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
Slender women, nice.
In the 1970s, you’d see a mother in the kitchen. Since then, the latchkey kids wait for her to come home from work.
Ash trays
Peak America. We were so far ahead of the world in 1970 it’s not even funny. All downhill from there.
A great decade
Well other than the 1974 Arab Oil Embargo ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽ ⛽
and Jimmy Carter
Plus we had all the muscle cars from the
1960s and 1970s
I just filled up (almost)
About a block and a half from
where I bought gas for 42.9 in 1975
Tonight, 3.09.9, almost 50 years later
(Slender women, nice.)
And no tattoos all over her body
nor a nose-piercing
Most of the things listed were NOT found in the kitchen...
Roller Skates?
8 Track Tapes?
etc...
I still have a fondue set.
You havent lived until you've been to Graceland and have seen the carpet on the celling.
Avocado, of course.
.
Do you use it?
I remember a place that the color scheme was avocado and tangerine, with a shag rug.
Have not used it in years. I also have an electric knife and we never use it either. We just forget about them.
The example I use is that we were knocking golf balls around on the moon more than a half century ago.
We used to have milk deliveries up until about 1975. We had a big family so the milk-man would com twice a week. The local dairy even gave us a small, open-top refrigerator for the milk
He would park his truck at the end of the driveway, and we could hear him whistling as he walked to the door. He would walk right into the kitchen without knocking, while we kids were eating breakfast. He would say hello to everyone, unload the milk, and walk out again.
We kids didn’t find it strange at all
That reminds me, moving furniture around in 1970 was no fun, it was heavy.
Amana Radar Range
Amana...leader in kitchen appliances since 1881.
I don’t think my mother had a fondue set or a electric knife, but we had a crepe pan, the kind with almost a dome. I don’t remember her making crepes after the very early 80s.
The most important thing in our mid-fifties kitchen was Mitzi, a wonderful cook and housekeeper who had escaped Austria and Hitler.
My mom was very pretty and charming but couldn’t scramble an egg.
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