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 remember driving mom and dad crazy with my clackers
The kitchen and bathroom got linoleum floors which were a pain to fit around the toilet and pipes, etc. My father was a weekend "do-it-yourselfer" way before there was such a thing as Home Depot or Lowes. Back then, we'd trek back and forth to the local hardware stores where grouchy old men held sway. Half the time they wouldn't have what was needed and we'd have to go to several different places.
Another thing I remember is the cheap dark paneling my father threw up in the hallway and den. Now that went up fairly easily but it made the den and hallway so dark that we had to keep the lights on even in the daytime.
I have my Mom’s .
Yes - but ours all had arms. Very heavy to move, and bordering on indestructible. I'm not sure where they ended up, but somebody could have built a fairly effective tornado shelter out of the raw materials after dismantling them. :)
Amana...leader in kitchen appliances since 1881.
“From the Spiegel Catalog. Chicago 60609!”
Me, too! 😊
If we’re home, we us it every New Years eve with friends and family.
Oh, and the same with the Raclette.
Bun warmer.
“And I helped!”
With a southern accent, too. Who can forget that?
I still have that pitcher, but in beige.
My parents had a weird thing going. They divorced in the late 80’s. Couldn’t be married but they could hang wallpaper together like professionals.
Some black homes had really bold colors back then, along with the JFK and Jesus picture on the wall of all black homes some would have all black and red bathrooms with black toilets or other intense choices, having a bar in the house was common for many people during the 70s.
Still available:
https://www.radarange.com/newRR.html
How about that!
That is great!
“I still have a fondue set.”
i think i might too ... somewhere in the very back of some cabinet of stuff not used a lot ...
but more importantly, i kept my old rival crock pot too, and use it all the time to cook brown rice perfectly!
a truck driver’s dream of valhalla ...
“I remember a place that the color scheme was avocado and tangerine, with a shag rug.”
when i bought my current house decades ago, the kitchen floor was covered with puke-inducing chartreuse linoleum ... it was only about the 3rd or 4th layer, with thin plywood between each layer ... used a circular saw with carbide blade to cut a one foot grid down to the subfloor and pried out 1.25” thick chunks of the layers and replaced with solid tongue and groove Australian Cyprus ...
also removed disgusting carpet that was covering solid oak floors in the bedrooms ...
and don’t even get me started on removing all of the disgusting wallpaper from the bedrooms and bathrooms ...
"helped" has a minimum of 3 syllables
Oh I love Shake N’ Bake for Pork....use it all the time. But I use Mayonaise to coat the pork before ragging thru the shake mixture....Yumm!
“That reminds me, moving furniture around in 1970 was no fun, it was heavy.”
now you just kick apart your disintegrating Ikea Krap, toss it in the bin, and buy another set ...
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