Do you hide your modern conveniences ?

[tuppence]

If you like to completely immerse yourself in the vintage lifestyle, but can't bare to do without a microwave, dishwasher and large screen TVs etc, do you try to hide them ? Just looking for novel ideas to make modern appliances a little more discrete

 

[greatestescaper]

The wife and I don't have a microwave, the dishwasher is relatively small, and as for a tv, we have a projector. When not watching something it's very easily hidden.

 

[Fading Fast]

No dishwasher, just the two of us and we can wash and dry faster than fussing with a dishwasher. Microwave and TV will be in vintage looking cabinets, so you only see them when they are in use.

We are having a early 1900's Globe Wernicke cabinet repurposed to hold a TV and all the stuff that goes along with a TV today. So when you walk in the room, you'll just see an old cabinet. In the kitchen, we are having the cabinets built to a vintage style (very "bungalow" look - think a very scaled-down-in-size version of cabinets you'd seen the kitchens of the Newport Mansions - just in style, our kitchen is small). The microwave will be behind a cabinet that has a couple of old bin pulls on it, so it will not affect the vintage aesthetic at all.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I wouldn't be able to fit a dishwasher in here even if I wanted one -- the plumbing wouldn't stand it, and there's very little counter space. I've got a microwave, but it's thirty years old, and is shoved in a corner in the pantry under a shelf. I don't conceal it, but nobody would notice it if they didn't have reason to look, because you can't see the corner unless you go into the pantry. The TV is from 1954, so it's just sitting there on a table in the living room with rabbit ears on top of it.

My mother has the best conjunction of new stuff and old -- she keeps her microwave on top of the little icebox that came with the house. The icebox itself is used as a filing cabinet for bills. I say filing cabinet, she actually just shoves them in and jams the door shut.

 

[2jakes]

I keep the food that needs to go in the icebox in here.

There's a HD Sony TV behind this book shelf that I built.

 

[Stearmen]

Here are some ideas for hiding the kitchen eye soars! http://www.houzz.com/hidden-refrigerator If you have a wall mounted flat screen TV, just get a painting or print you like in the corresponding size, couple of hooks, and you are done. Routers and modems can be hidden in wooden boxes, or jewelry boxes.

 

[Fading Fast]

2jakes, does the bookshelf slide out of the way or something when you want to watch the TV - or said another way, I assume there is some easy way to make the TV watchable?

 

[2jakes]

2jakes, does the bookshelf slide out of the way or something when you want to watch the TV - or said another way, I assume there is some easy way to make the TV watchable?

The book shelf consists of the entire wall (not shown). The TV is behind one of my paintings
among the books.

Mostly watch TCM, PBS & on occasions the Grand Slams of tennis.








Here’s a cool wood burner for beetle-maniacs !

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

I try to blend them by choosing appliances that fit in well. The microwave is brushed steel and doesn't look too out of place - it's a combi-oven so I use it quite a lot for baking as well as steaming vegetables (best method ever). Coffee grinder is a still-working 1960s model and I also have a manual one. No dishwasher; never had one and never seen any use for one. I don't have a washing machine either since most of my clothes are best handwashed - I still do a 'wash day'. My neighbour insists I wash my underwear in her washing machine, which I do on occasion.

In any case the ideal kitchen of the time in the late '40s and '50s, looked forward to a sort of modernism so appliances don't have to be excluded.

The telly is from last century and while not exactly 'vintage' it might as well be judging by the usual reaction from people! The only visible 21st century object is my laptop.

 

[Stormy]

I don't hide modern conveniences. I just don't have any.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

I don't hide modern conveniences. I just don't have any.

No refrigerator (at least one that isn't a menace to the environment)? There's nothing wrong with a few modern devices.

 

[Bushman]

No refrigerator (at least one that isn't a menace to the environment)? There's nothing wrong with a few modern devices.

It's not like they didn't have refrigerators and ovens in the Golden Age, either.

 

[vitanola]

I hide none of my modern conveniences. The electric lights are right out in the open, the refrigerator, a 1925 Kelvinator is in the kitchen, as is the insulated, automatic gas range. The electric appliances; percolator, waffle iron, toaster, chafing dish, etc, can plug right in to the outlet under the electric dome over the dining table or into the drop cord in the kitchen The radio, phonograph, and Pianola sit right out in the living room. I do keep the vacuum sweeper in the broom closet.

The washing machine is in the the cellar, though.

"No refrigerator (at least one that isn't a menace to the environment)?"

Late 1950's, 1960's and 1970's refrigerators are a menace to the environment. The early self-defrosters are energy hogs, but what would one expect? They were made at a time when electricity was very cheap. On the other hand, early refrigerators were made in an age when electricity cost perhaps ten times what it does today, and so are very efficient. Sulfur dioxide, the refrigerant used in so many early units, is an exceptionally good refrigerant. A typical General Electric "Monitor Top" will consume about two hundred KWH/ year.

Ranges and cook-stoves of the 1930-1950 period are generally quite serviceable in modern use. In fact both gas and electric ranges are in most cases easier to keep spotless than their modern counterparts. Units which were cheap when they were new are of course less satisfactory. They neither cook as well nor are they as easily cleaned, but that does not tend to be much of a problem, for high quality anitique stoves are generally no more expensive today than their cheap counterparts.

When we renovated the big house in. 2002-2003 the "Better Half" insisted upon modern appliances. We installed Jenn-Air. Convection ovens (2), GE Profile gas and electric cook tops, a Frigidaire side-by-side refrigerator, and two Bosch dish washers. Both this washers have been replaced, the gas cook top constantly clicks, two burners in the electric cook top have failed, one door of the refrigerator has rusted through, and both ovens have had been serviced at least three times. When I built the kitchen in the little house the "Better Half" decided that we should go back to antique appliances, as they are easier to use and to keep clean.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

Two dish washers? Is it a hotel?

 

[Bushman]

Two dish washers? Is it a hotel?

It's possible he has something like what I have: my dishwasher is separated into two parts, and it looks like all my other cabinets and drawers in my kitchen, with wood paneling on the outside to blend in. I do the same with my refrigerator. Now that I think about it, I would say that I guess I could count that as "hiding my modern conveniences", but I couldn't exactly do the same wood paneling trick with my microwave.

 

[Edward]

When I had my kitchen fitted, I went with a fairly classic style that (I think!) won't date. It's not exactly "vintage", but my life is too busy for a show kitchen. It does however, have an overall design that is flattering to the property (ex-local authority flat, opened in 1951). My dishwasher (came "free" with the kitchen - didn't think I needed it, now I love it) has a front panel that matches in with the cupboards, as does my fridge / freezer. I bought an extra door to do the same with my washing machine when I changed it, but in the end I baulked at paying an extra £100 for aconcealed machine, as well as the idea of paying £90 (rather than £15) to have it fitted. I opted instead for this lovely piece of retro-futurist design, the Indesit Moon:

Desperately hope I can get this again when it needs replaced!

I looked into replacing my TV with a projector a few years ago, less out of a desire to hide it to look more "vintage", more because I don't like my TV being the default focal point of the room. Not a practical alternative for me, it turns out - bulbs are pricey over here, and I don't want to forever be clsoing the curtains and blacking out thed room to watch properly. I'll be buying a unit where the TV can be closed in - either we'll put a door or a curtain over it, or find some other way to hide it when not in use. I don't care if there's obviously a TV hidden behind a screen or something - it's just a way of blocking it off when not in use.

I suppose if anyone asked, I'd say my approach ot these things is a sort of 'dieselpunk' attitude. I'm certainly not going to go back to using a mangle just because folks in the fifties didn't have a washing machine.... if I have a use for the item, I'll buy one that best suits my aesthetics, and be done with it. I have'nt had a Microwave for five years, but in due course I'm gonig to pick up just a small one (very handy for some things), when I find one with a bit of a stylicstic nod to what I'm after.

 

[vitanola]

Two dish washers? Is it a hotel?

It used to feel like that, sometimes. Six bedrooms with private baths after the remodeling. We intended to operate the place as a Bed and Breakfast. Worked very well until the Better Half's dipsomania interfered.
That is why I am finishing up a much smaller house, some place that is comfortable and doesn't require three hours a day just vacuuming and dusting.

 

[vitanola]

It's possible he has something like what I have: my dishwasher is separated into two parts, and it looks like all my other cabinets and drawers in my kitchen, with wood paneling on the outside to blend in. I do the same with my refrigerator. Now that I think about it, I would say that I guess I could count that as "hiding my modern conveniences", but I couldn't exactly do the same wood paneling trick with my microwave.

No, two full-sized dishwashers. On the odd times that I cook I wash up as I go. The Better Half can run through pots like Escoffier with three scullery maids in attendance. Back when we gave dinners we seldom had fewer that ten at the table, and that was an awful lot of dishes. I personally prefer to wash up myself, by hand. It really does not seem to take any longer, and it gets the grease and stains from changing Victrola springs off of my hands without further effort.

 

[tuppence]

I have a 1950s fridge and don't have a dishwasher. The only modern appliances I have are a big TV ( essential equipment for the men folk) and a microwave. I'm thinking of just making a cloth cover for the microwave. I know there was one decade (not sure which) where the ladies liked to hide every appliance with a dust cover. I was thinking of mounting the TV on the wall and hiding it with a painting when not in use. Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

 

[Seb Lucas]

As a minimalist I don't have any appliances - no kettle, microwave, dishwasher, food processor, etc, etc. I hate clutter.

An oven with a griller and some saucepans, a skillet, and large, high quality knife is really all anyone needs. My grandfather was a chef and that was how he worked at home.