I LOVE the little filling cabinet drawers on the island in the first picture!!!

Now, I know where my Grandma got the idea to cut up wall paper and put it on her cabinets. :). She was always decorating and creating!

Thanks Lavendar_lass for posting this and the link to that interesting article. What fun to note the big patterned wall paper in the dining room and the first studio apartment. I remember that from the old farmhouse parlor and also my city grandmother's curtains--dark and bold.

I love those pictures--such nostalgia. The home-canned goods in the first pic are color coordinated and used more as accessories--I wonder if the stuff that didn't match the kitchen was kept 'down cellar'? My grandmother kept all her canned goods in the cellar, and because she was always afraid of finding a snake there, she liked to have company when making the trip. Thank you, LL. :)

ETA, Russ, nostalgia is fine--join the crowd.

That website is always fun to look at, isn't it? MG, I didn't notice the color-coordinated canned goods. Too funny. I love all the color although, overall, they're a bit too busy for me, I wish more people these days had more fun with color.

Did you notice that all of the ceilings have something going on? Either painted a bold color or coiffered!

Now that is a colorful kitchen!

Goose - I build decks onto each house I make.. they are like extensions of my kitchen. The current one (which will be the 'last house we owned' in 4 days ) has an old cast iron stove on it.. on those cold nights, it sure does break the heat and I love setting an old camp fire coffee pot on it. The next house will have a nice firepit.. heh

Russ

Russ, that looks like a wonderful space to relax--and I have the perfect vintage coffee pot for the stove:

Lol! that is bigger than mine! I'll get the water.. heh

R

Well, you're in Texas, lol. I had to figure out how to resize--the thing looked like a water tower!

I'm so glad you all enjoyed the link! I have so much fun with vintage style. The floors are so creative...and I like the painting on the cabinets, too.

Maybe more going on than we see in kitchens today, but I admire the creativity. And how unique it makes each space. No two are alike...that's for sure :)

Russ- What a wonderful porch! I can just imagine you and MamaGoose with your coffee!

I also like that what means the most to us, doesn't have to be in style...just so it brings back fond memories of our favorite kitchens.

Each house I have owned had it's own unique deck. The house before last was a 600sq ft deck with a jacuzzi!.. I miss that bugger.

The next house will have two floating roof lines that interconnect, so to speak, with actual cedar trunks as posts and will extend 20ft from the house.. farthest I have done yet. Will be a pretty fun project.. but that is for next year ;)

Russ

One of my neighbors discovered these original to the kitchen steel cabinets in her basement. They are teal colored (I don't know if the handles are original). Our houses were built in 1941-1950, prefabricated and shipped to the area by rail from the factory. There are several different models ranging from my 2 story "colonial" to small ranches and cape cods. I can't visualize these in my kitchen, so think they must have been in one of the other models.

The rest of them:

Here's the only original kitchen cabinet to this house that is usable. The rest were put in the workshop when the "new" kitchen was done in 1971. Unfortunately, they are too far gone to rescue and re-use in my kitchen remodel. Dang it anyway.

I'm using it for my beverage/snack station. I should take pictures of the inside. There are three shelves but they are all pull-outs. You can also see the handle for the huge breadboard that pulls out above the drawer. The floor is the original linoleum floor from 1949 with the red inset a few inches from the edge. The counter-top for this cabinet is the same linoleum that is on the floor. The same linoleum is in the kitchen.

To the right are floor-to-ceiling original built-in pantry cabinets. After the laundry is remodeled a bit, the ugly under-cabinet height mini-fridge will be moving under a new cabinet on another wall and replaced with a stainless one (or painted with stainless paint). The microwave will move to a shelf elsewhere. I'll probably fine an open shelf or cart for potatoes and such for that space. The antique cabinet to the far left holds some recycling containers and additional pantry storage. That's probably also staying.

raee, at the RetroRenovation site, people are often looking for steel cabinets and some of them will gladly travel a long way to transport them home. If you or your friend aren't going to use them, there is definitely a market for them.

I like the first kitchen, in other two I think I would have been constantly tripping over chairs and bumping into things. What IS that pyramid thing next to the stove in the second picture anyway?

Contrary to RetroRenovations copy, I bet that new linoleum would have been hard to get because they would have needed to divert the raw materials and factories for war production, and the remaining factories would have been making plain lino for military uses.

Since not much of anything new could be bought during the war, I'm betting that almost all 1940's kitchens were built in either 1940-41 or 1946-49.