1960s Kitchens: From Jet-Age to Funkadelic

This Kitchen Is From 1962

Remodeling a 1960s kitchen? It's no simple task since the Sixties were a time of great change. So, a kitchen from the early Sixties might look like the one above--sleek, angular, and understated--while one from the latter half of the decade might exhibit bold colors and Space Age lines.

Less of the kitchen and more of the dining area. Clean, wood-veneered cabinets dividing the two areas. Refrigerator inset into cabinets. Formica or another type of laminate counters. Ceiling swooping up into the heavens.

Want to get these kitchen cabinets? Cabinets are one kitchen feature that usually doesn't last through the ages. Try IKEA or Porcelanosa, a Spanish company that makes sleek cabinetry.

1960 Kitchen

This kitchen is from 1960. With its use of natural wood cabinetry, it could pass for a close-to-contemporary kitchen. Appliances are neutral colors (no harvest yellow or avocado). Flooring is non-threatening. The Sixties copper looks fantastic here.

If you're remodeling a kitchen like this, you may want to look at plank flooring (resilient material, not real wood), engineered marble counters, and faux wood beams.

Late Sixties Kitchen, 1969: Solid Color Laminate

Taking us to the very end of the Sixties, a kitchen from 1969: a solid-color yellow laminate counter.

It's not easy to find good solid color laminate. Originators of the stuff, WilsonArt and Formica, have a paltry selection of solid color laminates.

Thanks to Retro Renovation we know of Arpa USA, a maker of some retro solid color, Brady-Bunchesque laminates.

1969 Kitchen With Brick Cabinetry

It seems like everything in the late Sixties had to be over-the-top, and kitchens too. This kitchen doesn't come out and hit you over the head like some of these Op-Art, Warhol'd kitchens from this period--but look at that cabinetry.

Kitchen cabinets made from brick? If not, it's sure meant to convey that impression. These funky flourishes are precisely the type of thing that the next homeowner, ten years later, was ripping out with disgust.

Your Friend's Mother's Kitchen From 1969

We give you this picture because it is instructive: this is what a "nicely" new or remodeled kitchen might have looked like in 1968 to 1969.

No pulls on cabinet drawers or doors. Wood-panel facing the peninsula. Modestly sized.

Very easy to duplicate today, if that's your kind of thing, though we haven't seen that faux bottle-end gold plastic (on the suspended cabinet) in a while.