Crazy kitchen decor and a cornucopia: old Frigidaire ad

This old Frigidaire ad features some crazy, exuberant kitchen-cabinet decor, and the classic fridge-as-cornucopia imagery, nicely offset by the creepy girl-and-doggy posed in postures of supplication and yearning.

Frigidair [vintage-ads.livejournal.com]

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: ad • design • Gadgets • housewares • illustration • Old school

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

parfae

I don’t care what anyone thinks, I WANT THAT KITCHEN.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=551343828 Scott Frazer

The ad version is a little over-the-top, but the style is Pennsylvania Dutch. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/gsc1994028003/PP/
- Michael Roberts
  
  They might have been going for Pennsylvania Dutch, but the cabinet at the lower left of the fridge is Hungarian, BIG time. And the rooster things along the ceiling, my grandmother (plain old Hoosier) had those. I think this is the result of an all-night jam session by a couple of artists trying to see how much gingerbread really _will_ fit in a single kitchen.
Dustin Meyer

Is that Michael Jackson in a dress?
http://twitter.com/sally_j Sally J.

Thanks to International Harvester, you could get a fridge that was FEMINEERED back in the day. This one offers color “inside and out,” and these can be “color-keyed to your kitchen color scheme.”
Mujokan

Thanks. I’m sure every reader of the Ladies’ Home Journal would’ve know that when the ad came out!
cymk

Looking at that add is like pouring powdered glass into my eyes and rubbing them with sandpaper.
http://jerril.livejournal.com/ Jerril

That’s a seriously short skirt on that kid. I can see the practical aspect with active kids (lord knows I fell on my face regularly even without skirts) but that’s still a bit “Huh” provoking.
- et50
  
  The girl looks like she’s 8.
  Maybe you should practice keeping your eyes on women….
snagglepuss

I’m just waiting for some Germanic Rumplestilskin-style troll’s arms to come flapping out of that icebox, grab the mom and drag her screaming and flailing into the depths of hell, while the little girl shrieks and runs around in circles.
ahwoo

My parents had this decor. I remember mom buying the massive amount of decals and then shellacking over them.
ScottCh

Unless that fridge is badly drawn, the door has been completely removed from the front of the box and pushed into a gap between the cabinets and the appliance. Either that, or the hinge was designed to completely revolve the door around the side.

Either way, there’s still something off about the door design. It shows the bottom of the door extending into the refrigerator over its full height. But the bottom of the fridge is blocked by a solid cover, which *might* be a freezer drawer?

If anyone can tell what’s going on I’d be interested in knowing. The rest of the work is pretty good, and appears to be drawn realistically, possibly from a real kitchen or mock up.
http://bemused.geek.nz Robert Cruickshank

That kitchen wouldn’t look out of place in Tiny Kitten Teeth.
http://profiles.google.com/creesto Creesto4 Lynch

I’m particularly fond of how “naked” all of the food is…mmm: odor sharing!!
BijouxBoy

The dog: “supplication and yearning”? Looks like it’s rearing up on hind legs to the the treat the girl is sneaking it…just peckish is all.