6 ms·

A history of vintage steel kitchen cabinets

53 points by samclemens 4y ago

moistly 4y ago
I keep an eye on property listings for my area. I have noticed several homes that used tool chests for their kitchen drawers: specifically, the rolling sets of drawers on ball-bearing sliders, the sort sold by HD and usually sold to car mechanics and the like. Not my style, but eminently practical.
- kube-system 4y ago
  Heh, I renovated a house with metal kitchen cabinets and we repurposed the metal cabinets as tool storage in the workshop.
danans 4y ago
My parents' house has these sort of cabinets in the basement kitchen. It was built by an Italian immigrant family in the 60s and the second basement "production" kitchen that was used for heavier duty cooking. My parents used it similarly. The stove, oven, and cabinets are a combined painted steel unit, and it is very durable stuff. However, I recall that the drawers were always getting stuck, since they were just steel sliding on steel.
syung 4y ago
Here's a great article with tips for metal surface finishing: https://www.alphaweld.com.au/blog/5-some-best-practices-for-metal-finishing https://www.alphaweld.com.au/blog/5-some-best-practices-for-...
Animats 4y ago
Not just steel cabinets, but vitreous enamel steel cabinets. That's a very durable material, a form of glass bonded to steel at high temperature. Won't burn. Won't scorch. Won't rust. Scratch-resistant. Smooth and easy to clean. Insulator, both of heat and electricity, so it doesn't feel cold to the touch. In the late 1940s, about 2,000 Lustron houses were built with exterior and interior walls of vitreous enameled steel. Not the roof, though.
- chrisco255 4y ago
  Had to look this up after you mentioned it: https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses According to that resource, even the shingles were metal. "The promise of a home that never needs painting or maintenance has been somewhat validated after over 55 years of service. The enamel steel roof "shingles" are still keeping many Lustron residents in the dry after five decades of no maintenance." Interesting tidbit, though! Had to look this up after you mentioned it: https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses According to that resource, even the shingles were metal. "The promise of a home that never needs painting or maintenance has been somewhat validated after over 55 years of service. The enamel steel roof "shingles" are still keeping many Lustron residents in the dry after five decades of no maintenance." Interesting tidbit, though! Some nice demos: https://www.dwell.com/article/lustron-prefab-for-sale-5124c0ab https://www.dwell.com/article/lustron-prefab-for-sale-5124c0... https://www.vicsocotra.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/11-30-11-LustronLiving31.jpg https://www.vicsocotra.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011... https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/rare-lustron-steel-house-for-sale-in-illinois-photos/Slideshow/37135307/37105464 https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/rare-lustron-steel-h...
- rob74 4y ago
  Those enameled steel panels are still very popular as heavy-duty vandalism-resistant wall cladding for public spaces (e.g. subway stations). That's probably one of the reasons why they fell out of favor for private residences...
  - hoseja 4y ago
    Or the sad fact that a company that produces durable, timeless goods in our system eventually goes out of business.
cafard 4y ago
The house we live in had them when bought it. We sold them on-line. I guess they needed some work, but the rub was that my wife didn't like them. By the way, that Best Buy ad is obnoxious.v The upper-right hand corner has an X that looks as if it should close the ad, but instead it opens a Best Buy page in another tab.
donatj 4y ago
My friends cabin in northern Minnesota has steel kitchen cabinets, and I am honestly marveled by them. My favorite bit is the arc-shaped silverware drawer just beneath the sink, swings out hinged. Gives you just a tiny bit more cupboard space in an otherwise tiny kitchen. That place has some other interesting oddities like the low-pile carpeted garage and pre-manufactured stoop made from slices of cement of different heights per step, the top landing being 3 slices. Textured surface on top. They all kinda wobble and clink as you walk on it, never seen anything like it elsewhere.
- hammock 4y ago
  > arc-shaped silverware drawer just beneath the sink, swings out hinged Having trouble visualizing this. Do you have an image?
throwaway0a5e 4y ago
The fact that I'm seeing this a) written by the New Yorker b) on the front page of HN means that every yuppie, hipster and pair of dinks who want to burn money on "unique" furnishings for my shop storage. Wonderful.
marcodiego 4y ago
Last time I commented this, it was not well received here, but I have to comment again. Look at the women on the pictures. They are invariably depicted as a subservient being, the one that occupies the kitchen, the one that has the responsibility to sacrifice their own time to take care of the children, the one whose appearance is more important than other features, the one which supports the man. Another detail: there's basically no racial diversity - nevermind gender diversity - on the ads. This is less common today. We have really evolved as a society.
- jotm 4y ago
  I mean, go further back and black (and even Asian) people of any gender were also depicted as subservient to the "master race". On the other hand, now every household needs two working adults. Living alone is basically twice as expensive because prices have adjusted.
- gedy 4y ago
  We all seem so happy now needing both parents farting in office chairs all day for some company to (barely) afford rent and basics. Maybe we're the subservient beings.
- martin_a 4y ago
  Not sure about the downvotes, but I think you got a point there. I always wonder about what old media can tell us about the time. It's an interesting look back at a time that you could not actively experience. Like a little time machine. At the weekend I watched some old tv show and _lots of_ people in the audience were smoking like there was no tomorrow. Also everybody was wearing nice suits and dresses. It really feels "out of time" when you're watching that nowadays. Those ads are just like that. That stereotypical role model etc.
- dylan604 4y ago
  I'm more impressed by how happy they are for eating bologna sandwiches.
- hoseja 4y ago
  Does the man not sacrifice his lifetime at work to provide for the family? Why do you consider the wife's contribution worthless? It's only worthless for the war effort and the propaganda's effort echoes through the ages.
mauvehaus 4y ago
If you're into this and the history of kitchens in the early 20th century in the US, I highly recommend Nancy Hiller's book The Hoosier Cabinet in Kitchen History. https://nrhillerdesign.com/2015/01/19/the-hoosier-cabinet-in-kitchen-history/ https://nrhillerdesign.com/2015/01/19/the-hoosier-cabinet-in... I lucked out and was able to get a copy via inter-library loan.
jotm 4y ago
I like working with metal, and cost wise a steel kitchen would be comparable to marble or high quality wood. But apparently people don't like them! I suggested it to a few people and they were like "eww no, I don't want some industrial kitchen in my home". Oh, well...
sillyquiet 4y ago
The article mentions the need for the ramped-up steel producers to find an outlet post WWII, hence the rise in popularity of steel cabinetry. I wonder if this also what led to the increase in other steel furniture like file cabinets, desks, chairs, etc in the 50s and 60s. I don't know if anybody else ever sat at one, but the massive steel desks the government used in the 50s and 60s in offices and labs were built like tanks, and probably weighed as much.
- prova_modena 4y ago
  Appropriately enough, those sturdy metal desks are known as "tanker" desks.

53 points by samclemens 4y ago

I keep an eye on property listings for my area. I have noticed several homes that used tool chests for their kitchen drawers: specifically, the rolling sets of drawers on ball-bearing sliders, the sort sold by HD and usually sold to car mechanics and the like. Not my style, but eminently practical.

kube-system 4y ago
Heh, I renovated a house with metal kitchen cabinets and we repurposed the metal cabinets as tool storage in the workshop.

danans 4y ago

My parents' house has these sort of cabinets in the basement kitchen. It was built by an Italian immigrant family in the 60s and the second basement "production" kitchen that was used for heavier duty cooking. My parents used it similarly. The stove, oven, and cabinets are a combined painted steel unit, and it is very durable stuff. However, I recall that the drawers were always getting stuck, since they were just steel sliding on steel.

syung 4y ago

Here's a great article with tips for metal surface finishing: https://www.alphaweld.com.au/blog/5-some-best-practices-for-metal-finishing https://www.alphaweld.com.au/blog/5-some-best-practices-for-...

Animats 4y ago

Not just steel cabinets, but vitreous enamel steel cabinets. That's a very durable material, a form of glass bonded to steel at high temperature. Won't burn. Won't scorch. Won't rust. Scratch-resistant. Smooth and easy to clean. Insulator, both of heat and electricity, so it doesn't feel cold to the touch. In the late 1940s, about 2,000 Lustron houses were built with exterior and interior walls of vitreous enameled steel. Not the roof, though.

chrisco255 4y ago
Had to look this up after you mentioned it: https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses According to that resource, even the shingles were metal. "The promise of a home that never needs painting or maintenance has been somewhat validated after over 55 years of service. The enamel steel roof "shingles" are still keeping many Lustron residents in the dry after five decades of no maintenance." Interesting tidbit, though! Had to look this up after you mentioned it: https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses https://www.rigov.org/1024/Lustron-Houses According to that resource, even the shingles were metal. "The promise of a home that never needs painting or maintenance has been somewhat validated after over 55 years of service. The enamel steel roof "shingles" are still keeping many Lustron residents in the dry after five decades of no maintenance." Interesting tidbit, though! Some nice demos: https://www.dwell.com/article/lustron-prefab-for-sale-5124c0ab https://www.dwell.com/article/lustron-prefab-for-sale-5124c0... https://www.vicsocotra.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/11-30-11-LustronLiving31.jpg https://www.vicsocotra.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011... https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/rare-lustron-steel-house-for-sale-in-illinois-photos/Slideshow/37135307/37105464 https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/rare-lustron-steel-h...
rob74 4y ago
Those enameled steel panels are still very popular as heavy-duty vandalism-resistant wall cladding for public spaces (e.g. subway stations). That's probably one of the reasons why they fell out of favor for private residences...
- hoseja 4y ago
  Or the sad fact that a company that produces durable, timeless goods in our system eventually goes out of business.

cafard 4y ago

The house we live in had them when bought it. We sold them on-line. I guess they needed some work, but the rub was that my wife didn't like them. By the way, that Best Buy ad is obnoxious.v The upper-right hand corner has an X that looks as if it should close the ad, but instead it opens a Best Buy page in another tab.

donatj 4y ago

My friends cabin in northern Minnesota has steel kitchen cabinets, and I am honestly marveled by them. My favorite bit is the arc-shaped silverware drawer just beneath the sink, swings out hinged. Gives you just a tiny bit more cupboard space in an otherwise tiny kitchen. That place has some other interesting oddities like the low-pile carpeted garage and pre-manufactured stoop made from slices of cement of different heights per step, the top landing being 3 slices. Textured surface on top. They all kinda wobble and clink as you walk on it, never seen anything like it elsewhere.

hammock 4y ago
> arc-shaped silverware drawer just beneath the sink, swings out hinged Having trouble visualizing this. Do you have an image?

throwaway0a5e 4y ago

The fact that I'm seeing this a) written by the New Yorker b) on the front page of HN means that every yuppie, hipster and pair of dinks who want to burn money on "unique" furnishings for my shop storage. Wonderful.

marcodiego 4y ago

Last time I commented this, it was not well received here, but I have to comment again. Look at the women on the pictures. They are invariably depicted as a subservient being, the one that occupies the kitchen, the one that has the responsibility to sacrifice their own time to take care of the children, the one whose appearance is more important than other features, the one which supports the man. Another detail: there's basically no racial diversity - nevermind gender diversity - on the ads. This is less common today. We have really evolved as a society.

jotm 4y ago
I mean, go further back and black (and even Asian) people of any gender were also depicted as subservient to the "master race". On the other hand, now every household needs two working adults. Living alone is basically twice as expensive because prices have adjusted.
gedy 4y ago
We all seem so happy now needing both parents farting in office chairs all day for some company to (barely) afford rent and basics. Maybe we're the subservient beings.
martin_a 4y ago
Not sure about the downvotes, but I think you got a point there. I always wonder about what old media can tell us about the time. It's an interesting look back at a time that you could not actively experience. Like a little time machine. At the weekend I watched some old tv show and _lots of_ people in the audience were smoking like there was no tomorrow. Also everybody was wearing nice suits and dresses. It really feels "out of time" when you're watching that nowadays. Those ads are just like that. That stereotypical role model etc.
dylan604 4y ago
I'm more impressed by how happy they are for eating bologna sandwiches.
hoseja 4y ago
Does the man not sacrifice his lifetime at work to provide for the family? Why do you consider the wife's contribution worthless? It's only worthless for the war effort and the propaganda's effort echoes through the ages.

mauvehaus 4y ago

If you're into this and the history of kitchens in the early 20th century in the US, I highly recommend Nancy Hiller's book The Hoosier Cabinet in Kitchen History. https://nrhillerdesign.com/2015/01/19/the-hoosier-cabinet-in-kitchen-history/ https://nrhillerdesign.com/2015/01/19/the-hoosier-cabinet-in... I lucked out and was able to get a copy via inter-library loan.

jotm 4y ago

I like working with metal, and cost wise a steel kitchen would be comparable to marble or high quality wood. But apparently people don't like them! I suggested it to a few people and they were like "eww no, I don't want some industrial kitchen in my home". Oh, well...

sillyquiet 4y ago

The article mentions the need for the ramped-up steel producers to find an outlet post WWII, hence the rise in popularity of steel cabinetry. I wonder if this also what led to the increase in other steel furniture like file cabinets, desks, chairs, etc in the 50s and 60s. I don't know if anybody else ever sat at one, but the massive steel desks the government used in the 50s and 60s in offices and labs were built like tanks, and probably weighed as much.

prova_modena 4y ago
Appropriately enough, those sturdy metal desks are known as "tanker" desks.