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What’s in the fridge
A retro fridge is a beautiful thing as demonstrated below, there are plenty of modern day manufacturers making retro fridges with bulky rounded doors that look like safes and wouldn’t look out of place in a bank.
These rounded fridge types are indicative of the 40s, 50s and 60s, previously fridges were hidden in cabinets in order to disguise as as furniture. The 40s saw functional fridges, in the 50s these were proudly displayed and by the 60s doors became flatter and emphasis shifted to what the fridge had inside in terms of fridge space and freezing capacity.
A 1960s fridge. You can tell because of the flat door design with the unabashed motor on display at bottom to create more space in the fridge. Also note the jelly’s, the iconic foodstuff of the era.
Above photograph found in google images. Used here for fair use to demonstrate typical fridge contents. Any issue regarding copyright please contact the website administrator by emailing email@tonyabbott.co.uk
A 1960s fridge. Note the flat doors design. Perhaps the best way to see what would have been inside a 50s/60s fridge is to look at fridge adverts of that period and see the ingredients that were available, even though the advert designers may have been a little exuberant in stocking the fridge to its limit. Most families no doubt would not have been anywhere near so opulent but it does demonstrate how the ‘ideal’ fridge might look.
Until the 1950s fridges were all white, still today kitchen appliances are referred to as white goods (fridges, washing machines, dish washers). But the 50s saw colour, offering exciting new ways to design kitchens.
Examples: Stratford Yellow, Sherwood Green, Turquoise Green, Petal Pink and Canary Yellow. A plethora of colours were introduced but most were not popular, Cadet Blue and Woodtone Brown for example not lasting more than ten years, and most other colours not even lasting that long. The three colours that survived into the mid sixties and beyond were: Standard yellow, pink and turquoise, with Coppertone being the new popular shade.
Coppertone and Turquiois were the favourites until the late 60s when they were overtaken by Harvest Gold and Avocado which would remain popular choices throughout the 70s.
White has always been the most purchased. It makes small areas look larger by blending in easier with the overall space and will adjust to new decorating whims.
Deep ‘Freeze’ & Personal
top left: Some guy found an old fridge and this is what was inside, dating back to the 60s. The absence of food is a mystery.
Gordon Russell
from Cumbria
Doris Stogdale
Carol Ashley
How nice to have newsworthy items about your fridge that newspapers are interested enough to print.
Well these three people are documented for posterity to bring some dignity back to the humble British fridge, or dare I say it … ‘refrigerator’. Read their ‘cool’ stories.
lower left: I think this is scene is taken from the 60s series bewitched. Nice avocado colour which was a popular shade during the period.
Still going after 92 years: The fridge that cost more than a Model T Ford
Article source: MailOnline, 13 November 2010
Photos by Mark Richards & MailOnline
In our modern world, they are everyday items which rarely merit a second glance.
But when this fridge was made, it cost more than a car and was the luxury preserve of the very wealthy.
The timber-framed model is still going strong after being brought to Britain from the U.S. shortly after the First World War.
Pride of the kitchen for three generations: Ian’s 92-year-old ‘Frigidair’.
Back in the day: The very first of the refrigerator ranges.
It cost $775 – compared with $450 for a Model T Ford car.
Although the fridge’s exact age is unclear, its owner Ian Pasley-Tyler believes it may have been built as far back as 1918, making it 92 years old.
What is certain is that his grandfather, British-born entrepreneur Harold Bryant, shipped it here in 1923 after making his fortune across the Atlantic.
Either way, it is the oldest known working fridge by a long shot.
‘It still does a fantastic job, just as it was designed to do all those years ago, and it has become a piece of our family history,’ said Mr Pasley-Tyler, 70, a retired banker who is a Tory district councillor.
‘It is very noisy and I am sure it uses loads of electricity but it is incredible that it is still working.
‘There is no reason why it should not keep going for many years. It was built in an age when things were made to last.’
Mr Pasley-Tyler, a father of three, realised his fridge could be the oldest working model in Britain after the Daily Mail told of other owners claiming the title.
Last month Doris Stogdale, 89, of Oxford, was still using the 58-year-old General Electric fridge bought when she lived in Malaysia.
She was trumped this week by Don and Carol Ashley, whose 63-year-old English Electric model is still working at their home in Cockshutt, Shropshire.
The 5ft tall fridge owned by Mr Pasley-Tyler and his wife Susie, 67, is believed to be one of the first built by makers Frigidaire.
It stands at their 17th century manor house, Coton Manor, near Gilsborough, Northamptonshire, and is used for drinks and less perishable food like butter.
Cheaper option: A Model T Ford cost $450 in 1918, compared to fridge’s $775.
The fridge was inherited by Mr Bryant’s only child Haroldine, who lived in the house with her husband Henry Pasley-Tyler, and then passed to their son Ian in 1990.
Apart from needing new door hinges three years ago, it has never needed maintenance, he said.
‘It is a comforting sound because it is always there,’ added Mr Pasley-Tyler. ‘It is a treasured heirloom and we have absolutely no reason to chuck it out.’
The two-way refrigerator from General Electric 1952
The Kelninator late 1950s
The Westinghouse frost free refrigerator commercial 1951
Frigidaire 1964 Deluxe model
Magazine Advertisemnets for your kitchen
The first known artificial refrigeration system was showcased at the University of Glasgow by William Cullen in 1748, while the first blueprint of the refrigeration machine was made by American inventor Oliver Evans in 1805. Based on Evans’ design, an American physician – John Gorrie – built a refrigerator to treat his patients suffering from yellow fever. The benefits of refrigeration were soon realized by the brewing industry, followed by the packaging industry.
(Pictured) An Electrolux representative demonstrates the mechanics of one of the company’s refrigerators at the Savoy Hotel in London, England, in February 1926.