A Design for Modern Living - ca. 1935 

This stuff seems more “modern” than our modern stuff.

Growing up in the 70s we had a fridge that had a butter conditioner in it preventing the butter from being too hard or too soft. We also had a wall oven that had a warming drawer perfect for keeping food warm while the oven finished off a roast or some other thing. I miss those little conveniences. And why designers of appliances no longer include them in modern appliances is beyond me, they made so much sense.

Sliding shelves in the refrigerator??? Oh I would love that.

I want the strong pull-out shelves in the fridge like those in the video not the flimsy, cheap plastic ones of today that break so soon.

It's nowhere as near as old as the appliances shown here but I have a still fully functioning electric clothes dryer made by Electrolux which my mother purchased from a catalogue in 1956.

That opening jingle would make a heck of a ringtone for Presidential Alerts.

I have that monotor top refrigerator and when your hands are full dayy holding an ice cube tray filled with water that pedal to open the door is a dream. No reaching in the back either. The shelves really do slide forward and solidly. No wiggle wobble glide in and out smoothly. Hope my monitor top runs till I'm gone from this world .

I never knew that dishwashers were available in 1935.

Loved the recessed range for the stock pot. A real good safety feature I wish they had these days.

Very few people could afford these gadgets in the middle of the Depression. But this was really interesting; I wouldn't mind trading my "modern" appliances for some of these vintage beauties.

Those 'Monitor Top' Refrigerators were VERY durable even though they were discontinued MORE than 50 years ago, many hundreds of models are STILL in use and some sell for thousands of dollars - PROOF that they can make durable products but would rather sell you something new every few years for a bigger profit.

how do those products seem so much better than the generic crap we get today?

Where did the "with the touch of a toe" feature on fridges go? Seems so progressive.

My grandfather was a GE fan. All of our appliances were GE, USA made. Never had anything go wrong with them for 30+ years. This was in the 70s.

To be honest I would sure like a 1935 kitchen on my house, I just love vintage!!!

I was raised on a small farm. We had an electric range and also had a 100 year old wood burning stove in the kitchen as electricity went out frequently. We had no indoor plumbing so an outhouse out the back door across the yard and down a hill to go to the restroom. Washing clothes took 7 trips from the well to fill up the washer on the front porch, then 7 more trips for rinse water. I am grateful every single day for indoor convinces.

“Good for a lifetime” was actually true in those days, many of those monitor top fridges are still working today.

I like the dishwasher, it seems like it's more heavy duty while fitting into the counter space like more modern ones.

I would love a kitchen like that so big and comfertable with tons of counter space

I would LOVE to have one of these fridges! The "touch of the toe" is such a cool idea! ( I loved it on my 1965 Chevy Impala too.) These are some good ideas for appliances. My Mom's best friend had one of those deep well stoves when I was a child. It was already 30-40 years old in the 70's and it was the coolest stove. She used that deep well to make soups and to stew cheap cuts of meat. It was awesome. These are some pretty cool kitchens.

How exciting all that new technology must have been for them 😊

These commercials were awesome. We take for granted how ground breaking most of this was back then. I want a toe-opening fridge and a five minute dishwasher. My father grew up poor in this era and had a bathtub in his kitchen and a toilet in the tenement building hallway.

these appliances are more thoughtful than the ones we get today!

after watching these old commercials, I realize why jello salads were so popular. it was the first time women had the technology to create a dish so unique

These clips in particular are from 1935. The Monitor Top featured in the picture is a 1935 CK type. Not to mention the fashion is mid 30s as well. '37 was the final year the Monitor Top was manufactured, however GE continued to make replacement tops for their Monitor Tops. Great clip, love this! I own a '35 GE Monitor Top!

Now, these are, in my opinion, dream kitchens. Ahh the days when things were built to last a lifetime and then some. Now, everything is built to be replaced or coast a fortune to fix. I would SOOO love to have some of the appliances in these kitchens. Especially a dishwasher that actually got hot enough to really do it's job and oh my goodness the stoves.

The dishwasher only took 5 minutes? mine needs an hour...

Amazing that this is 1935! Still coming out of the depression, really. America is an amazing place of ingenuity.

What a fun series of GE adverts! I have a 1934-35 Monitor top fridge, just defrosted it today. Yep---that toe treadle is mighty handy, as are the slide out shelves. When you make ice cubes, we use the old metal ice cube trays that need to "freeze in" on the freezer compartment. Not to worry---GE supplied a little bakelite tool with a wire handle that you slide under the lip of the tray to free it up. Works like a charm. Ours came with the original instruction card, cook book, etc etc, even rubber ice cube trays (which we do NOT use). I dread the day our fridge dies, it has been a delight for the past 20+ years..

I like the toe touch opening and the slide out shelves on the fridge. The only thing I don't miss about old fridges is having to defrost them lol. I will be 54 next month n some of them old appliances lasted into the 70s. I loved the built in crock pot on the stove. Wish they would bring it back n add a built in griddle. My great great aunt had a fancy GE kitchen n a wood stove when the electric went out. But then again she lived in a house on an West Virginia mountain top. Lol she had the built in dish washer but she dumped it cause the pipes froze in the winter making a big mess. We found it stored in the storm cellar when she passed in the 1980s. They spent a mint on upgrading that kitchen in the late 30's a whole $700. She up graded once when she bought a new fridge with the built in freezer n added a washer n dryer n she cusde the whole time cause she spent $700 on 3 new appliances when her whole kitchen cost that much. Lol she still cooked bacon n pancakes on the wood stove cause it had the griddle n she kept water boiling in it until dinner she used it to wash dishes. You needed 2 pairs of rules beer gloves to wash dishes if you didn't want burns. So no worries about viruses in her kitchen. Lol she used bleach n boiling water to clean surfaces.

Loved the kitchens and all the women's fashions look gorgeous!

My new home back east this is mine !! Thank you General Electric. Oh and so are those lovely outfits and hair do’s!! lol❤️🌹🐞

I have the same refrigerator! Didn't know what the pedal was for. Now I do, and yes it works.

My family has purchased GE appliances for th past 70 years. You could't get rid of them because they never broke down. We have a 70 yr old frig in storage that would still start up if plugged in. Now, not so much barely can get use of them after warranty expires. I want that foot opener ob my new frig 😁

These films are not 1943, as WWII was in progress and the U.S. was heavily involved. The films are clearly from the 1930s; look at the clothing styles, the hairstyles, etc. I would say these are from the mid 1930s. They are a marvelous piece of history.

That touch of a toe open door needs to be a thing for fridges nowadays too

love the pullout shelves in the fridge

A dishwasher that cleans in 5 minutes and uses 1¢ of electricity. I'll take one! About four years ago my mother moved, so she got rid of her second refrigerator that was from the war, and it still worked. Some refrigerators today don't last a year without breaking and they can cost as much as a *_house_* did back when my mother bought her fridge - and that's not an exaggeration!

"all ready to serve for the price of a two cent stamp" Postage stamps went to 3 cents in July of 1932. This must pre-date that.

These "commercials" were originally shown in movie theaters; the "tag" (as seen at 2:07) featured the name- and address- of the local G.E. dealer.

What the heck! Why did they get rid of sliding shelves in refrigerators?!?! That's genius!

This is awesome. I moved into a 1930s home and I want to give the kitchen the vintage look with antique restored appluances. Thanks!

9:12 "...And remember... Electric cookery seals in all the essential health-giving values of every volbolugh!"

My grandmother had a dishwasher in the 1930's. She said the way it worked was that the water just ran and ran and ran. (She said she didn't particularly like the machine at the time.)

I wish we had modern sliding shelves in OUR refrigerators today!

I had never heard of or seen a General Electric Lift-Top refrigerator till just now. It is conveniently compact, but is definitely not convenient to load or unload. All this stuff may look quaint, but except for microwaves, these are all the same appliances we still use.

5 minutes? My modern dishwasher takes 2 hours!!!!

Awesome look back in time, when I actually watched this on the HD screen on my refrigerator door while cooking dinner. The things we take for granted today, that were true innovations in their time, makes one wonder how more difficult and inconvenient every day life was, even 80 years ago, as in this video.

I need that fridge with the toe opener!

I was in Home Depot checking refrigerators recently I could not believe how much cheap-ass thin easy-break plastic was in those Brand Name $2400 refrigerators.

Enjoyed watching. I don't think too many people had dishwashers back then. If you were rich enough to have one you were rich enough to hire help. My mother got her first dishwasher in thr early seventies and they were still considered a status symbol at that time.

The horn is very bothersome but awesome video this is amazing!

"Electric cooking seals in the vitamins and minerals." I love it.

I WISH THEY WOULD REPRODUCE THESE APPLIANCES !!! THE REFRIGERATORS ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!

With the kitchen from the 30 is better than my kitchen nowadays

Love those early years' Appliances.

When I was in college in the late 60’s, the apartment I lived in had a 1932 GE Monitor top fridge - the coils were more open than what is seen here. Very small narrow (one ice cube tray’s width) freezing unit - but it worked and was very Deco looking. It also had the foot pedal for opening the door. It did not however, have slide out shelves. Nor did it have a vegetable crisper drawer. I’d love to have it now.

Thanks for sharing these films but they were made between 1932 when GE first offered a dishwasher under its own name and 1938 when the GE Monitor Top was discontinued in 1938.

It's 2020 and I'm still scrubbing dishes by hand!

GE stopped making monitor top refrigerators in 1937.

I was all set to tell them the date was wrong but it looks like that has been well handled already. :) Since a museum posted this, I sincerely hope the date is correct in their records, at least. -- another Monitor Top owner

"Your dishes washed in five minutes!" We've obviously gone backwards. Even the "express" choice on my 2015 dishwasher is a half hour.

I know they made things to last. I love the stove with the pot built in.

Looks great but I wouldn't want that annoying bugle blaring everytime.

OMG! My mother who is going to be 90 years old in December was 5 years old when this video was taken!! 😱

Its 2018 and my rental kitchen isn't that modern. Newer appliances maybe but where did the function go?

Thanks so much for sharing!

I care for a lady she is 96 I love herrrrr she’s awesome

We had one of those monitor top refrigerators when I was a very young lad.

_Wow, I wanna be a _*_modern_*_ housewife. So easy!_

Things back them were built to last!! I have a 1935 GE Monitor Top refrigerator in my kitchen, It works like the day it was new! The foot opener, sliding shelves and everyother feature are great! I do not have the GR electric range, I have a 1927 Glenwood "OurWay" gas range. These appliances will outlast anything thats made today...

Bro, these gadgets were more modern then kitchen appliances today 😭

I really like the "lift top" refrigerator. People actually do a DIY using a deep freezer. I never thought of having it as a part of the counter, and I like that. It just conserves cold so sensibly. Dairy & meat on the bottom, misc, then fruit and veg on top. At a money sparse time in my life I was going to build one. People give away freezers all the time, so it would just cost me parts and little bits of electricity after. I didn't know that this was once a real appliance.

My most favorite decade. Love the 30s. My grandparents time. Paid $3500 for their first home.

What a wonderful video. We crow about microwave ovens, but these were miracles in their time. Haul, split, and carry wood to start and maintain a fire to can food in July, and you would be at the store the next day. Haul ice or use a cool water trough to keep your milk. I'm fairly sure that dishwasher was appreciated. Opening the door with your foot and sliding shelves may still be a good idea. "Built for a lifetime" wasn't an exaggeration. Can't say that today.

A steel fridge? Sign me up! I want one of these old fridges!

Looks great, no confusing digital controls. I can't figure out how to use half the controls in my new car, or change the settings on my dishwasher. I'm old school.

Oh wow. A GE range for my birthday. Thank you, Darling. All I wanted was a bottle of vodka so I could not feel the hellish, giant rubber corset I wear.

Wow the "little wife" must have been thrilled to get a stove for her birthday.

Great piece of history from General Electric.🌚 I love the old-school films.😀 I wish and want to own some of the GE appliances, as well as to dress-up like some of the housewives and little daughters in the film!😍💖💋👗

Amazing! I didn't even have kitchens like this in the 1980s here in the UK.

I still can hear my dad yelling "Close the refrigerator door!".

This would be great as a shots game. Every time you hear the trumpet...take a shot. Everytime you hear GE...Take a shot.

I have a 2 year old GE range with calrod burners. I love it, it ranks right up there with the best stove I have ever had, a Frigidaire with the thick coil burners

At that time everything good was made in usa

Umm I still use hands to open my fridge! Wth 😂

This was produced during the heart of the Great Depression With all this happy talk of modern kitchen appliances ,there were many people in 1935 who didn't even have a home of their own - migrant farm labor camps of California. My grandparents with 6 kids in tow,moved to Cali and stayed at 2 different labor camps

Mighty few people in the middle 1930s could possibly have afforded a brand new sleek kitchen with all new electric appliances like the idealized one in these little movies. Dishwashers in particular were a luxury almost nobody had in those days.

Grandparents 1948 Norge refrigerator is still working in the garage where it's been since the early 60s.

Interesting how these things were made so much better. And how far back you could have such wonderful things if you had enough money. Sad that our ability to have basic niceties is so difficult now.

Love these videos! I show my kids n there Amazed 👏

The poor guy on the bugle must be getting fed up!

I want that 5 minute dishwasher and the fridge with the foot pedal opener!

That “ lift top refrigerator “ must have been….awkward. I’d swoon to have one of those awesome stoves.

The Protection Plan was only $1 a year. I LIKE that. (:

The confusion over the dates of these clips is because these were put together as a compilation of old movie theater ads. They're from different years. Just compiled to present here on RU-vid.

I didn't know they had dishwashers back in 1935.

"What's this? Well here comes the pride and joy of the house"

I've been switching back and forth between this archived footage and Sotheby's International Real Estate's youtube videos. Trippy.

I hand wash my dishes every day I don't have a dishwasher🤦