Anyone have antique/retro/vintage appliances?

[SproutMamaK]

I'm not talking about the incredibly expensive new appliance that are designed to look like they're from the 50s. I'm talking about actual 1950's appliances. We're redoing our kitchen once our addition is finished, and since we've tried to make the whole rest of our home look vintage/antiqued (it's a century home), I'd love to go with a more vintage style in the kitchen.

 

We're looking at a gas range & oven (which is only partly working right now- we'd need to get it into running order, but the problems seem to be common ones which are addressed online and have parts readily available) and a fridge. I can provide the links if you want them.

 

But I want to know what I'm getting myself into here. Do they break down a lot, or do they generally stay in good repair once they're working well? Does an old oven cook evenly? Does the freezer compartment in an old fridge freeze well (and was it hard to make a switch to the smaller freezer compartment)? Any experiences, good or bad, that you have with vintage appliances - I want to hear them!

[SproutMamaK]

Margaret, how does the size of the interior of the fridge compare to a modern one? And does it seem to keep food as cold?

[Legomom]

We had a 1950s stove -- bought it from the original owners. It worked great and the clock on it still worked. The only reason that we got rid of it was because we remodeled our kitchen. We have had 3 1950s refrigerators. They worked fine but on two of them the handles were broken, so we used a bungee cord to keep them shut. That makes me think that the handles may be a weakness on those -- they are the kind that pull out and down to open the door.

 

The freezer compartment was definitely small, but we have a full size freezer so we just used that for most things. The refrigerators kept everything cold. The inside of the refrigerator was smaller also, so we ended up having 2 at a time. But we still have two refrigerators -- one in the garage. Everyone in my husband's family does.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Karen in Eastern WA
Add more info.

[Nicole M]

I have a 1950 Fridgidaire electric range with lots of awesome chrome. We bought it at a church "garage" sale from the original owners in 1992. (If you happen to be an Emily Dickinson fan, and have toured her and her brother's homes in Amherst, you will have seen the exact same range that I have, in the brother's house next door to Emily's.) I love my range. The oven is very well insulated so I can bake on warmer days and not heat up the house. It also does cook evenly, though in the last year the back right corner of the oven seems a smidgen hotter than the rest of the oven.

 

The one downside is that the burners attach to the body with a prong-thingy that has just been phased out, so we can no longer purchase new burners to replace the old ones. (We've only had one burner go out in all these years.) So I've been keeping my eyes peeled for older ovens on the roadside destined for the dump, to harvest parts. ;)

 

I would love a vintage fridge.

[SproutMamaK]

Does the interior of the fridge seem moderately smaller, or HUGELY smaller? We can spare SOME space, but I'm not sure we could cut our fridge storage in half, ya know?

[joannqn]

I have a 1957 electric stove/oven and the original booklet that came with it.

 

We have a few broken things on ours that could be fixed but I'd rather replace it. I hate it...

 

Of the four burners, one is a special one designed to come to temperature very quickly. That it does; however, it only works on super hot. Works great for boiling water or quickly reheating frozen veggies, though. Still it would be nice to have more than three normal burners.

 

Our oven is only 16 inches square. It makes it baking difficult at times, especially Thanksgiving. I have to be careful what cookie sheets I buy and many won't fit. I cannot buy Costco's 18 inch take and back pizzas. LOL

 

The oven has a thermostat thingy inside that is broken. It works but it is suppose to be attached to the wall of the oven. I don't know how hard it would be to find the part and repair it because I haven't looked into it. For now, I try to make sure I don't put my rolls in the wrong place or they grow around the thermostat, causing the oven not to be accurate, causing everything to burn. It used to have a built in meat thermometer.

 

We had to replace the heating coil once. Fortunately, we have a local appliance shop that deals with old appliances and they were able to find a new part for about $50.

 

Other than that, it works fine, heats evenly, etc. I have two huge storage drawers that hold all of my pots and pans, even the stockpot. The storage is nice.

[SproutMamaK]

Ours would be gas burners, so I'm not sure if that's MORE of a concern, or LESS. I think less can go wrong with gas, but it's more expensive when it does, maybe? Hm. Either way, hubby will only consider gas ranges.

 

JoAnn, this is the oven we're looking at. Does it seem to be about the same size (oven comparment wise) as yours? I'm addicted to my Pampered Chef cookie sheet and would hate to give it up.

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-home-appliances-Antique-Original-Roper-Gas-Stove-W0QQAdIdZ212442384

[joannqn]

It does look like a similar sized stove and oven. The oven looks similar in size but it is hard to tell in a photo.

 

I'd ask for the oven dimensions and then measure your cookie sheet. I use my 16 inch round in my oven. It just barely fits. I can't imagine using a square stone though because there would be absolutely no space left for air flow where the round leaves the corners open still.

[Spy Car]

Old stoves can be really great. I had one from the 1920s for a very long time, and it was terrific.

 

But old fridges are a pain as far as I'm concerned. Beyond the impracticalities (frost, small size, excessive noise) the old fridges are very inefficient and consume (to my mind) an unconscionable amount of power.

 

The new ones are very energy efficient, space efficient, and keep food fresher.

 

I love the "look" of old appliances as much as anyone, but for me there are too many down-sides to an old fridge. Sorry to say.

 

Bill

[ShutterBug]

No appliances :( But I do have a nice collection of vintage pyrex with all sorts of fun designs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. They add a nice vintage touch :) .

[Nicole M]

Old stoves can be really great. I had one from the 1920s for a very long time, and it was terrific.

 

But old fridges are a pain as far as I'm concerned. Beyond the impracticalities (frost, small size, excessive noise) the old fridges are very inefficient and consume (to my mind) an unconscionable amount of power.

 

The new ones are very energy efficient, space efficient, and keep food fresher.

 

I love the "look" of old appliances as much as anyone, but for me there are too many down-sides to an old fridge. Sorry to say.

 

Bill

 

Yes, I agree. I would love one of these energy star babies, to match with my range.

 

http://bigchillfridge.com/site/fridges

 

But they're a little bit outside my price range. :sad:

[SproutMamaK]

Thanks guys! I think I've found an acceptable alternative to a vintage fridge... I love the look, but don't think I could deal with the loss of space (and the environmental guilt). After wasting my time reading some forums this afternoon, I'm going to keep my eyes upon for a particular type of modern fridge that can be redone to give it a slightly (slightly - not like those other fridges you posted a link to, Bill, but not a big white box, either ;) ) more vintage look. Problem is, this particular fridge generally comes in stainless steel, and I need to find a white one. You know, so I can paint it bright red. ;)

Edited July 2, 2010 by SproutMamaK

[Spy Car]

Thanks guys! I think I've found an acceptable alternative to a vintage fridge... I love the look, but don't think I could deal with the loss of space (and the environmental guilt). After wasting my time reading some forums this afternoon, I'm going to keep my eyes upon for a particular type of modern fridge that can be redone to give it a slightly (slightly - not like those other fridges you posted a link to, Bill, but not a big white box, either ;) ) more vintage look. Problem is, this particular fridge generally comes in stainless steel, and I need to find a white one. You know, so I can paint it bright red. ;)

 

That was Nicole's link. But I know there is an Italian brand called SMEG (OK, not the most fortunate name) that is very popular in Europe and is now available in the States, and they have a very retro-cool look.

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=smeg+refrigerator&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9973592438176504034&ei=g58uTP_PM9aLnAfK9_mOBA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers

 

Bill

[Nicole M]

That was Nicole's link. But I know there is an Italian brand called SMEG (OK, not the most fortunate name) that is very popular in Europe and is now available in the States, and they have a very retro-cool look.

 

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&q=smeg+refrigerator&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9973592438176504034&ei=g58uTP_PM9aLnAfK9_mOBA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDMQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers

 

Bill

 

Want!

 

:willy_nilly:

[Paintedlady]

We had an old 50's stove for a couple years when we first moved into our house but ended up getting rid of it b/c the sides were not insulated and we had a new cruising baby (my now 10 yr old) who would try to pull up on it and burn her hands. We remodeled when she was about a year old and got a modern one.

 

If it hadn't been for the safety issue, I would've loved to keep it. It was a side by side double oven, it worked great, and it looked cool. The only other thing that was sometimes a problem was that the two ovens were not the same size as a standard oven, so while you had more space for cooking/baking, you had to do so in smaller pans.

[Spy Car]

Want!

 

:willy_nilly:

 

A link to the SMEG USA website.

 

http://www.smegusa.com/Catalogue/Fridges.aspx

 

They have some crazy colors.

 

Bill

[Melissa in Australia]

I have a great Lister cream separator bolted to the bench, and we use it. I also have a wooden butter churn. do they count as appliances.

[SproutMamaK]

I've seen those around online, but don't think they're in Canada yet. :( Regardless, we found a black version of the fridge I'm looking for to remod on kijiji. It's only $550... but the problem is, I don't need it yet, the reno probably a good year away. But now I WANT it! Like, right now! ;) I'm not the most patient of beasts.

[radiobrain]

I have a 1929/30 Chambers stove. I love it. The only thing is that we light it with matches. When the gas man came to re-hook up everything, he said this thing would eat gas, so we should have the pilots disengaged, and light them manually. We did. I have been using matches to light the stove/burners for 12 years now. Matches are cheap. There are plenty of vintage/ antique stove sites.

[ktwensel]

I had an old gas stove from the thirties in our kitchen at one time. It was a wonderful conversation piece and I loved it. The temperature for the oven read, WARM, VERY WARM, HOT, VERY HOT. I had to use an oven thermometer to figure that out. It accomodated a Thanksgiving turkey just fine. I think it would have lasted forever but I had to leave it behind when I moved. :(

[The Girls' Mom]

We used to have an old oven, probably around 1950 model. I LOVED it. We only got rid of it because we didn't have the space for it any more (it was in an attached apartment we converted to a work shop) I ALWAYS made our thanksgiving turkeys and slow roasted ribs in it. It was awesome.

 

That said...we had an old fridge when we first got married. It was a huge pain that never kept anything cold enough and grew enough frost in a couple of weeks to fill up the freezer compartment. (It certainly looked cool though...lol)

[Nicole M]

A link to the SMEG USA website.

 

http://www.smegusa.com/Catalogue/Fridges.aspx

 

They have some crazy colors.

 

Bill

 

Thank you for this link. My oldest is off to college in the fall, and my younger boy has four years left, so the time for downsizing the refrigerator is not all that far off. I detest our enormous fridge, and will not be sorry to say goodbye to it. This SMEG looks like a strong contender. I'd looked at some European models that are super environmentally friendly, but they are (were?) truly hideous. If I'm going to dish out the big bucks, I want something both environmentally friendly and lovely. Is that too much to ask for?

[Garga]

I can put an entire 1000 pound steer in that freezer.

 

:tongue_smilie: Picturing Margaret in CO stuffing a mooing, rolling-eyed steer into her freezer.