Posted on 05/19/2024 9:00:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
We've said it before: the '70s was a vibe—a very amber-ish brown, dark orange, and avocado green vibe. We even recently took a fun trip down memory lane with our list of some of the most iconic objects from the '70s.
It's funny, we often think of the '70s as a light-filled, super hippy, peace-love-and-understanding time in history. But at home, when it came to color, things were pretty clunky, dark, and, well, dull.
Nothing had more of a '70s vibe than the heart of the home: the kitchen. Technology and gadgets really came in hot during this decade, with innovations to make coffee faster (and in copious amounts), slice your meat with ease, and keep your Kool-Aid fresher longer.
Kitchens Became Family-Friendly in the '70s
As families began spending more time in the kitchen, doing more than just cooking and eating, kitchen peninsulas with cabinets above, covered in Formica, started to appear. These spaces became perfect for kids to do their homework and for mom and dad to set out cold cuts when entertaining.
In fact, the '70s marked a time when kitchens started to get bigger in order to accommodate more activities. Home design website Apartment Therapy notes that this was the era when the kitchen started to become more of a part of the home, rather than a separate space:
The move from a small kitchen, closed off from the rest of the home (with perhaps a small table and chairs for casual dining) to a large kitchen, open to the dining area and the living room, reflected a change in the role of the kitchen, and a change in American life.
And the style—oh, the style. From dark wood accents to faux brick, rattan, and lots and lots of cookie jars, the '70s truly was a vibe.
Our '70s home tour starts now—first stop, the kitchen.
From mushroom decor to that iconic jug (you know the one), let's take a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the quintessential '70s kitchen.
The Original Crockpot
Nobody had time to make dinner, so you threw the chicken casserole in the slow cooker while making toast in the morning. When you got home before Mom and Dad, the house smelled amazing. And it still does!
Wall-Mounted Rotary Phone
The kitchen was the heart and communications hub of the home, where you could make a jug of Tang while talking to Stacey. Wrapping the phone cord around yourself while sitting on a swivel stool was mandatory.
The Jug That Everyone Had
Either you had the jug, your grandma did, or you both did. There's a good chance your mom bought it at the neighbor's Tupperware party, and you still don't know what that darn button did, but you pushed it anyway.
Electric Skillet
I read somewhere that there's a rumor these things produced their own grease. Whatever was made in them was guaranteed to be delicious.
Those Clunky Oak (?) Table and Chairs
You may still have these because, not unlike appliances from that period, they were made to last. The chairs had somewhat of a " pirate ship's steering wheel" aesthetic and there always seemed to be only one chair with arms, which we called the "Captain's chair" in my house. Yeah, I know.
Ugly Cookbooks
You were always sure to find a few ugly cookbooks on a shelf in the '70s kitchen. Food photography was kinda terrible back then but that was probably because the food was pretty bad too.
Collectible Spoons
You may recall us mentioning how collectible spoons were a key decorating theme at Grandma's house. Since these were at your house and not Grandma's, you may have used one to eat your Jell-O very, very slowly and Mom was not happy about it at all.
TV Dinners
While TV dinners pre-date the '70s, they were still a key part of kitchens at that time. With more kids taking charge of their own dinners while parents were out or not home from work yet, these convenient marvels were the ultimate go-to.
Electric Knife
"Plug this in and you will cut your arm off..." they all said. Well, I don't recall anyone ever using this odd invention and yet there was one in the cupboard for as long as I remember.
Avocado Green Appliances
Along with butter yellow, these dull green appliances were about the most colorful thing in a '70s kitchen.
Electric Can Opener
Open cans, sharpen knives and scissors, make the most unholy god-awful grinding sound when you use it—was there anything this couldn't do?
Giant Coffee Maker
The best part of waking up... Why did this thing brew enough coffee to wake up an entire battalion? It was another one of those appliances built to outlast generations.
Pyrex Bowls
Is there anything more iconically '70s than these indestructible bowls?
Fondue Sets
Used once, then sentenced to a life of sitting "on display" on the counter or tucked away in a cupboard, always tumbling to the floor when you dared to reach for the electric popcorn popper.
Electric Popcorn Popper
Speaking of the electric popcorn popper, this hefty version of the electric skillet must've weighed about 250 pounds and was a certified fire hazard, but man, did it churn out better popcorn than the later air popper (come at me if you want). And don't forget that little vent at the top where you'd plop the butter, ensuring it was perpetually greasy and stinky. Smell the nostalgia!
Mushroom Motif Decor
You know that Portlandia sketch called "Put a Bird on It!"? Watch it here - it's hilarious. Well, in the '70s, it would have been "Put a Mushroom on It!" Mushroom cookie jars! Mushroom lamps! Mushroom everything! Was it a psychedelic thing? The start of the Smurfs? Mushrooms were everywhere!
Owl Motif Decor
Like what we just said about mushrooms, but make it about owls. Literally putting a bird on it!
Macrame Planters and Spider Plants
Don't think a house plant can capture an era? Think again. If you didn't have a spider plant dangling in a massive macrame plant hanger in front of your kitchen window, can you really claim to have actually experienced the '70s?
Formica Table Top Coming Apart
The only thing more '70s than a Formica countertop was slowly peeling it off the surface until your parents had no choice but to replace it.
Rattan Furniture
If you were fortunate enough to have a wall-mounted phone in your kitchen, odds are you had a rattan chair and matching stool parked right next to it. (That is, unless you pulled the swivel stool from the peninsula over so you could spin while chatting.)
Floral Wallpaper
The floral wallpaper screamed early '70s, but it was such a pain in the you-know-what to remove that it stubbornly clung to the walls through the '80s, despite nobody actually liking it.
Very, Very Colorful Linoleum Floors
Sending shivers down the spine of every house flipper, this universally loathed floor covering likely found its way onto floors in the '50s/'60s and proved too stubborn to remove, thus becoming a signature lewk of the '70s.
Read More: Things You'd See in a 1970s Kitchen | https://ultimateclassicrock.com/things-youd-see-in-a-1970s-kitchen/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral
I know someone who had that exact loud orange and yellow flowered wall paper, the image on the left.
Men were men in those days, they were courteous and there were no soy boys and skinny jeans wearing wusses.
I think it has more to do with too many unnatural pressures on the female sex at all ages and levels of development, they never get a chance to feel nature and allow its influence on their paths.
They are not doing the things that make them happy and fulfilled.
Men are better at shutting out the noise and living for themselves so the effect is less on them but each generation of males is facing more and more what the females are facing, an unnatural life and forced roles that doesn’t fit their nature, the boys are showing terrible cracks as well, but we never depended on them to be the center of home and family, the males can be brought into a domestic family life if the female sex is calling to them, but that calling is being cauterized by institutional, business, and political forces exploiting the female.
I was the top Charles Chip route salesman for my Houston employer, and still a teen.
We had an avacado fridge and stove.
And-I kid you not! That first floor picture- the green one-WAS OUR FLOOR.
😮😮😮
We still have our electric knife. It still works, and I still use it.
Ain’t even females anymo’. They be gender confused or questioning...
Ugh… the 70s was a very ugly decade! 😖
Eww! 🤢
There are many 1970s tv commercials that take place in a kitchen (usually country style) on YouTube. Those give you an idea as to what kitchens looked like back then.
They had a "70s-style scullery."
1870s-style.
Regards,
Would you have killed the Gorn captain?
Regards,
True! Men are more capable of shutting themselves off from a sick society at large, and going into "monk mode."
Women, in contrast, are social creatures.
Regards,
use my electric knife once a year...to carve the turkey
I have my parent’s electric knife, original crockpot, and waffle iron cast iron at that from the 70s all still work and all get used regularly. The electric knife is a Thanksgiving tradition it’s not official till the turkey breasts are carved with than 70s rrrurrrrrurrr rrurrrr sound. I also have a stir crazy popcorn maker and a stainless steel electric skillet that as to be last 70 or early 80s none of this toxic nonstick poison it makes the best pan fired lemon chicken also a family 70s recipe. Ah the good ole days I miss the 70s I was a adolescent and times were great.
Popeil Egg Scrrambler
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