primitives discuss retro kitchen appliances

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x88430

Oh my.

Day 102: Mrs. Alfred Packer still missing

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 12:26 AM
Original message
 
Retro Appliances - overpriced crap?

I saw this in a Home Goods store today.

after which an image of a green two-door refrigerator

Looks VERY cool.

Glossy finish. Authentic styling.

But all it is is a bolted on skin over a cheap, white, plain box refrigerator of indeterminate lineage. To be honest, it looked like one of the lower end made in China cheapos. The slick looking retro skin was actual steel with a very nice paint job screwed, literally, to the unmodified original refrigerator. A half an hour with a screwdriver and you would have the skin off and an unremarkable refrigerator sitting there.

This was their $2500 "studio size" 14.4 cu ft job.

It was basically, this $400 refrig with a fancy skin.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=14+cu+ft...

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 09:39 AM
Response to Original message
 
1. A genuine, reconditioned retro refrigerator will set you back upwards of $4000. I know because I once toyed with the idea of renovating my kitchen with retro stuff and almost had a CVA when I looked at the websites.

I suppose the price of this one will go down if the fad catches on. It's expensive right now because they're trying to pay off the stamping dies.

It looks like they did a good job on it, though. The proportions are wrong, of course. Retro fridges either didn't have a separate freezer compartment or had one that was only a foot high. The average freezer compartment was about a foot square and bolted to the roof of the fridge. It would do ice cubes but not a hell of a lot else.

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 09:51 AM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. Yeah, that's what they play up on their web site - and they do the job well.

Retro style in a thoroughly modern appliance. I just wish they'd used a better quality refrigerator as the basis. It was a plain, builder's grade, low end cheapo.

Warpy  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 09:55 AM
Response to Reply #2
 
3. It's likely their prototype but yes, if they want people to pay that kind of money, they'll have to use something a bit better.

I've noticed lately that the trend is toward bowed fronts and other rounded features in off the shelf appliances, so they might be catching the trend just at the right time.

supernova  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 12:32 PM
Response to Original message
 
4. Not a fan of the retro look

There's a reason all that stuff went by the wayside, and the tiny storage capacity was one.

We've looked at a full capacity fridge/freezer combo that sit together as one large unit. I guess it mimmicks a commercial setup. Sears sells them together for around $2K for the stainless versions. Best deal I've seen so far. Edit: No ice/water dispenser in the door, however. I'm trying to see if they do make one.

Edit2: I guess what really irks me about appliances from that time is the design points echo the design aspects of cars.

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 04:27 PM
Response to Reply #4
 
7. These are modern refrigerators with a retro skin. They make two sizes. Each have full size freezers

supernova  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #7
 
8. What we are looking at is a complete separate upright freezer and a complete separate upright Fridge w/o a freezer. Both about 18-19 sq ft.

Coyote_Bandit  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 02:21 PM
Response to Original message
 
5. I live in an old house with a galley kitchen that does not accomodate most of the current refrigerator models. !8.0 cubic foot is about the largest size the available space will accomodate.

Found this fridge here:
http://bigchill.com/site/fridges

The retro look does well in my home. But I want a modern high quality product and am not willing to pay a high premium for a retro look.

If I could get that for a price not much greater than what I can get a fridge for at my local appliance store then I'd consider it. But I can't. This retro fridge carries a much higher rice tag.

Edit to add: I'm thinking of replacing my fridge in the not too distant future. I'll probably go with an old style fridge with the freezer on top - in bisque - to match the other appliances. I expect a cost of less than $1000 - excluding the cost necessary to remove the monster fridge that currently resides in the kitchen (and came with the house). Apparently its removal will require removing the door, removing the door frame and removing the doors from the fridge.

You know, I never paid attention.  The refrigerator here is from the late 1970s, early 1980s, I'm guessing.

I might be guessing wrong, but I don't think so.

I took the tape measure out of the tool box to measure it.

The refrigerator here measures 66" tall by 32" thick by 38" wide.

One wonders how that compares with the sparkling husband dude's refrigerator.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Fri Jul-29-11 12:26 AM
Original message
 
Retro Appliances - overpriced crap?

Absolutely, dude.

[Delmar]

Dad always called the refrigerator the ice box. 

[franksolich]

Dad always called the refrigerator the ice box. 

I do too, in real life.

But here in the DUmpster, I'm trying to expand the lurking primitives' vocabulary.

[tanstaafl]

Dad always called the refrigerator the ice box. 

Yeah, my ol' man did too. So did I and my siblings.

I just replaced the Fridge, stove and D/W in my condo kitchen. D/W door seal failed. All was original from 1975 when the complex was apartments. Fridge worked great, but I wanted the biggest, boldest, baddest model GE made with cold water and ice in the door that would fit the frige alcove.

So the old 1975 era "Harvest Gold" Frigidaire that would chill your numchuks to 34 degrees F as fast as just about anyting is now sitting in my buddy's yard equipment shed cooling our beer, semi-exposed to the elements.

But the beer is cold and now close by while we admire the yard his kids mow and landscape.

Thinking about teaching my lab to open it and retrieve beers on a "Beer Me!" command.

[BlueStateSaint]

Yeah, my ol' man did too. So did I and my siblings.

I just replaced the Fridge, stove and D/W in my condo kitchen. D/W door seal failed. All was original from 1975 when the complex was apartments. Fridge worked great, but I wanted the biggest, boldest, baddest model GE made with cold water and ice in the door that would fit the frige alcove.

So the old 1975 era "Harvest Gold" Frigidaire that would chill your numchuks to 34 degrees F as fast as just about anyting is now sitting in my buddy's yard equipment shed cooling our beer, semi-exposed to the elements.

But the beer is cold and now close by while we admire the yard his kids mow and landscape.

Thinking about teaching my lab to open it and retrieve beers on a "Beer Me!" command.

If I could find a picture of Alex in the Stroh's commercial, I'd post it,

[compaqxp]

Retro Appliances - overpriced crap?

If you're going to buy a properly refurbished one that is actually old then I'd say no however, anything modern with a retro look is as much crap as everything else being sold.

It looks cool so they can sell an otherwise 500$ for 1000$.

[jukin]

I'm heading to the shower because I feel slimey as we are retro kitchen (& all else) people. Mrs. Jukin loves the kitchen appliances and uses them to gourmet standards.  Jukin loves the old stuff so her kitchen is full of old great appliances. The Okeefe & Merrit stove (w/griddle), Champion juicer, Vita Mix 550, 1940s Beehive Oster blender and ice crusher, aluminium ice trays,  Kitchen aide (Hobart) stand mixer, Hobart deli slicer, tons of old Pyrex RevereWare, and SS hand utensils, amongst others. Now most of those have been purchased at garage sales, there is no substitute for the old iron of those old school appliances. Except for the refer and micro walking into our kitchen is like going back to 1972.

The new stuff looks old but ain't the old stuff. No way I pay the new age prices for the [i[look[/i] of the old stuff.

[miskie]

This kind of thing is currently 'in' and has been for the last few years - even my vehicle - an '07 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT came from the factory painted in this retro blue/green color they call 'magnesium pearl'. Its attractive but definitely 'trendy'.

A few years earlier, everything was super modern and colored in almost unreal shades of nearly every color imaginable. And in the 90's everything was beige.

Anyway, I figure a few years from now this trend will disappear as quickly and completely as Pogs did.

One day, Pogs are everywhere, even in cereal boxes - and now its as if they never existed.