This is part 2 of our deep dive into mid-century kitchens. In the last post on MidCenturyPage.com, we showed 15 kitchens found in 1950s women’s magazines. The years 1949 to 1952 were covered.
Here are 17 more kitchens. These range from 1953 to 1964.
This kitchen was found in the April 1953 edition of Today’s Woman magazine. It comes from an ad for Crosley Kitchens. The company was promoting their contest which awarded 100 lucky participants to a free remodeled kitchen. Crosley featured a line of cabinets, countertops, sinks, and appliances for the homeowner.
The colorful kitchen you see is from a 1953 ad for Kem-Glo. According to the ad, the colors used are Caprice Yellow and Crystal Turquoise. The paint was made to mimic baked enamel.
Your kitchen deserves America’s favorite and finest enamel. Looks and washes like baked enamel
The cool kitchen you see with red counters and a large gas range was featured in a remodeling article found on the pages of the August 1953 edition of Living magazine. The article talks about the individual needs of the homeowner. In this case, the homeowners were tall and their family was growing. To meet their needs, their new cabinets were built extra high. Extra care was given to make sure space and new appliances worked well for a growing family.
This bright kitchen with vinyl tile flooring and yellow cabinets came from an articled titled “Kitchen with a View”. What was the view? A TV which fit perfectly inside a kitchen cabinet in the dining area of the kitchen.
The article was published in the March 1953 edition of living magazine. What else is interesting about the kitchen? There is a laundry room on the other side of the half wall.
According to the article, the strange looking appliance in the far corner is a washing machine.
The off white cabinets and counter-top in this kitchen are brightened up with yellow curtains. It is perhaps the chrome handles and rounded edges that make me want to time travel back to 1953 to see it in person. At the time, it was trendy to have a matching laundry room next to the kitchen as shown below.
I love that even the washer and dryer have an art-deco vibe.
Rough-pine beams are use as the ceiling for this kitchen with knotty-pine cabinets. The kitchen has a desk and a washer and dryer. Note that even though wood is the main driver in this kitchen, the counter-top edges are still metal. This 1955 kitchen comes from a May 1955 edition of Family Circle magazine titled “New Tri-Level House”.
By the mid-1950s, the kitchen trends changed a bit. Note this illustration from a Youngstown kitchen ad. The sharp lines in the cabinet handles show a more modern touch. Youngstown catered to new homeowners and those remodeling. The ad provided a form to clip out and send to request an appointment with a representative.
Let him show you your dream kitchen in perfect miniature, and how easily you can install it yourself. If building or buying, specify a Youngstown Kitchen. You’ll save!.
The ad also provided instruction on how to look up Youngstown in the yellow pages.
For name of your nearest dealer, consult the yellow pages of your telephone directory under “Kitchen Equipment – Household” or “Kitchen Cabinets,” or call Western Union, Operator 25.
The pink, wood, and chrome kitchen you see comes from a 1957 Woman’s Day article titled “Kitchens are the heart of the home”. It describes how to plan ahead for a new kitchen. This counter and cabinet height of this kitchen was designed for a 5 foot tall woman. Frustrated by counters that were too high for her to work efficiently, she customized the counter-tops to a convenient height thanks to advance planning.
The March 1957 edition of Woman’s Day also featured this kitchen remodel. It belonged to a growing family with the need to expand their existing kitchen to include a washer and dryer. The remodel included adding a washer and dryer and repainting the existing appliances with a high-quality satin finish paint.
From 1958, this kitchen was found in an ad for St Charles Custom Kitchens. it shows a much different kitchen with a periwinkle and white color scheme. It offers a unique stove-top island.
Off-the-floor and contemporary styling in one kitchen – with convenient center island.
This large kitchen comes from a 1959 Woman’s Day article titled “Once in a lifetime Kitchen”. The article is written for anyone who dreams of the perfect kitchen.
The editors of Woman’s Day designed this kitchen to give you ideas, ideas which you can use or file or adapt to your space and your family’s living pattern.
I have included the 2 page article as a bonus. It can be downloaded here or at the end of this post below.
Here is another pink mid-century kitchen. It comes from a Formica ad found in the March 1959 edition of Good Housekeeping. Formica was used for the walls, cabinets, counter tops, and floor.
By the time this ad for Armstrong Floors was published in 1959, the mid-century kitchen trends had changed. Note the open space, blonde wood, bar stools, and easy access to the family-room. Gone are the metal cabinets and chrome accents. Here we see a family room perfect for an active family with a vintage TV and sewing machine. Even the refrigerator has a different look.
This kitchen from 1961 shows an even more drastic change in mid-century kitchens. It comes from a Congoleum-Nairn fine floors ad found on the pages of the May 1961 issue of McCalls. Note the “more is more” patterns, textures, shapes, and colors which differed significantly from 1950s kitchens. Even the upper cabinets are wall-papered.
The September 1964 edition of McCalls showed this kitchen in an article titled, “A Home Economist Cooks Here”. The colorful kitchen has stainless steel, cherry red, avocado green, wood, and yellow tile floors.
“Kitchen with Kids in Mind” was the name of the 1964 article that featured this 1960s kitchen in gold, orange, and stainless steel. It represents another example of a shift from simple to busy as the 1960s homeowners explored new trends.
To finalize this deep dive into mid-century kitchens, here is one more kitchen featured in the September 1964 edition of McCalls. Titled, “A Designer’s Own Kitchen”, the 1960s kitchen has an interesting island table which serves as an electric range top. The kitchen was part of a remodel in an old house which is described as having a perfect blend of old and new.
Bonus
Here is the full article from #11 above. It is available for download.
Mid-Century Page 
Pingback: Explore Mid-Century Kitchen Designs: 15 Inspiring Images (part 1) – Mid-Century Page
Pingback: 1951 – Dream Kitchen – Mid-Century Page