Midcentury modern kitchen design

[@elephantintheroom5678]

Rectangles, texture, big windows, wood, natural stone and abstract art! I love midcentury modern.

[@timward3116]

I like our modern interpretation of "mid-century modern," even though it was not common when I was growing up in the mid-century. Having grown up in a 1959 split-level in a neighborhood of similar homes built that same year, and having had relatives living in other homes/neighborhoods of the same era, I am always amazed and how NON-mid-century modern most mid-century home kitchens were. First of all, most kitchens were pretty small and none of them were open concept. Sure, the cabinet door panels were flat wood (a neighbor had painted her's bright colors, though) but the walls were usually a muted pastel (pink, yellow, aqua), counters were usually an unremarkable speckled or marbled Formica (often white, sometimes pink), floors were good ol' asbestos tiles, and any open shelving still had the hinge screw holes from the door that fell off. Any backsplashes were one-inch tiles with a mesh backing and consisted of three shades of the same muted color. Wallpapers, when used, were often large floral sunflowers or something similar. The appliances, when built in, were often brown or white, although autumn gold and avacodo came along toward the end of the period. Kitchen tables had a simple, functional, laminated top, and metal legs with little caps - and they were never believed to have any artistic merit whatsoever. Kitchen chairs were clad in a durable vinyl of a pleasant enough color that wouldn't stain and hopefully not tear, and they had metal legs and little caps, too. There may have been some mid-century modern kitchens back then that looked like the ones we call "mid-century modern" now, but during my whole childhood, I never saw one. Almost anything colorful, loud, and relatively minimalist nowadays is called "mid-century modern." If people want to see typical early mid-century kitchens, watch Happy Days. For a sample of a middle mid-century kitchen, watch the Dick Van Dyke show. And for a late mid-century kitchen, watch the Brady Bunch. Similarly, during my whole mid-century childhood, I never once saw a "mid-century modern" living room that looked anything like what we call "mid-century modern" now. Furniture was a hodge-podge of inherited traditional, Mediterranean, and affordable items that loosely "went together" based on need, size, sentimentality, and loose compatibility. Sometimes, someone got a new couch that had its legs showing, but nobody I knew had egg chairs, Eames chairs, ugly arched floor lamps, or even uglier sputnik chandeliers - although I think my aunt and uncle had a starburst clock in their kitchen and somebody did have a beanbag chair in their basement (an item wisely not included in our modern envisioning of mid-century modern). A few brave souls who had to replace their carpet tried shag and lived to regret it. I like our pretend mid-century modern, though. It's sort of a cross between a Howard Johnsons diner, a Holiday Inn lobby, and a James Bond bachelor pad.

[@hsdesignstudio]

That last paragraph is fantastic - well done haha

[@sunnynotblind4158]

Oh! The back splash at 6:51 is the actual tile we are going to be using in our 1960 home remodel! We are doing high gloss white slab cabinets though 💖

[@hsdesignstudio]

Awesome! That'll look great👌

[@Cloudburst2000]

I bought that orange oven for my MCM kitchen. That is actually the exact same photo that I came across. Orange is my favorite color so I was immediately hooked on that oven. It was my really big splurge for the house. It is currently sitting in the back room as the contractors aren't starting on the kitchen until January. I also bought a glass mosaic tile for the kitchen and bathroom walls. I really wish I had been able to keep the original cabinets but there was too much water damage.

[@hsdesignstudio]

I think the range is one of the best places to splurge 👍 sounds like your kitchen will look great.

[@dramaqueen3457]

Great info. DQ

[@ryansoo4000]

The primary reason mid-century kitchens (and all mid-century rooms really) were so colorful was to encourage people to buy color TV sets. Who wanted to buy a color set if the rooms were all white and tan?

[@hsdesignstudio]

Is this actually true?? I've never heard or read that, but if so, crazy. Do you have a source or anything on that?

[@schnellfahren911]

Dont forget why fun colors were so prevalent- just out of WW2 there was a mass sense of releif so colors were everywhere! Cars businesses you name it. I'm ready for the caustic poloitical climate and pandemic to recede so we can once shain celebrate life as we know it. Long overdue. No more beige!!! 😋🤣🥳🍹

[@lovly2cu725]

SLAT WALL. A LOT OF WHAT YOU SHOWED ISNT MCM BUT CONTEMPORARY