The Vintage Reader

When I met Mr. Vintage Reader, he was in possession of something I had never seen before: an International Harvester refrigerator. It was a white behemoth with glass shelves and a heating element that defrosted the tiny freezer at the touch of a button. When "Friends" premiered, we noticed that there was one exactly like it in Monica's apartment, which gave it a certain cachet at the time. And best of all, it was only $35!

The refrigerator served us well for several years, but then we moved into a house with a tiny kitchen, and the only place a refrigerator could go placed its massive bulk too close to the basement door and kept it from opening. We regretfully bought the cheapest small fridge we could find and waved goodbye to the International Harvester, but it's probably still running its big honkin' heart out somewhere in the lower Midwest.

To tell you the truth, I've never really missed it. Unlike a lot of old appliances that have as much as or more utility than modern ones (our toaster dates to 1937 and makes perfect toast), refrigerator technology has improved significantly over the last 50 or 60 years. While there's a lot to be said for longevity, those coils got REALLY dusty, and as nifty as the heating element around the freezer was, it was a pain to defrost.

Still, I love the style of old refrigerators. The kind my grandparents called "the icebox" and kept stocked with Eskimo Pies and cream soda. The kind that came with a Hall pitcher (my Hall refrigerator pitcher collection started with the one that came in my grandparents' Westinghouse). This looks to me like the best of both worlds--a fridge with a retro look but modern features: Retro Refrigerators by Big Chill Fridge.

Big Chills are not cheap ($2300 + shipping--ouch!) but they are beautiful. If you've got one of these lovelies, I hope you'll leave a comment and remark on whether it's worth the money.