One day I will take you on a tour of my dream kitchen. But not today because right now my dream kitchen hasn’t materialised.
A retro toaster and kettle in cornflower blue
My current kitchen came with the house that had been owned by the same woman for over sixty years. Trust me now, not a lot changed in those sixty years. She died at the age of 94 and I am the recipient of her kitchen that isn’t original (that might have been better) but instead had some kind of an upgrade probably around 20 years ago.
The elderly lady was by then a widow who had a favourite colour and she carried that colour from the front door right through to the rear lane. Beige was the colour that got her heart beating and I can’t think of anything worse except perhaps beige tinged with apricot highlights and that is what she went for with the re-modeling of her kitchen. Beige walls, beige tiles, beige benches, beige cupboards, beige lino, chocolate coloured appliances, chocolate cupboard handles and a splash of apricot in the single row of feature tiles. So much en masse beige can be a little soul destroying.
A ray of sunshine could brighten the beige assault but alas, this kitchen is on the south side of the building so not even on the longest day does it receive even one beam of sunshine.
My cornflower blue bowls that I’ve had for nearly 30 years and every year I’ve used them to make my Christmas cakes.
I have tried to lift the dreary mood by introducing a touch of cornflower blue and so I have my white and blue bowls on display. I’ve been wanting to feature a little more blue and by a stroke of good fortune I was approached by the good people at Morphy Richards who asked me if I would be interested in reviewing their Retro 60’s Breakfast Range.
Retro Carl
Carl and I are quite fond of retro. Let’s not forget Carl already has his 1967 Mustang and when I’m cooking I listen to a retro radio that Carl bought for me as a gift.
A gift from Carl!
The 60’s Breakfast Range contains a toaster and an electric kettle that come in three different colour options. Naturally I chose cornflower blue but if that doesn’t compliment your kitchen Sage and Barley are the other stunning options.
The 60’s Breakfast Range has been inspired by the British 1960’s that was known for it’s bold, creative and distinctive designs. This retro range embellishes the creative fun of that era and the appliances have a wonderful nostalgic look about them.
The stylish stainless steel kettle with a see-through lid holds 1.5ltrs (six-cups) and has a non-slip base, a concealed rapid boil element, a removable lime-scale filter and a 360-degree cordless base for left or right handed use. ‘Hallelujah’ say all the left-handed people! There’s a water level indicator and a cord storage area; both of which are handy features.
A retro kettle, RRP $149.95
The toaster has a stainless steel body and holds two slices of toast and has slots wide enough to fit bagels. It has a ‘high-lift’ facility so you don’t have to stick your fingers down the toaster only to get them burnt. There’s a frozen bread setting, variable browning, a cancel and re-heat button and a removable crumb tray.
A retro toaster, RRP $119.95
Both appliances come with a two-year guarantee and I think they would be a cheerful and welcome addition to any kitchen.
The good people at Morphy Richards are giving you the opportunity to win $1,000 and there are 12 Elipta 60’s kettle and toaster packages for the runners up. All you have to do is like Morphy Richards on Facebook then enter the competition by telling them which 60’s icon you would like to have breakfast with. I would like to wake up in Gracelands and have breakfast with Elvis but aside from my dream, Morphy Richards wants to hear all about your breakfast date. And remember – you have the chance to win $1,000 or one of 12 kettle and toaster breakfast packs.
A retro toaster and kettle in cornflower blue
This competition is open to Australian residents only and all entries must be in before October 14.
Good luck!
Hotly Spiced wasn’t paid for this review but was given a kettle and toaster pack in cornflower blue to lift the beige from her kitchen.
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One of my old roommates painted the walls of her bedroom an apricot beige. I feel your pain. The cornflower blue goes with it so nicely though! It really does lighten the mood.
I am almost embarrassed to say I’ve always been an off-white sort of person. I like my art and furnishings to stand out. I might have to rethink. 🙂
This is really funny. We had to choose new tile in the house we were building because they ran out and instead of going with cream, we went with grey. Ben kept saying how sick he was of beige!
I’m really looking forward to seeing images of your new home. How excited you must be. And so many decisions re tiles and fixture and fittings etc. It can be exhausting but so worth it. So funny that Ben’s had enough of beige!
Right now I wish I was an Australian resident.
I know what you mean about a kitchen re-do. Mine still has the same ugly brown sink with the leaky faucet, the dingy yellowed oak-stained cupboards, the gold-flecked Formica countertops and now a worn vinyl floor and cardboard covering a hole where we removed a brick chimney three years ago. I HATE my kitchen. Hate it, I tell you. At least it faces south and no longer has the carpet, which we removed upon moving in 29 years ago. Otherwise it looks pretty much the same as on move-in day. I would love to win a kitchen make-over.
I love the look
That toaster and kettle are SO COOL!!! Love them…they certainly brighten up your kitchen 🙂 We just bought a house from a 96 yr old who also had updated the kitchen about 50 yrs ago. I can’t wait for our renovations to be complete 😉
That retro radio is way cool. I have to say, beige is one of the depressing colors around, and I don’t understand its popularity. Good job, though, jazzing things up with blue. Although we paint most of our walls in white, so we’re probably kind of weird, too. Anyway, sounds like a fun giveaway! I’m not eligible, of course, but that sounds like good stuff.
I never think of most retro stuff as being so cool, as at 63 I am rather retro myself! In fact, my first car was a 1966 Ford Mustang–and it was new then, not retro at all! I love the blues, especially your bowls.
I love all your vintage stuff. I too love having that stuff in my kitchen. very retro. love the colours.
I love blue… my kitchen (in the city) is in blue concept with plates, etc. But your blue things are so beautiful, I wished to find in here too. Thanks and Love, nia
When my parents moved out they left me with odds and ends of china so I went to the local dollar store and bought 4 bowls, coffee mugs and large dinner plates in cornflower blue. The kettle and toaster you have would be a perfect match.I wish I lived in Australia so I could pick up a set. 🙂
I decided to try to add more blue, red and white highlights as I gradually added things to the kitchen. It’s hard to combat the cheap dark wood panelling that goes about half way up the walls in my kitchen, bathrooms and even one of the walls in my tv room upstairs.
Oh man so jealous. I need a toaster!
Oh Charlie, I understand perfectly how you feel about beige with apricot.
It makes my pupils cramp 🙂
The blue retro electric appliances give a lovely touch of color to your kitchen.
Great idea!
I love those and wish I lived in Australia so I could enter. I must check out whether they are available here because we deserve a new set.
I LOVE the blue kettle and toaster! Lucky girl! Your explanation of beige cracked me up. I’ve missed your sense of humor. I’m going to have to show my husband that kettle. He’s a leftie and forever complaining about it!
~ April
When you said beige I thought it could have been worse! Our kitchen in the last house was turquoise, cabinet facings, counter top (I think you call it a bench) and even the ceiling! I felt like I was drowning in a pool when I was cooking! I could live with beige.
My accent is blue as well, but it’s more like the Le Creuset blue, more French. The retro breakfast appliances are lovely! I would love to have them but sadly this generous contest isn’t open to us :(. I love the retro kitchen tools you got me for Secret Santa, they are lovely and I think of you when I use them. Good luck to everyone for the contest!
That’s so funny that you thought you were cooking in a swimming pool! That must have been a difficult colour to live with. Shame you can’t take part in the competition Eva as I think these appliances would suit you. I’m glad you’re making good use of your Secret Santa gifts.
Charlie, you are one big funny bone. The first house we bought was from an 85 year old lady who was in love with purple…..no kidding. At least with beige, cornflower blue works. Lovely giveaway, too bad only in Australia.
Purple! I think I would have had to bring in the paintbrushes before I moved in. Purple walls would be very hard to live with. Sorry you can’t take part in the giveaway.
G’day! I love retro Charlie too!
Think the nostalgia behind the memories through things comes through!
I think accessories really make the look of a kitchen too!
Cheers! Joanne
Hi Joanne, I hope you’ve entered the competition then you might win one of the sets and choose the colour for your kitchen. Or better still, win the $1,000 and then come up and visit!
I still think beige is better than Mission Brown though Charlie. My dad paints everything mission brown or hunter green- the kitchen, window sills, outdoor furniture…. I think he bought a bulk lot in the 70’s and is still trying to finish the pot!
Gorgeous appliances, I love the retro look xox
Mission brown. There’s a bit of that going on here too. I think I was kind when I said some of the kitchen is ‘chocolate brown’. Mission brown would be more accurate. I can’t believe your father hasn’t moved on from the 70’s. Hysterical!
They both look smashing in your kitchen! After seeing your facebook post this AM, I had to google to see if I could find the teapot in the states. Not now, but hopefully one day…I love it!
Hi Liz, it’s actually a kettle rather than a teapot. What a shame you can’t buy the range in the US. I’ll have to bring you one when I come to visit – one day! xx
I love the kettle! Lovely blue and chic retro design and matches your beige kitchen theme! They had good foresight to ask you to review!
Yes Christy, I was thrilled. I just loved it when my boxes arrived. And the toaster and kettle light up when you’re using them with little blue lights – very pretty!
OK: I DO hope everyone enters this competition, ’cause that duo is ‘extra-cool’!! Alright mine is kind’of Jaguar Green [had it for about 9 months now?]: would you believe it has to match an all-pink kitchen [similar story to Charlie!!!] ~ and I did pay for mine [but it did arrive via Catch of the Day 😉 !!] and I could not be happier 🙂 ! That classy kettle especially makes my morning coffee taste ever so much better! Easy, foolproof and I love it. [ And I do hope Vicki reaches 93 and she still will never ever be ‘retro’!!!!!]
I hope you’ve entered, Eha. It seems many of us are putting up with horror kitchens. Who’s responsible for all this bad taste?
No longer on Facebook: THAT has its pros and cons ~ have struck one of the latter 🙂 ! [Oh, would you believe this rather charming 2-bed cottage had ALL pink walls in every room also when I moved in, and chandeliers of endless bunches of yellow’green’pink flowers in every room . . . and there WERE people who said ‘oh, so pretty!!!’ . . . . ] PACE!!!!
Love the blue toaster and kettle – and your blue bowls too.
Our whole house is beige, I hate it…. it is my husbands and his ex’s house which even makes it worse, I try and add colour to it but wish I could pain some walls bright etc. I love that radio, it is so cool. Anyway back to the house, we are planning to sell it in the next 12 – 24 months and it will sell better beige I suppose. Can’t wait till we sell this place.
Hehe I’ve never heard of anyone that had a love of beige but there you go! LOL!
Cracking up at your beige, beige, beige kitchen. 🙂 You’ve done such a great job at creating vignettes of color to make it much more bearable. 🙂 I LOVE that retro teapot. It just makes me grin. 🙂
oh gosh, my kitchen is a drab beige too and needs something as cool as this to lift it up!! Seriously, how COOL is the toaster?!! Love retro
Ah, ’twas not that long ago that the things you have pictured were in fashion… now I feel oldish, but aren’t those things just lovely!
I love cornflower blue. So pretty.
Best of luck to all your entrants Charlie.
🙂 Mandy xo
And lift up your beige kitchen those cornflower blue appliances certainly do! They are way cool. As the the beige kitchen, we have a similar situation here, though it was done badly in black and white with white formica countertops (ugh), same white bathroom tile back splash and it’s a tiny kitchen to boot! I sympathize. 🙂
I love the retro appliances! They definitely add some character to a plain kitchen! I finally have a newer kitchen! Not my dream, but gone are the blue cabinets 😉
I love these cornflower blue appliances. I’m very fond of retro, also. I had a brand-new remodeled kitchen…thirty years ago! I probably fall into the category of the old woman you’re describing. It was new ONCE! Now it’s in need of a big do-over and with the expense of that, not sure what’s going to happen. I thought of just claiming it as a wonderful representation of the 1980s. I could just claim the whole thing is retro! LOL!
Well, unless I win a lottery, the kitchen of my dreams will remain just that, in my dreams. Your toaster and kettle would go well with your wall color and I like their retro look. Good luck to those who enter the contest. They’ll make a welcome addition to any kitchen.
I love retro appliances you have! Especially the lovely toaster oven! It’s almost like my daugther’s toaster oven and it’s so darn cute. My real one is nearly as good looking as yours. Wish that all kinds of electronics are available with that shade of blue!!! Oh and that radio… what a great gift from Carl!!!
Your love of retro is perfect for your retro kitchen! Love ALL of those pieces, especially the radio. And here I thought that the kitchen I remodel last year was old. You beat that one by 10 years!
Charlie, I’m not entering your contest (best of luck to your Australian readers!), but I just had to quote you: “en masse beige.” Such a visual! Loved your retro radio and “Retro Carl!”
Charlie, I’m not entering your contest (best of luck to your Australian readers!), but I just had to quote you: “en masse beige.” Such a visual! Loved your retro radio and “Retro Carl!”
Yikes, guess I hit the submit button twice, LOL! (Sorry about that…)
Beautiful! I’m not entering either, just admiring your new (old) items! 😉 Love the retro look!! And cornflower blue?!? LOVELY!!
OK,I’m late but the appliances are adorable.I have been in my house and took it for it’s location and storage.We were desperate and little was available, but I almost didn’t take it because of the small kitchen.Dream kitchen…sigh…