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A cheap but decorative way to add the vintage touch to your kitchen is through vintage kitchen towels. Collectors are currently obsessed with these varied and interesting towels, which can be used even outside the kitchen. There are many names for the vintage kitchen towels, but they all add the same interest and charm to your home. Not only are they nice pieces of décor, but they also bring back great memories and are great conversations starters.
Antique kitchen towels are quite the rage these days among collectors of vintage Americana. These towels are great fun to collect because of their bright colors, cheerful patterns, interesting textures, and even creative extras like storybooks rhymes. The older towels have been carefully hand printed on various fabrics. The towels can even be used outside the kitchen as simple decorations: a runner on a bureau, a valance over a window, or even a drape over a bedpost.
Regardless of where you use your newly found vintage kitchen towel, or what you call it, they are certainly charming items. They are known in various places as tea towels, utility towels, bar towels, and hand towels – but all names refer to a vintage kitchen towel of some size or shape. Because they were often hand painted, these towels are like small art canvasses. Different companies were known for different designs: Wilendur, Startex, and Martex made fruit and floral designs; Broderie, Bucilla, and JS&J made whimsical and creative designs. Many towels are created by unknown masters, but some towels have the signatures of their makers.
These vintage towels are sure to bring back floods of memories to anyone so fortunate as to have grown up with such towels. They remind many people of sitting in their grandmother’s or mother’s kitchen, watching them make the family meal. The reminder of a simpler time and life is one which is greatly enjoyed by many, and a collection of vintage towels will be not only useful, but also serve as a good conversation piece.
Do you remember your grandmother’s kitchen – neat and clean, with practical and charming kitchenware lining the shelves? Perhaps you have also wished for your kitchen to look like the kitchens of the early 20th century. Collecting vintage kitchen devices is actually a rather popular hobby for Americans around the country, eager to bring back memories of the “good old days.” Not only are these collectibles nice antiques to have in your home, but they are also useful, if you know what to buy.
What are now vintage collectibles were once the kitchen appliances of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. These appliances and dishes gave their kitchens the distinctive look we now admire. If you collect these vintage items, you have a chance to recreate a kitchen from the American era of World War I and II. One company still produces these kinds of kitchen items: Pyrex™ by CorningWare has been in American kitchens for generations.
Most kitchens these days have some sort of vintage item. Many people have been given plates or silverware that has been passed through their family for generations. These collectibles can bring back fond memories of their grandmother or mother as they made food in the kitchen, and are often simply charming pieces of kitchenware. Some people, however, are active collectors of vintage kitchen collectibles from a certain era, and go out of their way to look through antique shops for just the right collectible.
However, these kitchen collectibles are not just for your home kitchen. Professional chefs also use vintage kitchen appliances regularly. Because they have spent so much time in the kitchen, professional chefs are fully aware of the best qualities of each kitchen implement, and want to find the most useful and durable appliances. They often like to use vintage mixers, rice cookers, and utensils, because these were often made with good quality and sturdy craftsmanship. Collecting vintage kitchen supplies is not only a good way to create a great décor in your kitchen, but can also provide you with useful and long-lasting kitchen appliances.
When you decide to decorate your kitchen with vintage kitchen collectibles, you will want to learn about some of the more popular styles and brands from the era you are interested in, so that you can collect authentic décor. There are specific colors and patterns that were used in the 1920s until the 1960s. Tables and stools, cabinets, and light fixtures are all some of the standard collectibles that will make your kitchen truly become an old style kitchen.
Accent pieces are great ways to bring the era of the early 20th century into your own kitchen. Many have particularly recognizable colors: a jadeite green; red and white; red and chrome. Vintage towels add a nice touch; you can often buy unused or nearly untouched towels from the 30s and later. Wilendur, Startex, and Cannon towels were being produced in the mid-20th century. Authentic towels will come often come in stripe, fruit, floral, or novelty prints, made out of linen, cotton, or blends. Curtains, aprons, and napkins often come in similar or matching prints.
The overall look of the kitchen is important as well. The walls should be painted a white or neutral color, and the floors will probably be a black and white checker. Wall cabinets should be in dark woods, contrasting with the light walls. Their handles were often made out of chrome.
Light fixtures are also a huge part of the authentic vintage kitchen. The lights themselves were in bright colors, and were covered with light covers. These light covers had geometric shapes, and only allowed part of the bulb to shine through. More light would come through the holes in the light covers. This added a sort of ambiance to the kitchen. Chandeliers were also popular in the mid-20th century. They too had colorful bulbs, which would project out from the chandelier and be reflected across the kitchen. All these touches will add a great sense of the vintage style to your kitchen.
If you are looking for specific items to add a vintage touch to your kitchen, you will want to look at different varieties of vintage or antique kitchen faucets. Faucets have changed drastically in the last 100 years, and mostly in their styles. If you are able to find a faucet that complements your kitchen, it will be a unique addition that is also very practical. However, you may want an antique faucet simply as a collector’s piece – as you search for a vintage faucet, you will want to keep in mind whether you will be using it for your normal kitchen faucet uses or not.
What is a vintage kitchen faucet? Most collectors like to find kitchen faucets from the turn of the 20th century, which have a very distinctive style. They come in many different finishes: nickel, bronze, and chrome, to name a few. The faucet handles are lever style, and the faucet itself has a very long spout. Not only are the lever faucet handles easy to turn on with slippery, wet hands, but they are also ergonomically designed for someone who has to use the sink many times in one day.
When you purchase your own vintage faucet, it will be a great conversation piece. However, you will want to find one that matches the rest of your kitchen décor. It wouldn’t do to have one mismatched vintage piece in an otherwise cohesive kitchen. It should be easy enough to find a style which will go with your other kitchen styles, since the variety of faucets is quite large.
Before you buy the faucet, decide how you want to use it. If you want to utilize your faucet in your kitchen on a regular basis, you need a faucet from a well known brand that will stand up to a lot of use. You will need to make sure that the plumbing and faucet fittings match, as well. However, if you just want a vintage faucet as part of a collection, you will be more concerned with how old the piece is. Either way, it should be an enjoyable experience to go out and look around for a good vintage kitchen faucet.
A nice touch to any kitchen is some vintage kitchen furniture. Not only is it functional, but vintage furniture can bring back a sense of the “good old days” into any kitchen. Vintage furniture from many eras, and indeed, many countries can be found in different antique shops. This is great furniture both for its practical uses now, and also because you will be able to hand it down through generations in your family, as perhaps generations of your family have done with certain items in your own home. The kitchen is the heart of the household, and its furniture should reflect that.
Vintage kitchen furniture is not something you see every day in someone’s house – on the contrary, a vintage piece is a precious bit of antiquity. It is rare, and also pleasing to the eye because it combines both decoration and function. Most vintage pieces of furniture have lasted many years because of their fine original craftsmanship, which shines out both in the endurance and in the beautiful qualities of the furniture. This can, however, cause prices of quality furniture to be rather high.
Depending on your tastes and the existing décor of your kitchen, you have many options to choose from when you begin shopping for vintage furniture. It comes from Asia, Europe, and America, and can be fifty years old or a century old. Each continent will offer a different style of furniture, and your choice will be based on the style of kitchen you are interested in creating.
Vintage furniture is not only a conversation piece, or just a useful piece of furniture, but can become a family heirloom. The kitchen was the center of the home in the 1950s, and good kitchen furniture can help reclaim that family center once again. Many families spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and good furniture encourages them to sit down and spend time together, either over dinner or in conversation. This furniture can then be passed down to children and grandchildren for their own families, carrying on good memories of the past.
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