The Retro Kitchen Design Trend

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  • Author James Mahoney
  • Published March 16, 2007
  • Word count 523

These days kitchen décor comes in all colors, sizes and eras. The newest trend in kitchens today is the retro kitchen design look. Painted cabinets, glass knobs, and vintage linens combined with new appliances that have a retro look can give you a unique and functional kitchen. This kitchen design trend includes everything from chrome and vinyl kitchen tables and chairs to the familar kidney shaped glass coffee tables that were prominent in the 1950's and '60s. The kitchen retro style uses bold colors, shiny chrome, sunny yellow, jadeite green, along with checkerboard floors and vivid patterns. You can find this fascination with the 50s and 60s everywhere. This period is also known as 'mid-century'.

Some reasons for this trend are that people are rejecting the throwaway mentality. They like for things to have a longer shelf life with more endurance and permanence. They want to go back to a time when appliances were built to be serviced and repaired, not immediately replaced. They want appliances to be built to last.

Many kitchen design professionals consider the original mid-century designs to be very good designs, and now a whole new age group is just becoming familiar with them.

Chrome and vinyl dinette sets can fit in perfectly with this 50s nostalgic look, and manufacturers today make these 50s retro kitchen tables in a bistro, booth or regular dinette style.

You can buy 50s retro kitchen tables that are brand new and include such features as chrome frames and vinyl seats and backs with laminate tops. You can select from a wide array of colors for the cushions.

But if you really want a more authentic vintage look, you can buy an actual vintage piece from this time. It is possible to find this furniture in good condition for around $500.00. If you like to restore furniture you can get some 50's furnishing cheaper and fix them up. restoration. You will also find that the colors and styles of the vintage pieces cannot be duplicated.

There are stoves and refrigerators that are new, but look as if they were made in the 50s - in colors such as candy red, flamingo pink and buttercup yellow. These are retro reproductions of 1950s appliances. They look 1950s on the outside but are totally 21st century on the inside. Retro reproductions can make a dramatic design statement without having to sacrifice performance and convenience to get the look of this period.

Or you could consider going with refurbished appliances that are the actual vintage appliance that have been cleaned and rebuilt with some new components.

Of course one major problem with going with refurbished appliances is that you have to sacrifice a few luxuries like the advantages and the ease of a self-cleaning oven, as well as having such features as electronic ignition and sealed burners. However, these features affect the simplicity of cleaning the stove; they have nothing to do with how well the stove cooks. There is one significant perk, however: Most appliance refurbishers are able to offer color matching, thereby giving you a unlimited selection of colors to coordinate with your new kitchen.

James Mahoney is the owner of Kitchen Designers Idea.com. Learn about

today's kitchen design ideas by visiting his site at http://www.kitchendesignersideas.com/kitchen_design_articles.html. If you liked this article and would want to subscribe to his information packed newletter visit: http://www.kitchendesignersideas.com/kitchen_design_articles.html

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