new house had harvest gold appliances and varigated earthtone orange/gold/brown carpet with a brown sofa and love seat. O.M.G.

Now we have stainless steel appliances and a real hand pounded copper sink I brought back from Mexico. When we brought it back the man at U.S. customs asked: "What's in the huge box?" We both replied: "The kitchen sink!" We all laughed as he said "I believe you! Now get out of here!"

Now I'm wondering just what will come in style to make our semi-beloved stainless steel appliances look out of style ... or maybe it's time to move.

lol

[ToddDH]

Chuck,

By the time stainless goes out of style, we'll all be in the ground.

Todd

[Cruznut2]

I live in an apartment so I have to live with almond, cook top and refrigerator. The oven is black. In the past I had the harvest gold for both the stove and refrigerator.
My uncle who is 92 lives in RI and has a white refrigerator he bought in the 60's. It rusted and he painted it over again. I remember him choosing it because it has the freezer on the bottom. That always made more sense to me because to get into the refrigerator part he does not have to bend over. Everything is at eye level.

Laura

[Aerogirl]

Growing up I remember a brown stove and a gold fridge! I'll stick with white!