What is Retro Kitchen Furniture

Here's the question: what is retro kitchen furniture? The simple answer is that it's furniture from the 1950's or mid-century kitchen. But what makes up such a look? That's the answer I will go through here.

The Retro 1950's Story

To understand better how the retro look of the 1950's came about, you want to understand what was going in history at that time. World War II was over, the U.S. was recovered financially from that. But, during the war, women went to work in droves. They got a much better taste for independence and doing things outside of the housework.

This translated into women wanting an easier time for doing the house hold chores. Couple this with new materials being developed. Specifically plastic and chrome.

Mid-Century Furniture Designers 

The 1950's furniture designers and manufacturers took heed of the "new" housewife. They started designing kitchen furniture that was sleek and so easy to clean and care for. Less time taking at house hold chores was what women wanted.

Along with these new kitchen furniture features came new color schemes for the kitchen. Colors other than wood-browns turned those 1950's kitchens into glorious rooms. Rooms that were "women's colors." Pink, green, blue, red were very popular. Even black with chrome became a popular color scheme for those retro kitchens.

We've Come a Long Way, Baby

Of course materials to make kitchen furniture have changed dramatically since the 1950's. But, the look of a retro kitchen is still a popular and fun decorating style. Mom's Diner continues to be a great way to show the family who's really in charge.

Pink: The Fun Color for a Retro Kitchen

A retro kitchen designed in the 1950's or 1960's style has lots of fun colors to work with. But a favorite and popular one is pink. Pink mixed with purple, pink with white, even pink with black all work great for your retro kitchen color scheme.

The colors from the retro kitchen world include, teal, yellow, red, orange, black, white and yes, pink. So you have lots of options to work with if you enjoy using pink in your color scheme.

Adding little accent pieces like pink mixing or serving bowls can help you create that retro look. Use them for serving dishes for your family and guests, use them for decorating pieces in different parts of your kitchen, or just use the bowls for your own cooking.

One of things I like about using pink in your color scheme is that you don't need to go all out and have a pink as your main color. Pink makes a great accent color as well.

Think about ways that you can use pink in your own retro kitchen, like setting a pink mixing bowl on your table as part of the centerpiece. Maybe on a shelf above your retro aprons, or as part of your open cabinet storage so your pink mixing bowl set can be seen.

Anyway you like to use pink in your decorating, it makes for a fun color in a retro kitchen. Even just the little accent pieces like retro mixing bowls can be your pink accent color.

Choosing Color Schemes for a Retro Kitchen

When choosing your colors to create a retro kitchen look, you need to be thinking about bold, bright and interesting colors. But, that's not all. Pastels were big in the 1950's look of the kitchen as well.

It was not unusual to see a pink or baby blue kitchen. Pure white with black accents was also a popular color scheme. In other words, colors that had not been in the domain of the kitchen before, came boldly to the forefront in the 1950's.

Yellows and orange color schemes showed up in kitchens as well. Reds and aqua blues seemed to be a mainstay in the new homes of the era. But the effect of chrome accented every color.

In the mid-century, women were delighted with colorful look of their kitchens. They created a haven for the cooking and dining that was entirely their domain.

So when you are thinking of your color scheme, think colorful. You can start with a main color and use a strong accent to go with it. Think about yellow as a main color. Then you can choose red, blue, even orange as your strong accent color. Or start with white and use any color as your accent. Remember to keep in mind the chrome effect that will show off just about any color scheme in your retro kitchen.