Guess the Decade: Compact Kitchen - The Answer

So, let's see. Gold kitchen, check. Ethnic art, check. Fresh veggies, check. All of this added up to a particular decade for the majority of the players yesterday....

(Click here to guess first - then jump below for the answer and another photo)

The decade that got the most votes in our current round of "Guess the Decade" was the 70s...but this time around the majority didn't win.

We found the compact kitchen in a House Beautiful article all about an "Old Kitchen with New Ideas". The kitchen originally appeared in HB in the April 1960 issue.

82 of you voted for the seventies, but the 57 readers who chose the 60s got it right for this round. The 50s was a distant third with only 17 votes and 11 votes went to the 80's. Hardly anyone guessed the 40s, 90s or Now - each of those decades got only a single vote each.

A few interesting comments from yesterday's thread:

early '60s, the ethnic touch moved to the kitchen - plch

I'm guessing 1960s since my kitchen (built in the '60s and never remodeled) is that exact shade. My countertops and backsplash are the same yellow marbled formica as the cabinet fronts. - palindrome

I went with 50's based on the metal cabinetry, but I think many folks made good points about the other items in the room! I was thinking Bohemian artist's 50's New York apt... - LilyC

Regardless of when it's from, I feel sorry for the poor bugger who was forced to cook jammed into that little alcove with those shelves looming so close and just at the right height to konk your head on. - amed studio

....and PLEASE DON'T eat your design books Tania, you were close!

If it's not the 70s, I'm going to eat my entire collection of design books. This soooo reaks of my mother's kitchen. Garlic and onions in wire baskets - check. Wok - check. Brass mortar and pestle - yup. Beans in glass jars - aha. Lots o herbs n spices on display. Yep. Ethnic pots. Yaha. The toaster has that nice 70s square edge to it. The oven and bench look a little 60s to me coz of the curves but the brown feel of the lino is more 70s to me. - TaniaTingel

Thanks to all for playing along!

Photos: House Beautiful

Comments (15)

This looks right out of my parents early 1960 Women's Day Encyclopedia of Cooking series when ethnic cuisines were just starting to catch on with "high design" minded folks in the US. The wok, the tiki/Mexican statue, the Danish Modern type pitchers and the color scheme pretty much allowed me to nail it.

I was torn between the 60s and 70s...should have went with my gut and said 60s.

So close! I voted 50s, but was thinking very late 50s. If we consider that 1960 is technically the last year of the decade, I was right! That makes me feel better, anyway.

It's tricky. Magazine photo shoots tend to be in advance of popular trends. I've noticed that a lot of these Guess the Decades seem earlier than what the trendy items immediately suggest.

Ah, but if it appeared in an April 1960 article, the magazine hit the newstands in March (magazine dates are when they go OFF the newstand, at least in current dating of magazines) and the photography was likely done in 1959 (based on how long it typically takes to go from photography to print!) So those of us who guessed the 50's might be right as well!

Tricky one! I thought it might be from the late '60s, at the latest, in spite of the obvious '50s appliances (like the built-in fridge cabinet - a friend of mine also has one of those, they were incredible).

These folks were way ahead of their time seems to me, by about a decade.

My grandmother had a wall-hung refrigerator just like that! It was pink and barely held anything. GE.

My husband was right!

But hey, I got the magazine right!

I didn't vote, but must admit that if I did, I would have said 70s...

I think that is the first wall-hung refrigerator I've ever seen, at least in a residence and not in a commercial spot. How weird! I thought those were cabinets, not a fridge.

That's a refrigerator? Wow - Now I want one...

Well, if we all get together, maybe we can bring back the fridge; BUT it wouldn't work since it's not ADA compliant, not by a long shot.

Too late. I've eaten my books - which is a shame really, coz I've got some great pick-the-decade pics.

Thanks for the game - it's terrific!

Actually, given my logic that the decade looked like my mother's kitchen in the 70s, I should have deduced that my mother was likely to be 10 years behind the fashion. She's currently into shabby chic...

I voted 50's. I have the exact same fridge in my house that was built in 1955. After I researched the GE wall hanging fridge, I found that it was only made in 55 and 56. So while this photo was posted in the 60's, I think it was probably built in the 50's. but i could be wrong.