14 Vintage Kitchen Appliances That Are Making A Comeback

Some of us have been rocking vintage since "mid-century" was just called "today." But the rest of us may be wading through a sea of soft-cornered, pastel-colored kitchen kitsch wondering what the SMEG is up with the 1950s housewife look. We're showcasing the vintage kitchen appliances that are making a serious style comeback.

What once was, like, totally square is cool again as the retro aesthetic makes itself at home in modern decor. There are serious rising trends in updated looks from the 1960s, and also a collective fondness du jour for full-color, standout styles that add nostalgia while sacrificing nothing in functionality. Must-haves: convection, induction, immersion, and LED backlit buttons so you can see in the dark for that midnight snack.

Time-travel to an era when it seemed that life was a whole lot design-ier, without ever leaving the comfort of your smartphone. These days, everything you touch — from your coffee machine to your dishwasher — turns to vintage gold.

Leave it to Gen Z to chuck the fleeting amenities of modern times in favor of something with a little more personality. While this contingent drove million-dollar vinyl sales into the billions, and single-handedly crocheted us into a web of "cottage core," it appears they also prefer their espresso pulled at home — on a decidedly nostalgic machine.

Contemporary aesthetes capture the spirit of a bygone era without the ancient problems that actual 80-year-old machines can present (yummy, so is that rust or cinnamon in the cappuccino?). Skip the repairs and get your sentimental fix with a vintage-style espresso machine straight out of the box.

As you finesse your espresso-making game, look to Italian mid century-founded OG, SMEG (named for founder Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla), for a little inspiration. The brand's Good Design Award-winning retro-style Espresso Manual Coffee Machine features an iconic silhouette, a convenient frother arm, customizations for hard water and coffee temperature, backlit buttons, and barista-worthy espresso crema. This style will cost you a pretty penny, but there are plenty of downstream dupes for any espresso-loving aficionado.

Literally turn lemons into lemonade with a vintage-styled juicer so cute you'll want to leave it out on the counter long after breakfast. Wait, did someone say orange juice margaritas? We need a juice machine from yesteryear, like, now.

The juice is loose, people, with reports projecting that at-home juicing will maintain an upswing into 2029, per Data Bridge Market Research. While the market is packed with sleek, industrial juicers that boast functions out the boysenberries, many users still prefer a single-use juicer if it looks cute on display with a wink toward modern flair. Want a workhorse that delivers on function and fashion? A vintage juicer may be your gateway appliance to the retro life. Verve Culture delivers on curb appeal with its recycled aluminum manual citrus press with removable, washable components so you can easily clean up the sticky, pulpy bits. Of course, SMEG gets in on the action with a retro-styled citrus juicer that's built to last and looks like a tubby little friendly robot. But this Italian brand also offers a high-end collaboration with fashion house Dolce & Gabbana for its Sicily is My Love collection. It's almost three times the cost of the baseline SMEG juicer, but $700 is a small price to pay for OJ that looks like it came from Nonna's favorite olive oil carafe. Plus, it's dishwasher safe, because, 2024.

Proving that no appliance is too industrial for a vintage throwback, dishwashers get camera-ready with a retro makeover that can pre-wash, rinse, and repeat. But this is one wash cycle that's been bubbling up for years.

Along with the burst in sales for candy-coated small appliances and serveware, larger appliances used to blend into the background — that is, until they didn't. Bucking the disappearing dishwasher trends of the 2020s, where matchy cabinet panels obscured their very existence in the room, vintage-style dishwashers make a statement that's loud, proud, and also totally quietm because they're hip like that. Unique Appliances' retro dishwasher features minty-fresh classic car styling on the outside, with touchpad functionality on the inside — and a cycle that runs quieter than a mouse. Big Chill offers all the looks and versatility, plus a custom design option that includes just about any color under the sun. Taste the retro rainbow.

Smart refrigerators are so last year (which isn't nearly old enough for our sartorial tastes). A vintage-style fridge offers big time bang for your buck and instantly makes a bold, nostalgic splash. It definitely won't know how many eggs are in there, or be able to cue up your playlist, but your Instagram will be fire.

Vintage fridges add curvaceous sentimental appeal while housing contemporary features we can't live without, like energy-saving tech, temperature control, and streamlined storage (we'll pass on the ol' frozen-solid freezer trick, thank you). This modern slash old-school titan harkens back to the 1940s when most American homeowners finally bought into the chillest trend around (refrigeration). Enjoy the luxury of a freezer on the bottom, in a kaleidoscope of colors, with the SMEG retro-styled bottom-mount refrigerator with LED lighting, digital display, and a crisper drawer for salad fans. Frigidaire offers more budget-friendly feels with a countertop fridge that looks just like its big sis, except with a bottle opener perched on the side. The moral of this story is, when you own a vintage fridge your ideal temperature setting is "totally cool."

This is one small appliance that needs no introduction. The foundation of any serious wedding registry, the SMEG take on the vintage toaster leaves our bread done and dusted — erm, toasted.

No matter how old-school our toaster may be, we're dreaming up contemporary comfort with Ree Drummond's signature cinnamon toast. But a mid-century machine with all the 2020s functions certainly doesn't hurt our case. The SMEG toasts everything from bread to bagels with six levels of heat and backlit knobs. Take things to the next level with a retro series hot dog and bun toaster from Nostalgia, or go big on the Oscar Meyer weenie toaster with the option to toast buns and franks for four (or be your own Wienermobile and take them all for yourself).

Just want to dip a toe into the vintage trend? Pair the sentimental scents of fresh baked cookies and buttery, lumpy mashed potatoes with a vintage appliance you can hold in your hand.

Hand mixers perfectly encapsulate the movement at a relatively attainable price point (attainable-ish in some cases, uh, SMEG), and make a basic kitchen task a thing of pure pleasure. KitchenAid offers a portable take on its iconic stand mixer with a 5-speed hand mixer in colors like pistachio and tangerine that are as demure and mindful as they sound. SMEG, of course, lands at a higher price point with a 9-speed hand mixer as twee as a jelly bean that also rocks a backlit LED display unofficially designed for the night before every bake sale ever.

If you 're set on a relic from days gone by, but don't want the what-temperature-is-the-oven-right-now anxiety of an actual vintage oven range, a retro-styled version with all the bells and whistles will have you truly cooking with gas (or electric).

Just like a retro fridge, we're all about fashionable function with the oven, too. Born during the COVID-19 lockdowns when many of us were cooking at home a little more than usual, this trend emerged from a desire for fun in full color. Options run the gamut from just the top to full-frontal range re-do's. AGA's handmade cast iron electric range looks almost like it was swiped from the set of "Little House on the Prairie," but with a hot plate cooktop and a bouquet of color options. An ABBA four-burner gas cooktop lets you totally transform your range without committing to a serious reno relationship. But you can swan dive into high design with a jaw-dropper from French luxury brand, La Cornue, and experience the electric energy of another era.

Make it a micro trend with the most stylish frother that ever lathered up your oat milk. If you'd rather make your coffee at home instead of putting on pants and getting your latte at a coffee shop in 2024, a foamy milk topping on our caffeine habit just makes sense.

Wondering if SMEG has caught onto this trend, perchance? The brand's retro-styled hot or cold frother features vintage vibrations as well as mod presets, induction heating, and backlit buttons. The same goes for the SMEG Dolce & Gabbana version which boasts a blue and white Mediterranean paint job that already packed your bags to whisk you off to the Amalfi Coast. Still, there are plenty of other options out there that serve up the vintage style with much less sticker shock. Psst. You can also do more with this machine than just fluff your milk. Get the smoothest, sipping-est tequila by giving your cocktail the frother treatment.

Signs point to the vintage-styled countertop oven trend only getting hotter by the minute. We also fully support the horizontal toast option; laid flat and prepped for butter, or laid flat and toasted with stuff on it. We hear toaster ovens also do other things, but, TBD.

This vintage kitchen appliance just might be the most nostalgic of all, with its sweet nod to the iconic Easy-Bake Oven that first launched back in the 1960s (okay, maybe every countertop toaster oven has that feel to it). If reports showed a cultural love of compact toasting, baking, grilling, defrosting, and air-frying gaining steam back in 2007, the launch of newer brands like Our Place in 2019 only made the toaster tidal wave even harder to resist.

If you're going full SMEG for your kitchen makeover, you'll find an air fry oven with postwar appeal, plus automatic recipes that take you from steak to dessert. Val Cucina shows out with an infrared countertop oven that packs convection capabilities in Jordan almond-esque colors. Balmuda's toaster oven offers steam heat control with four different bread settings (sandwich, artisan, pizza, and pastry). And, not only does the Wonder Oven from Our Place preheat and cook at speeds that would make a conventional oven sweat, it's also so chic you'll want to carry it with you everywhere.

If you already have a favorite mug and a particular way in which you brew your tea, you can give your ritual an easy mod makeover by jumping on the electric kettle trend. And with that many tea lovers setting up shop at home, the vintage aesthetic followed close behind.

Tea kettles were first a thing back in 1500s China, but most of us are elevating our hot water carafe with something a little less ancient Ming dynasty and a lot more mid-century modern. Smooth, sleek, and top-of-the-line, you'll find the SMEG Mini Kettle sporting pert chrome details and hidden cord storage. The KitchenAid electric kettle is so streamlined, we'd happily pour anything out of its little spout. But for those of us who muse-mooch off of the maximalists of days gone by, the Hazel Quinn brand offers a collaboration with Brazilian artist Eduardo Recife for a teapot that feels almost Gucci-esque with its delightfully shameless floral and fauna motif. We're also all about the old-school temperature dial on the outside that makes boiling water the best part of the day.

Perhaps the poster "child" for an Atomic Age appliance, the microwave oven proves it really can time travel back to its earliest iteration in the 1940s (almost). But unlike those pre-1970s, non-FDA regulated radiators, modern vintage-style versions can only harm you if you fail to respect the hellfire steam that accumulates under the plastic covering your mac and cheese T.V. dinner.

In 2023, "kitch cuisine" was already heating up thanks to the affordability of microwave ovens even in challenging economic times. It might also be the world's easiest way to prepare a meal which we'd count as a plus. The retro microwave from Magic Chef comes in several colors including an illustrious mint green, and, along with a playful spin on the usual buttons, a round LED display and timer dial that conjure another era. Nostalgia brand also throws down on a classic car-cool chrome-detailed oven in sunshine yellow with 12 cooking settings, digital display, and a child lock to keep you from unconsciously nuking popcorn while you're sleep-walking.

Breakfast stations seem to say, hey you, what have you been doing all this time not cooking everything with the same appliance? With kitchen stations on trend for 2024 (think mini wine lounges, espresso caddies, and milkshake counters — which we really hope somebody's doing), breakfast stations fill in for those times when you need more than a snack. These dynamos cover prep for an entire meal, and of course they're going retro.

There's multifunctional, and then there's the Nostalgia brand three-in-one family size griddle that cooks bacon, eggs, bagels, and coffee — all at once — and looks like sea foam colored dollhouse furniture come to life. XW Bald Eagle's version unfolds like a Transformers robot to make room for a small pot to fry up sausages. Our honorable mention (just because it only makes pancakes) is the Bruno brand Peanuts x Snoopy hotplate that lets you throwback to a legit 1950s era comic strip, while slathering maple syrup on the cutest character-pressed griddle cakes you've ever eaten.

Maybe we just have soda fountains on the brain with all this talk of mid-century culinary tools, but blenders — which seem to have almost never given up the vintage look — have now become beacons of the retro aesthetic. And with more of us reminiscing about the good old days (even if we weren't alive then), this is one way to jump on the nostalgia bandwagon without too much commitment.

Of course, we're blending up a whole lot more than the "cow juice" milkshakes and wiggly gelatin chicken mousse of the 1950s. Blitz the most velvety açaí smoothie bowl, the silkiest cauliflower cheddar soup, or the creamiest pasta sauce with the coolest looking blenders around. The Splendor Blender from Our Place marries streamlined design with eager beaver functionality featuring a 1,000-watt motor, razor sharp blades, and none of the toxic plastic stuff. Oster lets us role-play as our favorite soda jerk (it's a compliment!) with a statuesque milkshake blender that comes with a nostalgic-feeling metal mixing cup. A smoothie blender from Homeleader features a mason jar-like container stacked atop a decidedly cotton-candy steampunk base finished with satisfying dial and lever controls. What takes these countertop cuties over the finish line is the fact that blenders can usually clean themselves.

The turtles of appliances are having a moment. A very slow, intentional, delicious moment (just getting ready to pop bottles in four to eight hours during the "keep warm" setting).

As possible evidence of "nowstalgia," or the longing for a time that happened like maybe yesterday in a viral recipe video on social media, slow-cookers are officially back after having first been introduced as a "bean pot" before gaining fame as the Crock-Pot in 1971. But now, plenty of design-conscious brands are putting their money where the beans were with slow cookers that let you kick up your heels and relax while this stalwart appliance does all the heavy lifting. The Pioneer Woman 6-quart slow cooker features a locking lid, touchscreen display, and a floral motif that serves all kinds of 1980s domestic goddess. Our Place offers a Dream Cooker that's meant to elevate your countertop, while pressure-cooking, sautéing, and slow cooking you ever so gently toward culinary bliss.