50's Refrigerators

Ok, these are terribly expensive but worth looking at, and if you have the money buy one.

http://www.elmirastoveworks.com

Click on the logo in the center to see the refrigerators. In wonderful colors. I want the aqua or the pink! Or red!

Makes me weep every time I think of Swanky and I finding a pink refrigerator at the local Salvation Army down the street - completely 50's and in incredible condition for a mere $150 bucks. We passed it up!

I hear ya, they sure don't make them like they use to. I had a studio once that had a pink gas stove. LOVED IT!

Aren't these the coolest, in my bohemian days I lived in a cabin made from the floor boards of Mary Pickfords house "Pickfair" that were taken from her home after she remodeled. Lets just say it was loaded with personality! Besides living with the Lizards and Scorpions, it had the coolest pink fridge and pink stove, they were the only reason I stayed there as long as I did. That and the almost free rent. The fridge had shelves that pulled out and made access to food so much easier. I just loved them. Unfortunatley that refridgerators bad wiring brought about the demise of that cute little wood cabin with a few unlucky lizards and scorpions.

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2003-01-14 17:29 ]

oooh i saw these at the appliance dealer.. unfortunately, the fridge is 2" too tall for the space i have. (and my other fridge, that i moved 900 miles is 2" too wide, and is sitting in the garage)..

so now i've got a buttugly butterscotch colored Kelvinator ... its gonna be replaced, but argh, how i wish i could have a Northstar...

I will not rest until I get a 50's fridge, but I cant afford one of those repros. When my husband and I moved into our house I was determined to get a 50's fridge to go with the 50's kitchen I was planning, since the place already had turquoise formica counters. I called every used appliance shop in greater Philadelphia looking for one, and I kept getting laughed at! "We throw those away, why do you want one? Are you joking? Are you crazy?" We lived with a little dorm fridge for two weeks while I searched to no avail,then I caved in and we bought a new regular fridge.

I'm determined to find another at the Salvation Army down the street.

A friend of mine bought a vintage one at a thrift store and painted it baby pink though and it looked original. Or I guess I should say her boyfriend painted it - at the body shop. It's beautiful.

There's an option for someone!

On 2003-01-14 18:36, TikiGoddess wrote:
I will not rest until I get a 50's fridge,

i think i found you one... check out:

i found it on craigslist, in Philly:
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/phi/fur/7135670.html

[ Edited by: dogbytes on 2003-01-14 20:35 ]

smeg makes retro fridges. the company might just be in the u.k. tho:

http://www.omegasmeg.com.au/Smeg_Refrigerators.html

The thing I recall about the vintage fridge were the cool designs inside. #1, there was a center pole that all the shelves attached to and they were easily raised and lowered, AND, they all rotated! You could get to anything on a shelf that way. ALso had a wine bottle rack on the inside that folded out and an ice cream space in the freezer like the butter area in the fridge. Very well thought out.

Yeah, my parents have a Smeg fridge and it's lovely - really well made. Nice heavy door, smooth curves. I've made a promise to myself to get one someday.

Trader Woody

i like smeg fridges for their style but i couldn't own a fridge with a slang word for knob cheese on it.

Thats right Swanky! I miss that darn fridge! :cry:

The bamboo Ben store (building) used to be Von Dutch Garage in H.B. and they would restore oldies and do flames and pin stripe on em. In the cement entry to the door there is a emblem off one of em. When I took over the unit I'd get 15 people a day asking for those fridges. Von Dutch Garage is in Hollywood now on Melrose and I'm not sure if they are still doing them. You's might want to look into them.

Be careful what you wish for.

When I moved into my present apartment, all of my appliances were turquoise (fridge, stove and range hood). While the kitchen looked amazing and the fridge worked fine, the tiny freezer compartment had to be defrosted several times a year, which was really messy. Eventually it could not freeze anything completely solid, not even ice. Turning up the coldness would freeze everything in the fridge, not just what was in the freezer. I was afraid to freeze things like chicken in there out of fear that they would go bad.

A couple of years ago, my landlord bought me a new fridge. It's larger and my electricity bills are lower, but it's white. Fortunately the turquoise stove still works fine.

When you go to buy a vintage fridge, keep in mind that they use a LOT more power that older ones and they probably use Freon (now illegal in the US). Also, it'll be really difficult to find one that's frost-free. My advice is to buy a new fridge and ask your local auto body shop if they can paint it.

--cyn

Yea, those Von Dutch fridges are sweet. I've only seen the one on Melrose, eyeballs and flames galore. I have an old turquoise one in my garage, but it is true about the extra energy costs and with all my lamps... I found it at a local thrift store for $20, tested it and brought it home.

Dogbytes, thank you so much for locating that Philly area fridge! Im gonna look into it, I really appreciate your help. THANK YOU! I owe you a mai tai!!
Now if I could get a Von Dutch fridge too....

http://www.barfly.ca/english/gallery.html

This store down the street from me (BARFLY) makes new fridges in the 50's style - pretty sweet! The prices are probably in canadian dollars so subtract 40% for your US price. Not a bad deal if you're flush!

Picked up this beauty last weekend at an $50 at an estate sale. Took quite some time of my wife and I scrubbing all the crud off, but it was worth it.

Everything works great. Probably isn't very energy efficient so I am in the process of trying to find parts to replace the compressor,motor,etc.
Check out the rotating shelves

Also door works off of a magnetic latch so it has a foot pedal that will automatically open the door for you.[

What a cool thread! :)

while we are on this topic, does anyone know how to paint a fridge? I cant haul mine to the bodyshop, I need to paint in on site exactly where it is. What kind of paint would I use? Brushes? Spray? Is this even a good idea or will I end up with heartache, tears and an angry husband? Thanks for any advice.

I have a 1950s fridge -- without the moving shelves however.

I washed the outside of the fridge to cleanse all the grime off it-soap and water or any cleaner will work.

Sanded the surface down to get rid of a couple small rust/greasey spots.
Primed it and then used an enamel spray paint in baby pink.

I think we went through 3-4 cans but gave the fridge about 3 coats so I say buy more and return what you don't use.

Of course make sure you cover up every thing even remotely close to where you are spraying and ventilate as much as possible. The smell takes a few days to dissipate (at least it did in our small house) and it gets pretty toxic.

As far as paint Rustoleum makes great paint for this type of project. They specialize in appliance epoxy paint but I am not sure what colors they have available. You can always google for their color options. With Rustoleum I don't think you even need a primer.

We got our paint from a custom auto shop when I lived in Florida.

The project comes out nice if you don't rush it and took about 2 1/2 days because we were pretty meticulous about it !

Thanks for the info, I really did not know where to begin so this is really helpful!!