Refrigerator in a retro style – to buy or not to buy?

Changing the look of your kitchen can be done with just one touch: either fix it or ruin it. A retro-style refrigerator may or may not be the cause of harmony in an interior.

The fridge in the retro style

The retro fridge-freezer: not quite what you thought it would be

Retro in the traditional sense – it’s Provence, rustic, classic with a touch of retro: cozy, sweet, home-like appeal. Manufacturers of built-in appliances for such kitchens produce built-in ovens, hobs, hoods, and in the name of any model of such equipment the words “retro”, “vintage”, “Provence”, etc. are found.p. The unsophisticated buyer might think: “But I’ll buy a fridge in the retro style too so that everything can go together” and, alas, will be mistaken. The retro look for your fridge-freezer is very different, although it’s also vintage. The basis is taken by typical features of industrial design and technical aesthetics of the fifties of the twentieth century: large convex forms, massive, bright, often glaring color scheme and at the same time shy bleached pastel shades. No patina, no aged effect inherent in the retro style of built-in appliances – only enamel, only gloss. The car theme is in fashion, the retro models of refrigerators remind of retro cars “Rolls-Royce”, our old Volga, the Pobeda both in shape and finish – massive, chrome-plated, shiny, volumetric: the handles of instruments remind the handles of car doors, rounded shapes are the first attempts to make the cars streamlined.

Retro fridges often use national flags, major brand logos and symbols of political movements as a statement of taste or irony, such as the British flag and hammer and sickle, for example Smeg has them both in stock . A retro-refrigerator can make an image of a television set Whirlpool limited editions or a car hood Smeg exclusive , so what kind of Provencal look is that?!

Of course, there are exceptions, such as some models from Kuppersberg: the appliances have classic shapes, finishing in bronze and deep noble colors, like burgundy. But it is best when decorating the kitchen in the style of retro – Provence, rustic, classic – to hide the refrigerator under the front of the furniture or choose a regular modern model without design extravagances. Brown, cream and coffee-colored refrigerators look good in such kitchens, for example, from the Bosch range.

Outside the competition

The aesthetics of the fifties is difficult to combine with other styles: in order to turn out correctly and beautifully, you need to be a designer. If you decide to buy a fridge in the retro style, it is best if the furniture in the kitchen will be quite simple – not cheap, but simple and noble forms. The same can be said about appliances: a simple modern design will do – it will not compete with the “star”, which will certainly be a retro fridge. Even better – as much as possible to remove other equipment under the furniture fronts.

And yet it fits!

Textiles, tiles, photo wallpaper, posters on the walls, crockery, and potted flowers can stylistically imitate the fridge in the style of the fifties. Just watch a couple of movies of that era or find posters of that time on the Internet and you’ll see what we’re talking about.

Sometimes you just want a retro model, but you can’t change the whole interior for it. Then it’s worth choosing a white or black refrigerator, it will fit into your existing space without much loss.

Occasionally, the brand specializes in 50’s style, but this is very rare. For example, Smeg fridges go well with small appliances and built-ins from the same brand. Kuppersberg refrigerators we remember that they are classics, not “hello from the fifties” match the hobs and ovens of this brand. There are also several manufacturers of small appliances: these are Kitchen Aid, whose toasters, kitchen machines and other appliances are stylistically related to the fifties, and De’Longhi with amazingly stylish collections of small appliances for breakfast.

Retro on the outside is not retro on the inside

The retro refrigerators are not analogues of the very models that reigned in the kitchens 60 years ago and roared like motorcycles, frosted thick coats in no time and consumed a terrible amount of electricity. The “stuffing” of retro refrigerators is almost always very modern: electronic control, high energy efficiency class mostly A++ and above , No Frost system, fresh chamber, blast chilling mode, antibacterial coating of cameras, etc.p. By design, they are also mostly ergonomic modern models with height-adjustable shelves and various devices for rational zoning of the refrigerator and freezer compartments.

But there can be inherited from ancestors disadvantages: some models with massive steel cases can be heavy, there are retro fridges with non-forward door and insufficiently big freezing chambers.