Old appliances get the Botox treatment. Vintage American design is great for its lines and its audacious color. Big Chill Refrigerators bring back both along with a brand new machine under the hood.
Mentioned today by Alec over at ATLA:
"Interestingly, we had a funny "He said, she said" last night with a couple of friends where we discovered that the ladies tend to like the sleek style of stainless in the kitchen and it was the men that thought retro was the way."
This Boulder, Colorado family run company was started in 2001 and now offers a full line of colors and options starting at $2,200. As they say on their website, "Our refrigerator is like a stylish �57 Chevy Bel Air (only the fins are missing)."
AT Readers vote and comment below:
(RePublished from 2005-09-13 - MGR)
I have one of the originals and I LOVE it. The size isnt all that great, but the look is just my style.
Take a look..
http://us.f3.yahoofs.com/users/41b43fafzd3c44e15/9e7e/__sr_/203b.jpg?phGwwJDBEfu6iLKS
I don't know that many women who love stainless steel once they realize how crappy it looks with fingerprints. Especially if those women are moms!
That retro fridge reminds me of the Great Canadian Basement Beer Fridge. ;)
Sorry, that must have been a temp URL.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/coulscott/detail?.dir=9e7e&.dnm=203b.jpg&.src=ph
Maybe it's because the retro fridge brings back a haunting "vacuum in heels and pearls while the meatloaf cooks" mentality. Whereas, the new ones have a modern, cool tech-gadget feel.
That old finger prints on the SS fridge chestnut again. Just like the old granite needs to be resealed every 6 months thing. I've already posted about my experiences with granite so I won't do that again and I'm pretty sure I've posted about SS and lack of fingerprints but I am going to post about that again.
As most of you know we had a subzero ss 650 and currently, in our rental, have a fridgidaire ss fridge. I have never seen fingerprints on either. Maybe some smudges where our kids have decided to paw them but nothing that I could classify as a unique problem to ss. In fact it's much easier to clean and it keeps its clean look far longer between cleans. Maybe it's the ss cleaner we use. Maybe ppl who have had fingerprint problems don't use a ss cleaner. Maybe (to coin a British phrase and apologies in advance to Laura) I'm just talking out of my arse - but I doubt it.
BTW, the ironic thing is our new place has a subzero 650 again but it is has white lacquer panels to match the cabinets. I know, the horror of white, but you all know that's my color.
Method has a pretty good stainless steel cleaning product (available at Target).
jamie pup... Your current place is a rental? The place with the gorgeous bathroom reno??? (I must be confused here.)
I didn't know there was a special cleaner, though I'm not fond of owning (or paying for, ugh) different cleaning products for all the things in my world. My whole apartment routine boils down to Windex, bleach, and a Swiffer Wet Jet, I'm afraid, but it works for me!
Then again, I don't have a problem with my boring white fridge and stove. After years in el crappo apartments, enduring everything from avocado stoves to peach bathroom fixtures, I'll take the boring white!
Oh, make that Windex, bleach, a Swiffer Wet Jet, and an ostrich feather duster. :)
Hey Enrique
Thanks for the compliment. I love what you have done to your place too.
The bathroom reno was done only a couple of months before we decided to sell to buy a bigger place. We had not planned to do this hence the work done but I like to think that it helped sell the place. It also helped the tax situation.
We bought into a new construction so we had to rent for a year while it was being built. I posted pics of our rental kitchen during the kitchen competition because of all the cold comments we were seeing and I was genuinely confused as to what ppl were using to determine whether a place was cold or not. My very simplistic conclusion was that ppl generally like color (no matter how gaudy - no offense to anyone) and liken white to coldness.
We move in a month into our new place and it will remain mostly white including the kitchen.
Dorianne. My rant was really aimed at common misconceptions based on what other ppl say rather based on personal experience. I think the whole fingerprint thing on ss is one of those misconceptions. Ppl hear that this is a problem and just repeat it to the next person who does the same thing.
BTW, I also like these old skool fridges and would buy one if I had a different type of kitchen. I actually thought Scott's fridge was in his bedroom at first and that would be a great place for this style.
jamie pup, my bedroom? What kind of style is that? LOL!
heheh. I meant that style of fridge would work in a bedroom in some odd way. I love the sleek ss fridges in modern Euro style kitchens (Bulthaup, Boffi, Varenna etc) but I also love these old style fridges so, when I saw your pic, I thought the dresser was a head board and the dining table the bed and I thought that looks great in your bedroom.
Hee hee. I do have one of these old tubby fridges in my bedroom. I adored it, and refused to toss it when I got a new, more efficient fridge, even though my father thought I was a moron for doing so. I nearly herniated myself moving it into my bedroom one day, and then was giddy with delight when my tv and dvd player fit right inside it! I situated it opposite my bed and decided it was the coolest tv cabinet ever. Ever. My friends agreed. I have a teeny tiny apartment myself, and really couldn't justify keeping the big pig of a fridge unless it had a dual purpose, so I'm glad it worked out with my tv idea. Plus, all the old-school stickers and such from the 1960's just couldn't be lost forever. I lurve it.