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How do I Choose the Best Antique Kitchen Cabinets?

Sheri Cyprus
Sheri Cyprus

There are many beautiful antique kitchen cabinets available for sale at shops that sell antiques and through Internet websites. These cabinets are typically 1930s and older storage pieces that are freestanding cabinet units. Many antique furniture collectors enjoy storing dishes and more in these jelly cupboards, pie safes, baker's cabinets and iceboxes.

Although iceboxes were originally used to keep foods cold, they make excellent antique kitchen cabinets. Close in size to today’s medium-size freestanding pantry cabinet, antique iceboxes feature several compartments to store food packages or dishware. The outside of an antique icebox tends to look interesting as they usually feature large metal hinges on each door.

Woman with a flower
Woman with a flower

Baker's cabinets are freestanding, self-contained wood baking centers. Many of these large rectangular units are made from oak. Hoosier is an Indiana kitchen cabinet manufacturer that began making these popular antique kitchen cabinets in 1898. The lower part of the cabinet features drawers on one side and closed shelves on the other. The upper cabinet section, or hutch, of Hoosier antique baker's cabinets has built-in containers for flour and jars of spices.

A countertop for mixing and rolling out dough is located between the upper and lower cabinet areas on the baker's cabinets. Pie safe and jelly cupboard antique kitchen cabinets are freestanding storage units like the baking centers, but they don't have countertops. A pie safe is shorter and smaller than a baker's cabinet. Antique pie safes often feature tin cabinet door panels with punched star-shaped designs. They typically have a row of small drawers at the top and three shelves made for holding baked goods.

Antique jelly cupboards are similar to pie safes as they also have small upper drawers and three inner shelves. The main difference is a scalloped piece of wood that decorates the back of these antique kitchen cabinets. American antique jelly cupboards typically date back to the 1860s.

Most freestanding antique kitchen cabinets are missing knobs and handles. New door openers can replace the old cabinet hardware, but applying antique finishes to them may be needed to add an appropriately aged look. Antique kitchen cabinets are ideal for re-creating the look of old farmhouse style kitchens. An antique farmhouse wood table is the perfect decor accompaniment to freestanding kitchen cabinet antiques.

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