# Things you don't see in people's kitchens anymore



## jd_1138 (May 23, 2016)

When I was a kid in the late 1970's, I recall going over to the neighbor lady's house with my mom, and they'd have coffee.  The lady had 4 or 5 wooden boxes on the counter -- one for coffee, one for tea, sugar, flour, oats.  No one has those anymore.  We do have the ceramic canister version of it -- for sugar, brown sugar.

Also, the tea kettle is rapidly becoming a dinosaur in a lot of homes.  Most people just put water in a mug and nuke it in the microwave.  I think heavy tea drinkers still have kettles though so they can make tea for more than one person at a time.  It is one of the first things I bought (at Target) in 1995 when I got my first apartment.


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## Dawgluver (May 23, 2016)

I have copper canisters that I inherited for sugar, flour, etc., still use 'em.  They have a bit of patina on them now.  I also use my SS tea kettle regularily for boiling water for steeping jamaica (hibiscus) tea.  I have a big pitcher of it in the fridge!


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## Cheryl J (May 23, 2016)

I have a SS tea kettle that whistles, and I love it.  My daughter bought it for me a few years ago. I also have storage canisters for flour and sugar, etc., but they're in glass containers with rubber sealed lids in the cupboards.  I don't want them on the countertops and have to clean around them.  

Hmmm....I'll have to think about my grandma's kitchen and things I don't see any more.  Other than wood stoves, but some folks here might still have them.  I'm lookin' at you, Rugged Dude.


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## Dawgluver (May 23, 2016)

Both my gramma and my great aunt regularily made coffee in the percolator.  Aunt's coffee could disintegrate a spoon, or a dead body, it was so strong.  

They also both had citrus squeezers, a ridged glass thing that sat on a pitcher.


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## blissful (May 23, 2016)

Things you don't see in people's kitchens anymore:

A mother giving birth on the kitchen table, that's how my dad was born.
(yes the same table we ate graham crackers on)
A paid maid and cook.
Slaves.
A table for the hired help.
A kettle to boil water for baths.
Salt and Pepper shakers that look like roosters.
A gun rack.
A bucket under the sink for the waste water.
A roll of toilet paper or the sears catalog next to the door for those visiting the outhouse.


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## Addie (May 23, 2016)

Dawgluver said:


> I have copper canisters that I inherited for sugar, flour, etc., still use 'em.  They have a bit of patina on them now.  I also use my SS tea kettle regularily for boiling water for steeping jamaica (hibiscus) tea.  I have a big pitcher of it in the fridge!



I have a RevereWare tea kettle with a copper bottom. I received it as a present more than 40 years ago. I use it all the time. When I make a pot of tea, there is a big difference between heating up water in the microwave and starting with cold water in the tea kettle to bring it to a boil. 

I also have my mothers wire pastry blender and use it for making biscuits. I used to have a wooden cutlery tray for your tableware. It finally gave up the fight and fell completely apart. 

I miss going out into the countryside with my sister and finding yard sales. I have a table cloth that was made from a sheet and is all hand embroidered. I treasure that. 

Remember those kitchen service spoons with the green or red handle. I have one of the large spoons. Most of the paint is worn off. Perfect for scooping out the stuffing from inside the bird. Yeah, I prefer old to new any day.


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## Dawgluver (May 23, 2016)

Addie, you reminded me of the embroidered dishtowels my gramma and her friends shared with each other.  I also have a cute collection of Gramma's aprons.  I use them decoratively.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 24, 2016)

My canisters are in the cupboards, they are airtight bins with scoops in them.  I have 4 sets of Rooster S&P shakers, I also have a severe tea kettle/pot fetish.  I have more than one sitting on the stove.  My rolling pin is proudly displayed and used frequently.  There is a dishwasher that I do mot use, do not want.  A compost bucket on the counter.  Although I do have an electric pressure cooker that I can also use to brown meat, cook rice and use as a slow cooker.


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## Cooking Goddess (May 24, 2016)

Parts of my kitchen look like they're out of the 1950's to 1970's! I have and use my folks old wooden bread box, I have an antique drying rack that holds all sorts of tea towels and an old flour sack. I have a collection of aprons, some of which my Mom made, that have been on display and/or put to work. I even used a couple as a valance over the kitchen window! I use my Mom's old wooden-knobbed sifter for powder sugar now, since I have my "new" one for flour. It was given to me at my wedding shower 40+ years ago. Lots of old stuff in my kitchen that still gets put to work - including ME! 



jd_1138 said:


> ...Also, the tea kettle is rapidly becoming a dinosaur in a lot of homes.  Most people just put water in a mug and nuke it in the microwave...


Serious tea drinkers don't nuke water for tea, though. You need to start with fresh cold water, then bring it to the proper temperature for the tea type. Since I drink mostly black teas, a full boil is fine. Sometimes, though, we have green or white tea. Those are the times I wish I had one of those glass Chinese water kettles so I could watch the bubbles form just right. Mostly, though, because I'm a kitchen tchotchke freak.


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## Aunt Bea (May 24, 2016)

I still keep my Revere whistling teakettle on the stove and use it every day!

In my kitchen the steam iron and the ironing board are missing.  When I was growing up they seemed be a constant fixture along with the wooden clothes bars.  The clothes bars were used to dry a few clothes that had been hand washed in the kitchen sink.  

It is fun to play this game in reverse with a group of young children.  Go around the room and point out all of the things that did not exist when you were a kid then discuss how you survived without them.  It amazes the kids and makes you feel really, really old!!!


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## Andy M. (May 24, 2016)

I remember my Mom's canisters.  Really ugly.  I have no room for canisters in my small kitchen.  Sugar and rice are in plastic half gallon bottles with screw tops.  Born sugar and kosher salt are in their boxes, all in cabinets.  Flours are in their bags in the basement pantry annex.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

Dawgluver said:


> Addie, you reminded me of the embroidered dishtowels my gramma and her friends shared with each other.  I also have a cute collection of Gramma's aprons.  I use them decoratively.



Oh my! My father taught me to embroider on those dishtowels. Each day of the week was a different chore. My father did beautiful needle work. He did a peacock with his tail feather fully spread. My mother framed it and hung it. 

He was the baby of five children. Spoiled rotten by his mother and four sisters. Hung onto his mother's apron until he married my mother. She was the one who taught him to do needlework. He was also the only child that had bright red curly hair. Certainly didn't look like any half breed Native American, except for his high pronounced cheek bones. Hmmm.... Makes one wonder.


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## medtran49 (May 24, 2016)

Addie said:


> Oh my! My father taught me to embroider on those dishtowels. Each day of the week was a different chore. My father did beautiful needle work. He did a peacock with his tail feather fully spread. My mother framed it and hung it.
> .


 
I remember a dresser scarf I did as a young girl, had peacocks with tails down and up on it, as well as the Taj Mahal on it.  It was so pretty but I have no idea what happened to it.  Think we bought the pattern and materials at Kresge's.  Wish I still had the pattern (I've looked several times on-line, no luck).  DD would love something like that.


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## Mad Cook (May 24, 2016)

jd_1138 said:


> When I was a kid in the late 1970's, I recall going over to the neighbor lady's house with my mom, and they'd have coffee.  The lady had 4 or 5 wooden boxes on the counter -- one for coffee, one for tea, sugar, flour, oats.  No one has those anymore.  We do have the ceramic canister version of it -- for sugar, brown sugar.
> 
> Also, the tea kettle is rapidly becoming a dinosaur in a lot of homes.  Most people just put water in a mug and nuke it in the microwave.  I think heavy tea drinkers still have kettles though so they can make tea for more than one person at a time.  It is one of the first things I bought (at Target) in 1995 when I got my first apartment.


I have an electric kettle and an enamel stove top one, too, as back-up. I also have a tea pot - well, three teapots, actually. (Different sizes for different numbers of people.)

I also have a little gadget that makes just one cup at a time. More economical in use than the electric kettle.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

medtran49 said:


> I remember a dresser scarf I did as a young girl, had peacocks with tails down and up on it, as well as the Taj Mahal on it.  It was so pretty but I have no idea what happened to it.  Think we bought the pattern and materials at Kresge's.  Wish I still had the pattern (I've looked several times on-line, no luck).  DD would love something like that.



I just Googled the following. I do believe you will find what you have been looking for at Etsy. They have one pattern left. If that is not it, there are plenty of other peacock patterns to choose from. 

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...43US543&q=Embroidered+peacocks+dresser+scarfs


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## Steve Kroll (May 24, 2016)

My grandmother had a room just off the kitchen in their farmhouse that had a sink with one of these:






If you think about it, though, the pump in this painting couldn't possible be functional, as the handle would hit the cupboard behind it.


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## roadfix (May 24, 2016)

We did away with whistling kettles.    I love them but after a few incidents (over the years)  of forgetting and leaving them completely dry, unattended, over the lit stove, we finally switched over to an electric kettle several years ago.


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## sparrowgrass (May 24, 2016)

My Pittsburgh grandma had a big roaster on a stand.  My Missouri grandma had a gallon Dazey churn on the top of her fridge.  They both had tiny refrigerators, with just enough room for an icecube tray in the freezer.  

Hand egg beaters and potato mashers.  Granny forks--the kind with a wooden handle and 2 or 3 sharp prongs.  Flat wire whisks for beating egg whites on a plate.  I have all of those except the egg beater--and I use them.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

Aunt Bea said:


> I still keep my Revere whistling teakettle on the stove and use it every day!
> 
> In my kitchen the steam iron and the ironing board are missing.  When I was growing up they seemed be a constant fixture along with the wooden clothes bars.  The clothes bars were used to dry a few clothes that had been hand washed in the kitchen sink.
> 
> It is fun to play this game in reverse with a group of young children.  Go around the room and point out all of the things that did not exist when you were a kid then discuss how you survived without them.  It amazes the kids and makes you feel really, really old!!!



I had a Pyrex kettle when the kids were small. Also a Pyrex double boiler. 
My mother had a Hoosier Cabinet with a flour bin that worked. I don't know what happened to it when my father died. My mother kept the dish towels in the top side drawer and the small wide front drawer was the junk drawer. She knew exactly what part of that drawer something was. She would ask me to get her something from it and I would tell her I couldn't find it. "If I have to get up and get it myself, you are going to be punished. You are not even looking. It is in the left corner way in the back behind whatever." Sure enough, there it was.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

Steve Kroll said:


> My grandmother had a room just off the kitchen in their farmhouse that had a sink with one of these:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



We had one of them in the summer kitchen where all the canning was done. Always had a large jug of water sitting under the sink to prime it.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

My mother's first fridge was a used Monitor with the motor on top. Before that we had an icebox. It was my  job to empty the drip pan every day. My best friends father was our iceman. When I moved in here, his son lived here also. He took over the business when his father fell ill. 

When I got married, I got that Monitor and my father bought her a brand new one from Sears.


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## medtran49 (May 24, 2016)

Addie said:


> I just Googled the following. I do believe you will find what you have been looking for at Etsy. They have one pattern left. If that is not it, there are plenty of other peacock patterns to choose from.
> 
> https://www.google.com/search?sourc...43US543&q=Embroidered+peacocks+dresser+scarfs


 
Thanks, but unless I missed something, didn't see anything that had both the taj and peacocks on it.


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## Cheryl J (May 24, 2016)

My grandmother had a huge 2 story house with maid's quarters right off the kitchen.  It was the cutest little tiny bedroom with adjoining bath.  My brother and I used to argue over who got to sleep in there when we'd go visit her as kids. 

One thing I don't see much in kitchens anymore, thank goodness, are those hideous appliance colors such as harvest gold and avocado green.  We lived in a house out in the country when I was a kid that had a turquoise stovetop, oven and refrigerator.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

How many of your mothers' had a big brown bowl for mixing? Mine did and it was passed around with all the neighbors. That bowl made for some great stuffing.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 24, 2016)

Cheryl J said:


> My grandmother had a huge 2 story house with maid's quarters right off the kitchen.  It was the cutest little tiny bedroom with adjoining bath.  My brother and I used to argue over who got to sleep in there when we'd go visit her as kids.
> 
> One thing I don't see much in kitchens anymore, thank goodness, are *those hideous appliance colors such as harvest gold* and avocado green.  We lived in a house out in the country when I was a kid that had a turquoise stovetop, oven and refrigerator.



You been peeking in my kitchen....


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## jd_1138 (May 24, 2016)

blissful said:


> Things you don't see in people's kitchens anymore:
> 
> A mother giving birth on the kitchen table, that's how my dad was born.
> (yes the same table we ate graham crackers on)
> ...



Well we have a paid cook/maid for 2 days a week anyway.  Wife has a crushed disc in her back and can barely walk let alone do any chores.  And between me working 50 hours a week, taking care of her, her disabled brother, the dogs, the house, the laundry, cooking, shopping, etc. I was kinda tired.    I hired a young mother who goes to our church.  She has another client.

She cleans the house, organizes it, does all the laundry, makes up the beds, makes casseroles for 3 or 4 nights of dinners.  Pretty much a Godsend.  I'd probably be pushing up daisies if I had to do all this work.   

People don't hire maids/cooks anymore.  I think that's partly why unemployment is so high the last 30 years.  There used to be a lot more people employed in other people's homes.  I think like up until the 1940s(?) even most middle class people had at least a PT maid.  Granted the percentage of people in the middle class was probably low back then.  Most were barely making it.


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## jd_1138 (May 24, 2016)

Cheryl J said:


> My grandmother had a huge 2 story house with maid's quarters right off the kitchen.  It was the cutest little tiny bedroom with adjoining bath.  My brother and I used to argue over who got to sleep in there when we'd go visit her as kids.
> 
> One thing I don't see much in kitchens anymore, thank goodness, are those hideous appliance colors such as harvest gold and avocado green.  We lived in a house out in the country when I was a kid that had a turquoise stovetop, oven and refrigerator.



Yep, now those colors are popular for cars!  And appliances are white, off white, and beige.

My mother's house was built in 1905.  There's a tiny bedroom right around the corner from the kitchen.  Maybe that was the maid's quarters?  It's the most original room in the entire house -- has original hardwood floors and wood trimwork around the doors and windows.  And the bathroom next to it has the original clawfoot tub and a small pedestal sink.


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## Cheryl J (May 24, 2016)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> You been peeking in my kitchen....


Gold is better than turquoise! JMHO.  Back then our neighbors had pink appliances. Things sure have changed over the years! 

I read an article on FB recently that said the pink tile and sinks in bathrooms is making a comeback. Old is new again!


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## Dawgluver (May 24, 2016)

Cheryl J said:


> Gold is better than turquoise! JMHO.  Back then our neighbors had pink appliances. Things sure have changed over the years!
> 
> I read an article on FB recently that said the pink tile and sinks in bathrooms is making a comeback. Old is new again!




My parents' house was decorated in pink and turquoise many eons ago.  Everything, including the sinks, tub, and toilets were pink.  And when DH and I got together, he had Harvest Gold and Avocado appliances, along with an orange shag carpet at his house!  Eventually we fixed that.


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## Janet H (May 24, 2016)

Stuff you don;t see in kitchens these days?

Pie safes
A wood stove
A ice box (that takes block ice)
Long drain boards
A pantry cabinet with built in bins for flour and sugar storage
Oil cloth table covers
real linen towels


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## jd_1138 (May 24, 2016)

That old faucet is pretty cool.

My uncle lived out in the woods.  His "kitchen" was a piece of plywood screwed into some 2x4 ledgers on the wall.  There was a meat grinder bolted to the edge.  He had 3 or 4 rifles on the kitchen wall, sink was a metal washtub.  I opened the pantry and there was only like a salt shaker, pepper shaker, garlic salt, and a few cans of veggies.  

Flies buzzing around.  It was like something out of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Sheesh.


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## Aunt Bea (May 24, 2016)

When I was in about the 5th or 6th grade my mother remarried and we moved into a little village.  The house was a precut bungalow, built in the 1920's, from a company called Aladdin Homes.  In the kitchen floor was a small hole that had been the drain for the old oak icebox.  The large white wall hung kitchen sink had a porcelain drain board and three taps, one for hot, cold and cistern.  The cistern was a large copper tub in the attic that collected rain water from the roof.  The cistern had been disconnected by the time we came along.  The sink remained for many years after we moved in, then came the big remodel in the 1970's complete with avocado green appliances!


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## Cheryl J (May 24, 2016)

*Dawg*....my first house had green shag carpeting - well, can't really call it carpeting because it was those stick on 'carpet tiles'.  LOL.  Those went away very soon after we moved in. 

*JD*....wow, you are a very busy guy.  I'm *really* glad that you make the time to come in here and visit with us. Sending hugs to you. 

I'm enjoying reading everyone's stories here!


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## Cooking Goddess (May 24, 2016)

jd_1138 said:


> ...People don't hire maids/cooks anymore...


Yup, what Cheryl said, *jd*.  ~~  My best friend back home used to have a cleaning lady come every week. I love my friend even more than I could love a blood sister if I had one, but you could not pay me enough to clean her house. She is a 1000% certified clutter-bug.  She's probably doing her own cleaning now; her hubby was forced to retire when he turned 66. Gotta tighten the purse strings somehow.



Janet H said:


> Stuff you don;t see in kitchens these days?
> 
> ...real linen towels


Come visit me, Janet. I have real linen towels in my kitchen. They hang on a vintage drying rack I got years ago, and I use them regularly for produce and fine glassware.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

Janet H said:


> Stuff you don;t see in kitchens these days?
> 
> Pie safes
> A wood stove
> ...



I learned to cook on a wooden stove. To this day I can tell the temp of the oven by sticking my hand in it. We also had an icebox. And she had that Hoosier Cabinet with the flour bin and sifter on the bottom. It held 10 pounds of flour. We also had a kitchen table that was all metal and there were two leaves, one at each end. You pulled them out to make it bigger. We also had a double white sink on two legs and the faucets came out of the wall. The top of the deep sink that was on the left was removable for rinsing laundry. 

My mother's first washing machine was a Kenmore wringer washer along with a Kenmore fridge and television. The washer was on wheels. You pushed it over to the sink and hung the drain hose over the smaller sink, and would swing the wringer over the deep sink filled with cold water for rinsing. Then you put the laundry through the wringer again so it went into a large laundry basket placed on the floor. The laundry was not ready to hang on the clothesline that was strung between two buildings on a pulley. On the farm, it was strung between the summer kitchen and the barn. When we moved to the city, it was strung between the next door building or a telephone pole and the side of our window. I still miss hanging out laundry and the smell of when you brought it in. 

BTW, this is another great thread. Really enjoying it. Thanks.


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## Addie (May 24, 2016)

Cooking Goddess said:


> Yup, what Cheryl said, *jd*.  ~~
> 
> Come visit me, Janet. I have real linen towels in my kitchen. They hang on a vintage drying rack I got years ago, and I use them regularly for produce and fine glassware.



My mother had real linen cloths. She received her mother's silverware set. Her older sister had kept it for her and gave it to her when she married. It came out every holiday and she used the linen cloths for the final polishing. We would sit down at the table together. She would apply the polish and I gave it the final polish with the linen clothes after it was all washed clean of any polish she might have missed. Those cloths were only used for that purpose. They got washed immediately after we were through. Washed by hand of course. 

I was born between two worlds. Growing up during the days of the outhouse  to outer space. Pumping water in the summer kitchen to running water in the regular kitchen and then to bottled water. 

BTW, do any of you remember having a stack gas heater for hot water? We had one in the kitchen with a large tank of water right beside it. You had to heat it up to do laundry, dishes and take a bath.


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## jd_1138 (May 25, 2016)

Addie said:


> I was born between two worlds. Growing up during the days of the outhouse  to outer space. Pumping water in the summer kitchen to running water in the regular kitchen and then to bottled water.
> 
> BTW, do any of you remember having a stack gas heater for hot water? We had one in the kitchen with a large tank of water right beside it. You had to heat it up to do laundry, dishes and take a bath.



I remember watching _Ode to Billie Joe_ (set in the 1950's) in the late 1970's when I was a small kid.  And the scene where they get an indoor toilet puzzled me.  My mom explained that she had an outhouse when she was little in the 1950's in Mississippi  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaRacIzZSPo


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 25, 2016)

Janet H said:


> Stuff you don;t see in kitchens these days?
> 
> Pie safes
> A wood stove
> ...


 
Lehman's.com or Vermont country store has those.  I'm getting one for the next Thanksgiving I host.


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## Cooking Goddess (May 25, 2016)

*PF*, you can also buy oilcloth by the yard. As long as you have a way to finish the edge, you would have sooooo many choices! There are lots of sites that googled up. Here's one of them: *Oilcloth by the Yard*




Addie said:


> ..We also had a kitchen table that was all metal and there were two leaves, one at each end...


Himself's family had a metal one that pulled apart to drop a leaf in. Meanwhile, back in my kitchen, I still have an old metal table. I usually keep the side by the chair up, and use it as a work table to trim beans, peel apples, etc. The other end is just across from the fridge. I lock it up when I'm pulling things from the fresh or frozen compartments when I really have to do a deep dive. It's my cheapskate's version of a cooking island. 

When we got that table from my aunt and uncle decades ago, the top was completely covered in green marble contact paper. I left it like that until I decided to promote it upstairs.  I was surprised how new looking the Formica was. I had figured my aunt covered it to hide some sins.


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## Addie (May 25, 2016)

As a child, a lot of my friends homes had an oilcloth on their kitchen table. The edges were always cut with pinking shears. If their kitchen table was wood, then you can bet it was covered in oilcloth. Since we had an all metal one, my mother never had the table covered except on holidays. The she used a nice tablecloth. 

What I remember about oilcloth is that in the summer before AC, it would get very sticky, no matter how much you cleaned it. Try leaning your arms on it or playing cards. Then if you put a hot plate of food on it, it would stick to it.


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## Aunt Bea (May 25, 2016)

Cooking Goddess said:


> *PF*, you can also buy oilcloth by the yard. *As long as you have a way to finish the edge*, you would have sooooo many choices! There are lots of sites that googled up. Here's one of them: *Oilcloth by the Yard*
> 
> 
> We never finished the edge of the oil cloth.  We centered it on the table and carefully folded the edges under the table, it stayed in place with a couple of thumbtacks until it needed to be replaced.
> ...


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## Kaneohegirlinaz (May 25, 2016)

my stuff is in storage for the next 6 months, but here's 
a photo cutesy of etsy, 
but I do still have a beater just like this


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## bakechef (May 26, 2016)

Addie said:


> How many of your mothers' had a big brown bowl for mixing? Mine did and it was passed around with all the neighbors. That bowl made for some great stuffing.



My mom still has hers, it's a big earthenware or some other ceramic type bowl, quite rustic.  She always mixed up her stuffing in it and her large batch of yeast dough.


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## bakechef (May 26, 2016)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> You been peeking in my kitchen....



The hall where we got married had a vintage Gibson range in that dark brown.  It was in showroom condition and worked perfectly.  If that was in my house when I bought it, I'd definitely keep it and use it!  They also had a huge Garland restaurant range, but I was drawn to the old one.


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## Addie (May 26, 2016)

bakechef said:


> My mom still has hers, it's a big earthenware or some other ceramic type bowl, quite rustic.  She always mixed up her stuffing in it and her large batch of yeast dough.



Our mothers' must have known each other. I can still see my mother sitting at the table that also had the radio on it, mixing her stuffing in her big brown ceramic bowl.


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## jd_1138 (May 26, 2016)

Addie said:


> Our mothers' must have known each other. I can still see my mother sitting at the table that also had the radio on it, mixing her stuffing in her big brown ceramic bowl.



A radio is something you don't really see anymore in a kitchen.  Even though they take away the drudgery of slicing and dicing.

Grandmother had one of those Bakelite AM radios from like the 50's.  It was baby blue.  I usually have my phone on in the kitchen -- paying Pandora or a podcast.


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## rodentraiser (May 26, 2016)

Canisters? I have 7 of them in my kitchen right now and I'd like to get another 3 or 4 of them.

I don't have a breadbox because bread would go moldy in it because I rarely go through even a loaf a month. Although I had friends that ended up getting one. They lived in an old farmhouse on a horse boarding stable and soon the mice discovered their cupboards.......we all found out real fast what metal breadboxes were for.

One thing I haven't seen in anyone's kitchen in a long time is a cookie jar being used for cookies. I had one I used to keep on top of the fridge, but that held all the seeds I bought for planting through the year.


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## Addie (May 27, 2016)

jd_1138 said:


> A radio is something you don't really see anymore in a kitchen.  Even though they take away the drudgery of slicing and dicing.
> 
> Grandmother had one of those Bakelite AM radios from like the 50's.  It was baby blue.  I usually have my phone on in the kitchen -- paying Pandora or a podcast.



My mother listened to her soap operas. Our Gal Sunday, Helen Trent, etc.


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## Aunt Bea (May 27, 2016)

My grandmother always had one of these old soap savers.  You put a bar of soap or scraps of soap in the cage and swish it about in a pan of hot water to make your cleaning solution.  She used it when she washed a few clothes in the kitchen sink.


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## Mad Cook (Jul 8, 2016)

Addie said:


> I had a Pyrex kettle when the kids were small. Also a Pyrex double boiler.
> My mother had a Hoosier Cabinet with a flour bin that worked. I don't know what happened to it when my father died. My mother kept the dish towels in the top side drawer and the small wide front drawer was the junk drawer. She knew exactly what part of that drawer something was. She would ask me to get her something from it and I would tell her I couldn't find it. "If I have to get up and get it myself, you are going to be punished. You are not even looking. It is in the left corner way in the back behind whatever." Sure enough, there it was.


When I was a little girl one of my aunts lived in a house built in the 1920s which had a "Yorkshire" range, like this one http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...-_1092763a.jpg. She no longer cooked on it as she had "modernised" up to a proper gas cooker but it was the main source of heat and hot water. When I stayed with her in winter she used to put my vest and knickers and "liberty bodice" (anyone else in the UK remember those in the 1950s?) in the oven part of the range to warm before we got up.


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## Mad Cook (Jul 8, 2016)

jd_1138 said:


> *A radio is something you don't really see anymore in a kitchen*.  Even though they take away the drudgery of slicing and dicing.
> 
> Grandmother had one of those Bakelite AM radios from like the 50's.  It was baby blue.  I usually have my phone on in the kitchen -- paying Pandora or a podcast.


You do in my kitchen. In fact, I have a radio in every room in the house, including the bathroom! One of them is a little Bakelite table top valve radio that Ma and Pa bought when they were expecting me (in, um, 1949!). It still works well although the move to FM and digital broadcasting has limited the availability of stations nowadays.

The pictures on the radio are so much better than on the television!


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## Addie (Jul 8, 2016)

rodentraiser said:


> Canisters? I have 7 of them in my kitchen right now and I'd like to get another 3 or 4 of them.
> 
> I don't have a breadbox because bread would go moldy in it because I rarely go through even a loaf a month. Although I had friends that ended up getting one. They lived in an old farmhouse on a horse boarding stable and soon the mice discovered their cupboards.......we all found out real fast what metal breadboxes were for.
> 
> One thing I haven't seen in anyone's kitchen in a long time is a cookie jar being used for cookies. I had one I used to keep on top of the fridge, but that held all the seeds I bought for planting through the year.



I just got rid of my cookie jar last month. It was a bucket well cookie jar. All I used it for was to collect dust. Had that thing for eons. Since my kids were real small.


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## Katie H (Jul 8, 2016)

rodentraiser said:


> Canisters? I have 7 of them in my kitchen right now and I'd like to get another 3 or 4 of them.
> 
> One thing I haven't seen in anyone's kitchen in a long time is a cookie jar being used for cookies. I had one I used to keep on top of the fridge, but that held all the seeds I bought for planting through the year.



Oh, I love canisters and have lots of them...and use them.

As for cookie jars, I've never been without one.  At the moment our cookie jar is pretty generic, but when there's a holiday or seasonal theme, the cookie jar reflects same.  I mainly do the change-out because of grandchildren but I enjoy seeing the many different and familiar old jars on the counter when it's their turn.

Glenn loves cookies, which means the cookie jar always has something in it.  He knows it and the grandchildren know it.


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## Andy M. (Jul 8, 2016)

We don't have cookie jars but we do have candy dishes.  When our grandson was younger, he'd ask for a piece of candy.  Grammy as always happy to join him in a few pieces.  Now he's older and I've told him he can help himself without asking.  He doesn't abuse the privilege.


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## Addie (Jul 8, 2016)

Mad Cook said:


> You do in my kitchen. In fact, I have a radio in every room in the house, including the bathroom! One of them is a little Bakelite table top valve radio that Ma and Pa bought when they were expecting me (in, um, 1949!). It still works well although the move to FM and digital broadcasting has limited the availability of stations nowadays.
> 
> *The pictures on the radio are so much better than on the television*!



My mother had a radio right there on the kitchen table until the day she died. As a child, I remember all of us sitting around the table right after supper and the dishes and kitchen was cleaned, listening to so many favorite radio shows. You could always see the bad guy hiding in the shadows in the alley. Then you would hear the footsteps of the good guy walking down that alley right into danger.


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