Vintage kitchen appliances aren’t just cool to look at, easy to use, and have a long lifespan. They also heralded the end of one of the country’s darkest periods and the start of a financial boon for the nation and its growing population.

When World War II ended in 1945, so did the moratorium on certain industries and companies which had to refocus all their resources on the efforts to defeat the Axis powers abroad. Post-1945, these companies stopped manufacturing war materials and resumed producing their peacetime consumer goods.

Not so coincidentally, as soldiers returned home from the war and began families in the ever-growing suburbs, innovations in everything from entertainment to technology to everyday goods surged. The Baby Boomer era had begun, and with it came appliances that could not only accommodate growing families – they could also make easier the lives of everyday Americans.

Nowhere was that more apparent than in the kitchen.

“The Boomers were raised in 1950s kitchens that seem basic by today’s standards,” writes blogger Scott McBride of Fine Homebuilding, who was born in 1955, “but to their parents, who lived through the Great Depres-sion, they were heaven. … Whereas our parents’ generation is lauded for its self-denial, we boomers are known for our prodigious consumption; our endless clamoring for a succession of must-have toys from hula hoops to latte-makers.”

Sure, they were functional and made life easier for the average homemaker, but at the dawn of the Baby Boomer era, the newest, shiniest appliances also stood as a status symbol of sorts.

Refrigerators

By the end of World War II, nearly 90% of American households owned a refrigerator; General Electric, then as today, was the giant in an industry adding new manufacturers to the production landscape each year. In 1950, GE chose Louisville, KY, as its home base for its major appliance division. Within five years of that move, the company released its kitchen appliances in “Mix-Or-Match Colors” – that’s Petal Pink, Canary Yellow, Cadet Blue, Turquoise Green, Woodtone Brown, and, of course, classic white. By the end of the decade, the company had designed three refrigerators with wood paneling, which “played well with consumers’ taste for warm, inviting kitchens,” according to the GE Appliances website (geappliancesco.com). Besides their look, these refrigerators were built larger, with higher-quality materials; features such as automatic defrost and icemakers. Higher-end brands like Frigidaire retailed for a little less than $500 (and that’s before the cost of labor is factored in). Truly, these were luxury items (and built to last as well)!

To give you an idea of how far the refrigerator had come – Whirlpool reports that they first began to enjoy widespread popularity in the mid-1920s (before that, you used your good, old, sturdy icebox – cabinet-type structures that held large blocks of ice used to keep foods cool).

Ovens and stoves

If the kitchen is the heart of a home, then the stove (nowadays, the stove-and-oven combo, called a range) is one its most critical features. It’s where memories are made and traditions upheld, whether baking cookies with a loved one or warming up a hearty soup or stew on a chilly winter evening.
Early ranges burned wood or coal, with gas stoves not coming onto the scene until the 1920s. The electric oven followed soonafter, in the 1930s.

If you, like me, have ever wondered what the bottom drawer on your oven is for, it can be used for broiling or warming – and, obviously, it can be used simply as storage for your collection of metal baking sheets.

Like refrigerators of the same era, vintage ranges usually cost a few hundred (or several thousand today, when adjusted for inflation). Special features on some included a rotisserie cooker, a “grillevator” that lowered food close to flames for indoor barbecuing, and built-in salt-and-pepper shakers.

“Vintage stove brands have played an important role in the history of home cooking,” according to the blog on the website of New York-based Belgrove Appliance, which restores vintage stoves. “They have not only provided a means to prepare meals but also served as beautiful focal points in our kitchens. They are not only functional kitchen appliances but also beautiful pieces of history.”

Toasters

General Electric toasters hit the market in 1909; the earliest models toasted bread on only one side. Eventually, the Electric Stove Co. would release a toaster with an automatic bread turner. The first automatic pop-up toaster found its way to shelves as the Roaring ‘20s began. These newer models cooked bread on both sides, with the heating element set on a timer and eject the toast when the timer expires.

By the 1940s, Sunbeam Products dominated the toaster industry; toasters used the thermal expansion of the resistance wire in the center element to lower the bread. When done, a sensor “shuts the heaters off and the pull-down mechanism returns to its room-temperature position, slowly raising the finished toast.”