Vintage kitchen cabinet for £1?

It seems that prices are definitely rising for vintage kitchen cabinets and furniture on eBay at the moment, so it's getting a bit harder to track down some bargains. Luckily, there are still some great finds available at reasonable prices if you know where to look, and if there's something to be discovered, I'll find it!

This vintage kitchen cabinet with a formica top isn't the prettiest kitchen furniture out there, and you should notice that the seller currently has no feedback, but if you're willing to take a chance on a new seller, you could grab a very cheap bargain with bidding currently at 99p and no bids with 4 days left.



Plus, the dark photography is actually a bonus, as it might mean other bidders won't be paying attention to it, and if you can grab it dirt cheap, you could easily give it a bit of an update, or use it as a cheap project base.

I'd be tempted to consider repainting it a brighter colour, and possibly doing something with pop art on the top to replace the formica. Some suitable art or photos under a clear cover would make it extremely funky without costing a lot to achieve...

1950s glass-fronted kitchen cabinet - currently only £10.50

If you need some kitchen storage, and fancy a vintage cabinet with a glass front without paying the earth, it's worth checking out this Ebay auction with a couple of days left.
It's a reasonable 1950s glass-front kitchen cabinet, which is currently listed with a max bid of £10.50 and just a couple of days left, and free local pick-up. Which means if you're in the right area, you could pick up a very cheap bargain.
And because it's quite a tall cabinet, you'll get a lot of storage space without taking up too much floorspace.

The pictures do suggest it might need a little tidying, but if you can grab it for under £20, you'd have plenty of cash left over to accompany a bit of elbow grease!

Some retro kitchen inspiration from a day out at Kent Life

Having recently spent a day out at Kent Life Museum near Maidstone, I couldn't help grabbing a few pics of the vintage kitchens in some of the period houses on the site...

Retro 70s kitchen base and wall unit

Fancy a kitchen base unit, plus a wall unit of a 1970s vintage? The base unit is 158cm wide, 93cm high and 54cm deep with three pullout drawers and one large cabinet at the bottom, accessed by the 1970s de rigeur sliding doors… And the three pullout drawers are all set at an interesting angle, which either looks curiously interesting, or like it was made on a Friday afternoon following a pub lunch… You can decide:

The wall unit is less interesting, but offers a handy matching storage unit with 107cm width, 53cm height and 31cm depth.

Put them together, and you’ve got a sizeable part of an interesting kitchen:

And at the moment, there’s about a day-and-a-half left on the auction, for a bargain current bid of £31.99, which is pretty darn reasonable!

The funkiest washing machine you can buy today?

You might have seen me post in the past about the search for the coolest washing machine. I mentioned the OVO washing machine concept, and wondered why washing machines are generally so boring to look at, let alone to use?

Well, it turns out that there’s actually a fairly funky washing machine you can buy right now, as was kindly pointed out in the comments on that post. It turns out Indesit make a machine which has a 1400rpm spin speed, maximum load of 6kg, with A+ energy efficiency, A for wash performance and B for spin performance, and the rather cool ‘rinse hold’, which means you can end the cycle when you want, rather than forgetting to get clothes out, and then finding them full of wrinkles. And even better, it looks like this:

OK, so it’s still a box, and unlike the OVO, it doesn’t also function as a clock, but it’s still a darn site funkier than most washing machines. And it’s actually a realistic price for most people as well. You can buy the Indesit Moon SIXL145S right now from Boots for just £280, for example. Or seeing as that comes with a £19.99 delivery charge, you could order it from Sainsbury’s and get free delivery, making it the same price.

Either way, I challenge you to find me a funkier, cooler washing machine that’s actually available to buy from a shop right now…

Next challenge: Microwaves. Surely the second most infuriatingly dull piece of kitchen equipment, which really doesn’t have to look so boring!

Avery Kitchen Retro Vintage Baking Scales

I have to admit I was torn between posting this up or buying it myself. Most vintage and retro scales look pretty much identical, but these not only add some vintage cool, but would also be great for playing greengrocer or sweetshop owner. And I could do with the excuse to buy some big jars of fizzy cola bottles…

They’re currently waiting for a first bid, with a starting price of £14.99. And details include a crown insignia with a number 5, and a serial number underneath of 44076 if you want to investigate them further.

Not only do you get the funky container in a rather nice green colour, and some cool dials to look at but it’ll weigh items up to 500g and has metric and imperial measurements (so no need for mental conversions). It’s 30cm by 20cm and 28cm tall, with a few small paint chips – but that adds to the charm for me. The only thing to keep in mind is that something this heavy will incur some postage costs unless you can arrange to pick it up in person.

There’s just over a day left to bid, so it could be a good time to nab a bargain on some scales which you don’t often see.

Retro kitchen cabinet without the refurbishment

You might want the retro look without the need to get involved in sanding and repainting, and there’s definitely no shame in that! Our own kitchen project is taking way longer than expected due to other priorities, such as the fact I’m running my own business, and we have a young family to look after.

And if so, there are still good solutions around to get the look you want…

This new retro kitchen cabinet is on Ebay right now for £375 as a Buy It Now option. It’s obviously a bit pricier than buying something which might need a bit of work, but then again, once it’s in your house, all the hard work is done!

It’s 181cm high, 90cm wide, and 44cm deep, in wood with upper glass doors. It also has 2 drawers, 2 lower doors and a pull-out work surface…

Fancy a full 1950s diner booth set?

OK, so it's a little bit more than the stuff I usually find, but look at this retro 1950s Diner kitchen table booth set.

It costs £1650, but for that you get 2 'hollywood' yellow and white booths, one blackstone formica table with aluminium edging, and the feeling that you're in a 50's diner every time you site down for breakfast. Which means you can justify treating yourself to pancakes and bacon every day, rather than a bowl of muesli.