Get Inspired to Go Retro

T-birds, poodle skirts, pop art, and pastel colours… The 1950s were all about exploring fun new ideas and reimagining living spaces. We took our inspiration from that exciting mid-century modern era to create Unique Appliances’s line of Classic Retro appliances.

Unique Appliances has a line of eye-popping 50’s-inspired fridges, ranges, and more for your home—and home away from home.

Why retro? Because this classic look is making a big comeback, with clean-lined wood furniture, geometric patterns, and chrome touches. Plus retro appliances fit seamlessly into just about any style you want for your kitchen—whether it’s modern, industrial, country, or your own homage to the 1950s.

To get this look just right, the designers at Unique Appliances went looking for inspiration, which they found in some traditional as well as pretty surprising places.

Of course, no ’50s look can be recaptured without exploring what made these kitchens so popular at the time. Modern convenience and sleek finishes were all the rage, and kitchens began to evolve from practical spaces into rooms people wanted to enjoy spending time in. Our design team loved the clean lines, eye-popping colors, and timeless look of these classic kitchens.

Next our team researched household items from the era—everything from vintage TVs to rotary phones, Corningware dishes, and even linoleum table sets. These inspired our designers to create appliances that reflected a time when items were selected for how they looked and what they added to the space, as well as for how they functioned. That meant creating Classic Retro appliances that not only work well but are also works of art.

Speaking of art, no research into 1950s culture would be complete without a deep dive into pop art. Popularized by artists like Andy Warhol, this everyday-object-inspired movement brought together kitsch, color, and pop culture to create a whole new art form, which produced pieces like the iconic Campbell’s Soup labels we still see today. The design team at Unique Appliances fell in love with the bold colors and simple approach pop art is famous for, which you can see in the simple features and eye-popping colors selected for this appliance line.

Lastly, our team of designers took a closer look at… cars. That’s right: Those impressive 1950s cars with their impressive tail fins, bright paint jobs, and chrome touches gave our art department a lot of inspiring ideas to work with. In fact, we’ve added chrome-inspired accents to every appliance—from handles to knobs, switches, hinges, and more.

And the “Classic” logo you’ll find on every Classic Retro appliance? That’s a chrome-cast design inspired by popular fonts of the era plus the sleek, unmistakable look of 50s muscle car tail fins.