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millymoo_gw

Help with vintage metal kitchen cupboard unit

millymoo
14 years ago

I've been searching on the net and here for info on vintage free-standing kitchen cupboard units but can't find a pic. or info that is close to what I have at home.

I will try to post a pic of it but for now I wonder if anyone can help me identify a time frame for this piece and any info. you may have about it.

It looks like a hoosier cupboard but in metal-painted off-white. It's very plain and unadorned with possibly 50's-60's handles-shaped like smiles-don't know what else to call it, hee!

The top part of the unit has two shelves and I suspect it once had a sliding plastic 'door' that ran from one end to close at the other-maybe accordion-style? It seems to have a track of some sort that maybe held this door.

Below the shelves is a an open counter space with hooks hanging above it attached to the bottom of the shelf unit-these may have been for coffee cups?

Below the counter are two drawers and below that 2 cupboard doors with 2 levels of shelves inside.

This was in the basement of our 100yr old home-part of the 'summer' kitchen that looks like it was put in in the 50's-so I'm guessing that's the age of this unit.

It had some water damage on the bottom so we restored it and moved it upstairs-put a slab of marble on the counter space and I use it to store my kitchen appliances, gadgets and baking pans.

Can someone provide a link or info. so I can find out more about it?

Thank-you

Comments (2)

  • sunnyca_gw
    14 years ago

    I think Hoosier's dated before '50's & 60's I was a kid then & only people I knew with them were elderly people. My aunt's had a door like you are talking about, looked like beadboard I think. The countertop on hers was metal, that was where she made bread every day & rolled out cookies & piecrust. I think the metal was an advantage as it was always "cool' to the touch. My aunt' had flour & sugar bins in bottom lined with tin. they were on 1 side & other side had shelves. I was born in '42 & in 50's only my elderly aunts had Hoosier's, I lived at a lake so I had a lot of neighbor's that invited me in, especially in winter as I was about only kid around, they had the chrome & red or gray Formica kitchen tables but no Hoosier's. Some of relatives had no electricity & you picked up phone & told operator who you wanted to talk to in the small towns. Our town was about 14,000 & we had party lines so we were more modern. Relatives also had pump you primed for water in the kitchen & had to warm water for doing dishes. Outhouses were the norm until mid '60's after I was out of high school. I think people couldn't afford to update as S. Dak. had a personal property tax so if you bought a sofa of foam & wood(about cheapest thing made) for $100 you paid a tax on it each year. Maybe $5 or less ,but every large thing in house was taxed too,nobody could afford it. They have gotten rid of that tax somewhere along the way. It did a lot to keep the poor poor!!Probably why there were Hooiser's in rural areas but not in town among younger families. I also spent a lot of time at 2nd hand furniture store & they had some but don't remember if they sold very well. It was a safe place for me to keep warm so dad could pick me up there when he finally got off work. I think your item is from early 1900's not later than 1930's.

  • palimpsest
    14 years ago

    My Grandmother had white metal kitchen cabinets that were put in about 1940 when they bought the house, so it may be 30s-50s, a bit older than you were thinking.