1916 Hoosier Cabinet

I have a thing for Hoosier cabinets, somewhat strangely I suppose, since I don't cook or spend any time in my kitchen (it's used for displaying my PEZ collection). These cabinets, loaded with specialized compartments for groceries and utensils, were a mainstay in American kitchens from the 1900s through the '40s, and were repurposed as storage units in garages and basements for decades after.

They have appeal to collectors of Americana, and many people remember them fondly from visits to their grandmothers. The cabinets can be things of great beauty, but after years of neglect are often found in this condition:

 My mother and I discovered this Hoosier in an alley behind a Salvation Army store, where it had sat all night in a torrential rain storm.  As apparent in the above photo, it had been badly overpainted many times, and was totally waterlogged. But it still had its original etched glass doors and most of its hardware, and I could tell it was old. We felt it didn't deserve such a miserable end after almost a century of faithful service, and we determined to save it. It took a year of sanding, sanding, endless sanding, but finally it was finished last week. When we cleaned the latches, we found a patent date of 1916, which enabled us to identify the cabinet.

Here it is now, restored to its original golden oak finish:

I use it for storing my vintage board game and puzzle collection, which I imagine the cabinet is really enjoying after all those years of holding greasy tools (we think someone had it in their garage for a long time, after its kitchen duty ended).

The silverware drawer is perfect for small puzzles:

Hoosier cabinets are really fascinating things, and you can learn more about them in a great new book that just came out last year: The Hoosier Cabinet in Kitchen History, by Nancy Hiller.

Vintage Dolly Bakeware

One of my favorite things to do with old toys is to arrange little scenes. Toy cupboards are particularly suited to this, as with the old doll's kitchen cupboard, below. It's a lot of fun scouring antique shows and shops, looking for just the right accessories to bring such a scene to life.
At a show this past weekend, I found this assortment of 1940s doll-sized bakeware, including a wooden rolling pin and metal biscuit and gingerbread cutters. My 20 inch German dolly models below. For scale, the cookie cutters are 2 inches long.

1920s-'30s Dollhouse Hoosier Cabinet

I love Hoosier cabinets. It's strange, really: I don't cook or bake; in fact, my own kitchen serves primarily as display space for my PEZ dispenser collection and vintage toy stoves. But for some reason, I find Hoosier cabinets fascinating.
Their nostalgic appeal is undeniable, and it's ironically amplified the smaller the cabinet gets. Currently, I have 2 "life-size" Hoosiers, a homemade child's version, a doll-sized cabinet, and now, found at a weekend antique show, an even smaller dollhouse variety.

This wooden Hoosier measures 6 1/2  inches tall, and came with the accessories and kitchen chair shown. It was made by the Wisconsin Toy Company, a short-lived firm that manufactured dollhouse furniture in the 1920s and '30s. All the cupboards, drawers, and the pull-out shelf are functional.

My 5 inch dollhouse doll gives a sense of the Hoosier's scale. Below, the cabinet is fully stocked with all sorts of goodies. (As I look at this picture, I realize my dollhouse denizens actually have better supplied cupboards than I do...)

Antique Toy Kitchen Cupboard

I love miniature toy cupboards. They can be used to set up delightful vignettes for dolls or teddy bears, but they're also just lots of fun to stock. Searching for just the right tiny utensils, or doll-sized pots and pans, or salesman's samples of food items, and then arranging and rearranging the contents can consume me for hours. It only took me a few minutes, however, to load up this circa 1900s-1920s handmade kitchen cupboard, found at an antique show over the weekend. It measures 18 inches tall, and has all of its original hardware. Its primitive charm and obvious wear just endeared it to me, and I find myself wondering how it was filled by the little girl who owned it almost 100 years ago.

For a sense of scale, here's the toy cupboard sitting on top of my real-life Hoosier cabinet:

Antique Doll Cupboard

Just got this interesting antique toy: a homemade doll cupboard constructed from an old Waterbury clock case long, long ago. Measuring just over 13 inches tall, it's the perfect size for this early 1900s German bisque doll. Looks like she's making donuts today...