The retro aesthetic is fantastic for making any room seem immediately more interesting, almost like being thrown into a time warp and ending up in an unfamiliar, but oh so exciting, decade of the past.
But a decision to ‘go retro’ as it were, in a room as important as the kitchen, should not be taken without due consideration. Here are several examples of how a retro design can leave your kitchen looking just plain old, and what effect it can have on the value of your property if you don’t get it right:
1) The Oven
The oven is the staple of every home, unless you’re someone who only eats microwave meals or, heaven forbid, salads. Presuming you’re not as strange as all that, owning a reliable oven is a necessity for a functional and therefore saleable property.
An oven from the 50’s might look neat with all its knobs and almost plastic appearance, but something so old is likely to downgrade the value of your property if potential buyers can’t cook a simple frozen pizza with ease. You should avoid a truly retro oven and opt for a modern-made version in a classic design.
2) The Refrigerator
I expect not everyone in your house will be cooking, but no doubt they’ll be taking a look in the fridge. That’s why something so popular needs to have a great design.
Genuine retro refrigerators are often ridiculously colourful and overly small. Now that our appetites have sky-rocketed, a retro refrigerator just isn’t going to cut it. Something so obsolete by itself is just not going to work well in your favour. Again, opt for a modern appliance made to look retro, like these fridges, if you want to get the aesthetic right but maintain modern functionality.
3) The Counter
We prepare all our meals on the counter, so it’s perfectly feasible to think that getting the counter right in terms of design is an absolute must. The question is, should you go with a retro design? Consider this, and then make your decision:
The counter is going to immediately draw the eye of potential buyers as soon as they enter your kitchen. Do you really want to attract attention to your old-fashioned veteran of food preparation? No? In that case, you should drop the idea of a retro counter, or kit out the entire kitchen as such so it isn’t the elephant in the room.
4) The Cabinets
A kitchen can be a messy place at the best of times, but a kitchen without cabinets is a nightmarish hell of kitchenware all over the place. You’ve got to have cabinets to avoid losing yourself in the clutter, and its indispensability means the design has got to be just right.
The typical design of a retro kitchen cabinet was pretty much the same from the 60s through to the 70s; all dark woods and extraordinarily bright colours. The 50s were even worse for outrageous cabinets, so making yours the retro feature of your kitchen is a really brave move. They are just not going to compliment the cool colours and modern design of the rest of your kitchen, and such a clash will leave you looking silly and with a less valuable property as a result.
Let it never be said that a retro design should be avoided like the plague; to own something so unique and obscure is an absolute thrill. But you’ve got to know when to implement a touch of retro design and when to leave well alone, because it will make or break your chances of selling your home.
If you still want to pursue a retro design, take the time to research what kitchens looked like in the past to show you what works, but ultimately remember that retro is always hard to sell unless you go full-scale, in which case it can drastically up your perceived property value to the right, retro-loving customer. Good luck!
If you have any advice for retro designs, then please share them in the comments section down below!
