Wednesday 3 October 2012

The Kitchen Cabinet

DSCF4677Very pleased to have received my free copy of the Wartime Farm book this week.

I particularly love the yellow cabinet in Ruth’s kitchen. My Mum had one like that in the 1950’s and early 60’s

wartime farm kitchen

Somebody was complaining on their blog that this is incorrect, that these were not in existence till the 1950s. Sorry, but they were – look

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This is a doll’s kitchen cabinet, and the pattern to make it was in “Hobbies Weekly” back in June 1938

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My Dad used to get HW in his youth, and my Grandfather bound these magazines into two lovely books, which I treasure to this day.

The cabinet is made with fretwood and there are full details for its construction.

How different from the plastic kitchens kids have today.

fp hob

My two had this  Fisher Price hob, which we stood on top of a little bedside cupboard to make a pretend oven!

I quite fancy a full size cabinet.

Do you think I could persuade Bob to scale up the pattern and construct one for me?  There’s lots of wood in his garage stash…

12 comments:

  1. I have fancied one of those cabinets for years - it is my sentimental side! My "Auntie" Ada had one in her kitchen - she was in her late 80s when I was growing up - and I spent many happy hours in her kitchen, watching her cooking and baking. Those cabinets held so much and have that handy extra worksurface - especially useful in the days before fitted kitchens and proper worktops when people just had the well-scrubbed kitchen table to work at.

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  2. Just think how many were thrown out when people opted for 'modern' fitted kitchens!! Welsh Dressers have had a comeback, I wonder if these will? They are beautifully compact for small kitchens.

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  3. I do remember those cupboards Angela, so useful for any amount of things.
    Yes, there are some inaccuracies in the programme, but it doesnt lessen the overall charm. My husband and his brother, both ex farmers, both growing up in wartime years, frequently ring each other with a small list of things,...'wasnt like that on our farm!'

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  4. I would so love to have one of these kitchen cabinets. (My husband doesn't share my feelings - he thinks they're too 'old-fashioned'!) I remember my mum having a blue and white cabinet and my gran had a wood-effect and white cabinet. I've looked them up on ebay and they are very expensive.
    Kay

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  5. My Grandma had one of those cabinets..pale blue I think it was.
    Jane x

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  6. I saw one for sale at my local auction house a couple of months ago. It looked like it had been in a shed for years and possibly used for potting plants - full of soil, cobwebs and shrivelled spiders! I had to sit on my hands as I would have loved it. My Grandma had one when I was young - we always referred to it as the Mother Hubbard. Mum had a larger version of one in the late 70s/ early 80s.

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  7. Wartime Farm is the highlight of my TV viewing! I love it! My family are farmers and my dad was a war ag advisor in the war!

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  8. I am a Welsh Dresser kind of gal. My Nana had a white one of those cabinets.

    Gill in Canada

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  9. I too covet one of these. The fold-down work surface is wonderful. What is that sort of funnel-looking thing above it? A flour bin?

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  10. Wartime farm is the only program I really look forward to watching. I absolutely love it.

    The kitchen cabinet is great isn't it

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  11. We had one of those cabinets in our kitchen when we first got married - donated by my husband's grandmother who was just moving to a mini-bungalow in a warden controlled complex. She had used that cabinet for years and years. The kitchen in our house had a sink and that was it. That cupboard unit was so useful and the pull down door was my only working surface for many months until we managed to acquire an offcut of worktop. At the same time we were given a twintub with a worktop cover so suddenly I went from one small area of worktop to three - pure luxury : )

    I really missed that cabinet when we had a fitted kitchen many years later.

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  12. Ah the twin tub! Memories of washing nappies in my twin tub 30 years ago, and the smell of hot soapy water flooding the kitchen [the water flooded the kitchen as well as the smell!]

    But what did I do with those huge wonderful wooden tongs which I used to fish out the wet washing? I am sure I could find a use for them now...

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