For real kitchen style, go retro

By M. Patricia Titus
Staff Reporter

I had a glimpse of a dream this week.

You see, when I was a child – even into my teenage years – my paternal grandmother had this stove in her kitchen that she’d hung onto since the early ’60s. The Frigidaire Flair. Those of you who have had one or have seen one will likely know exactly what I’m talking about when I mention this miracle of not-so-modern cooking.

For those who don’t and have a fondness for vintage television, think back to “Bewitched” and envision the double-oven masterpiece that Samantha Stevens cooked on. The side-by-side, “see level” ovens had glass doors that raised up out of your way rather than opening out. The four-burner cooktop pulled out from below the ovens, like a drawer, enabling you to cook on two burners or four, or to retract the entire thing below the ovens, where it was out of the way of kitchen traffic and curious children.

There were smart things like a speed-heat feature that put a burst of energy behind one front burner (or eye, for those of you who grew up far south of the Mason-Dixon) so that you could get water boiling fast before it leveled off to avoid scorching your food or pans. And another burner actually measured its own temperature so you could leave food to simmer without cooking it onto your pan or having to hover with a spoon.

There was even a griddle option that let you cook right on top of the burners without losing the butter from your pancakes onto the cooktop or risking your griddle skidding off the stove.

The oven had a rotisserie option that today’s rotisserie chicken fanatics would die for and broiling was a snap with a special pan designed to keep spatters to a minimum. There was even a “meat minder” option that let you plug in a thermometer, set your control to the desired internal temperature and let you know when your roast was cooked to perfection.

And beneath it all was a custom cabinet designed to store more cookware than I can fit in my entire modern kitchen.

It’s no wonder the typical advertising model of the early ’60s seemed to so enjoy her Flair and could cook so effortlessly in her pristine hostess dress. The thing was a marvel, and it still is today.

Granted, there aren’t many of these gems left in our modern homes. People look for smooth-surface cooktops, induction heating, double wall ovens, built-in woks, convection ovens, commercial-grade six-burner gas stoves, downdraft exhaust systems and lots of stainless steel in this day and age. And they’re generally not looking for a 40-inch-wide monster of a cooker. But I think they’re missing out.

And I’m not alone. There’s a vintage appliance market out there that extends beyond retro toasters and robin’s egg blue blenders. People are seeking out classic clothes washers, vintage stoves and retro refrigerators that not only hearken back to a nostalgic period in our nation’s history but also tend to work like nobody’s business and last half of forever.

Thus it is with my cherished Frigidaire Flair. There are Web sites devoted entirely to these appliances, with tips on finding one in working condition, referrals for finding parts in case yours goes on the fritz, instructions on how to repair many of the potential problems on your own and general admiration whenever a Flair lover brings home a “new” (old) baby or finds that elusive rotisserie kit that not everyone bought.

But I was the unfortunate victim of modernization even in my grandmother’s home. What I might have once hoped was an appliance that could be passed down from one generation to another was jettisoned during the 1990s (while I wasn’t looking) in favor of a modern, freestanding electric range – something that did never and will never have even remotely as much pizzazz or soul as a Flair. It even looked puny in that hallowed space.

Thus it was, after having looked very casually for the past few months for a vintage Flair in working order that was within driving distance of my home, I thought I’d reached Nirvana this week. Sure enough, someone in Pennsylvania was looking to go modern with their kitchen and had a working Flair that might go for as little as $20 if you were willing to come pick it up. It even had the optional exhaust fan.

Soon, I was making plans for a three-hour-plus drive each way, figuring out where I’d store this marvel until my kitchen could be coaxed into accommodating it and generally salivating over the prospect of some day actually cooking on my dream appliance.

But, alas, I counted my chickens before they were on the rotisserie. Raise too much hubbub over something special like this and someone else is sure to take notice. And, in my overconfidence that surely no one else was looking at this particular Flair, I missed the ball as surely as Charlie Brown did every time Lucie snookered him into taking another swing at it.

Part of me holds out hope that another such gem will one day soon come to my attention, bringing my dream to true fruition. Another part of me will just be glad to someday soon get rid of an oven that burns the bottoms of cookies and rolls, takes forever to heat up and just generally looks past its prime at nearly 20 – something you could never say of a vintage Flair.

I won’t object to a smooth-surface cooktop and I wouldn’t look a convection feature in the mouth. But if I end up having to go that route, instead of following the dream, there will always be a part of me that will feel a little cheated without my Flair. And, moreover, I know that I’ll be looking at replacing the darn thing in another 10 years – another something I would never expect of the Flair.

Aside from issues of retro style and nostalgia for our past – and warm memories of my grandmother and her kitchen, in my case – the bottom line is that they truly don’t make things the way they used to. No longer do you expect to have a fully functioning appliance after five, 10, 15 years, let alone the 40-plus years the Flair has been in use by hundreds of people.

And I look at the true classics of our times, whether they be appliance, car, film, art or book and recognize that a large part of the reason such things become classics and are forever in demand is that they do truly stand the test of time, being passed from mother to daughter, father to son, grandparent to grandchild.

I don’t think many of us will be saying that about our modern ovens in 40 years, but I hope I can say it about mine, someday…