Reliability issues and uniqueness.

The freezers were problematic, because they had trouble staying cold in a hot kitchen, the hottest part was up near the ceiling. (I had the same problem with a regular top freezer when my kitchen was on the upper level of a loft unit with 14 foot ceilings.)

I knew two people who had these when I was growing up. One family used the fridge portion but they had a refrigerator and freezer in the basement because the freezer never stayed cold enough. When they finally gave up on it, they put in a 27" Subzero in the only spot they had available without having to remodel the whole kitchen.

The other family had given up on it and used it like upper cabinets. They had a random refrigerator somewhere, but it was not in the kitchen. The problem is that only GE made these, (Revco made something similar but they were not meant to be mounted up so high), and if you had to replace them, you had to have someplace for a conventional fridge. (And neither of the kitchens above did, they had been designed around an upper built in fridge).

That's interesting - I've never seen anything like that. They remind me of the cabinets in the little kitchen area of a plane. And those wall hung units were installed before the invention of auto defrost. I can just imagine trying to remove the built up ice from one.

I find this kitchen so extremely warm and charming. Dated, yes, but also creative and a place I'd want to hang out.

Never saw those before, but my DH grew up in a house with these: Electric burners

I don’t remember those. What a strange idea. I can see why they were never too popular.

Learned about those refrigerators years ago and think it's a very cool idea (pun intended). There was a house nearby that had a non-operating one, along w/ the matching stovetop and oven in pastel enamel - I think it was yellow, but they came in turquoise, white & pink too - hubby and I saw it @ an estate sale before the home was sold and remodeled. Our 1957 house had a matching GE enamelled yellow cooktop (replaced in the 60s) & wall oven (finally replaced about 6 years ago), but not a wall fridge.

It's interesting to learn about the drawbacks. We wondered why the fridge was not being used.

They also came in a medium brown which blended nicely with stained cabinets.

I love the kitchen stuff GE was doing in the 50s & 60s. I wish there was more of that joy-of-the-future vibe in design today.

I wonder if they were expensive to install. The house I grew up in was built in the early 50s (whole area was built up post WW2) and none of the homes had these wall refrigerators. These were fairly small houses too (1,500 sq ft or so) so maybe these were meant for the "wealthy".

I love the lady sitting at the desk. I always wear my pearls when I'm creating my shopping list.

They sure don't make those things like they used to. Our old GE wall oven kept perfect temperatures for well over 50 years. When it finally stopped working, the only reason we couldn't get it fixed was because the serial number was on a metal plate that had corroded, so it was hopelessly illegible.

The two houses I saw them in would be small by today's standards. But the one father was an attorney who married at 40 so I would say they were relatively well-to-do. But they were GE, nothing like SubZero.

My parents' GW wall ovens at 45: They worked well but the thermostat was a little off.

My Dad owned and operated two furniture and appliance stores in adjacent small towns in the south. He opened them in the early 50’s iirc and stayed in business until he retired and sold it to another family. He sold GE appliances and I can recall many of the old style stoves and dishwashers especially. Nothing fancy, as most of his customers were just average, middle America clientele.

Our kitchen didn’t have a dishwasher, and I can recall a funny story when my Dad brought a GE rep to the house. He somehow made a pic of my mother washing dishes in her usual house dress. I guess it shamed my Dad into getting a dishwasher. Sort of a cobbler’s kids having no shoes thing. They were still relatively new at the time, and weren’t always built-in. Our first one was the type you rolled over to the sink and hooked up to the faucet. I wish I still had that photo. My mother was grinning from ear to ear.

I was born in '51 and remember having these in two consecutive homes that we lived in during the 50's. We loved them. I live in a very small home now and would LOVE to have them here. They are terrific! I certainly wouldn't mind having a spare small freezer or fridge in the basement or pantry if neccessary.

My Grandparents had one in Wyandotte Michigan. It served them well, and another 30 years with my father and I. We never had any trouble either. My grandmother was a clean-freak, you couldn't find dust if you tried. Her wall washers said "this is the cleanest dirty house we ever serviced" They washed Grandmas walls twice each year. I think it was the dust free environment that kept it in such good working order. They also had the electric "drop-down" counter-top stove. Their kitchen was designed and built by Sears Roebuck and Company; I still have their proof sketches.