Wayne Boatwright wrote:

> On Sun 06 Jul 2008 12:30:28p, Gregory Morrow told us...
>
> >
> > Michael "Dog3" wrote:
> >
> >> Wayne Boatwright >
> >> 6.120: in
> >> rec.food.cooking
> >>
> >> > Nor me. I have black appliances. SS seems cold and industrial, not
> to
> >> > mention a bitch to keep in pristine condition.
> >>
> >> A lot of people like SS appliances. I don't think it's for us either.
> We
> >> chose white.
> >
> >
> > If it was 50 years ago you could have chosen pink, darling...and IIRC
> > Kelvinator even made *two - tone* fridges, following the two - tone
> > automobile fad 'o the day...
> >
> > ;-)
>
> They did, indeed. And GE offered not only pink, but yellow, turquoise,
and
> cocoa. GE also coordinated their appliances with Youngstown cabinets for
> matching colors, and with Kohler for matching sink colors.
>
> My first apartment was outfitted in GE turquoise appliances...fridge,
> cooktop, built-in oven, turquoise Youngstown cabinets, and Kohler
turquoise
> sink. Not too terrible, until you realized that the builder had combined
> all of this with pink Formica patterned countertops and a brown linoleum
> floor. The apartment complex had been built in the late 1950s.
>


Yup, my grandma had c. 1960 pink Fridgidaire appliances...

There is a great book you'd enjoy called _Populuxe_ by Thomas Hine,
(published in 1987 it's now OP but there are plenty of used copies on the
various book sites), that celebrates that 1955 - 64 era when US consumer
goods were jazzed up to be "luxurious" and "space age", incorporating the
new technologies of the time. There's an ad from Kelvinator c. 1956 that
shows all the two - tone combos for fridges. Some are pretty nauseating,
e.g. black and yellow, who wants a giant bumblebee in their kitchen? But
there is a charcoal gray - pink model that is pretty groovy (there was a
pink fad and a pink - and - gray fad in the mid - 50's. Remember the "Think
Pink" number from the fabulous 1957 Audrey Hepburn - Fred Astaire musical
_Funny Face_?)...

I could dig pink - and - charcoal appliances, but I'd have to have them in a
separate kitchen...they'd quickly get tiring on the eye.

The matching cabinet thing was a big deal, and also with the top section of
some fridges you could apply your own fabric or other materials to match
your decor...on ad shows a gal applying fabric to her fridge door that
matches her *dress* fabric, I guess there was a plastic thingy over the door
or something to cover the fabric.

They would have put tail fins on some of these appliances if they could
have, in fact I've noticed in some old vacuum cleaner ads from that era that
there *are* little tail fins on some of the models...

I love the appliance ads from that era, Frigidaire especially had these
great and elaborate two - page spreads in _Life_, etc. that featured
glamorous people in plush dream kitchens. They seemingly put as much effort
into introducing their new appliances in the autumn as they did to promoting
their NEW! GM car models...

[BTW, the second season of _Mad Men_ starts later this month...]

Fridgidaire introduced the straight - edged "Sheer Look" in appliances in
late '57, that basic look has stayed with us, 'though the colors have
changed over the years.

50's "planned obsolescence", ya gotta love it...

;-)

===>> we had a PINK '56 Buick Roadmaster 4 - door hardtop when I was a
kid...


--
Best
Greg