Vintage Kitchen Fittings: The Hoosier Cabinet

Did you grow up with a Hoosier cabinet in your home? We did, and we still have a lot of affection for this old-fashioned predecessor to built-in kitchen cabinets. Click through to read a little more about the Hoosier cabinet and to see a really gorgeous contemporary version of this kitchen classic.

Hoosier cabinets were an essential piece of kitchen furniture in the early 20th century. They were usually tall cabinets with several compartments up top, which sometimes included a built-in bin and sifter for flour, and then deeper cabinets and drawers on the bottom.

What made them really effective in the kitchen, though, was their slide-out workshelf. The shelf in the center of the cabinet could slide out to add work space. This is still a great idea for small space kitchens: a slide out shelf that you can push back in when you're done chopping vegetables or kneading bread.

Hoosier cabinets were in vogue from about 1900 to about 1920, but right about that time homes began to include built-in countertops and cabinets, so there was much less of a need for the Hoosier. (The Hoosier got its name, incidentally, from the Indiana Hoosier Manufacturing Company, which was among the first to make these cabinets.)

If you don't have a lot of storage in your kitchen, or if you love vintage and antique furniture, you may still have one of these. I grew up in a home with a Hoosier, and it's a fond memory from childhood. Where's the cereal? In the Hoosier. Is there any sugar left? Check in the Hoosier. It held all my mother's baking supplies, and the soup tureen and other seldom-used serving pieces were stashed on top.

Do you have a Hoosier cabinet? The really lovely version pictured just above is from Almost Amish, and their prices for reproduction Hoosiers are quite reasonable. Antique cabinets can also be found easily on Craigslist and eBay.

• Find it! Almost Amish Hoosier Cabinets

(Images: Flickr member Teresa Thompson licensed for use under Creative Commons; Almost Amish Hoosier Cabinets)

Comments (12)

Oh... that first cabinet is so pretty. *sigh*

Once again, the kitchn came through. I've been mining the internet for furniture exactly like this all week. In this price range. THANK YOU!

@chic cookies, make sure to check out this Flickr group, then:

Hoosier Cabinet Pool

Is this the same thing as a dry sink? My step dad has one and that's what he calls it.

we had two of these growing up, but they weren't kept in the kitchen- they were in our living room and held all of our toys and games. Looking back at them, they were pretty awesome and I could absolutely see one in my home now!

@aleec, no, a Hoosier cabinet is not the same as a dry sink. A dry sink is a colonial American invention people put in bedrooms with a water pitcher and a bowl so they could wash their hands or face before bed (back before running water). Today, a dry sink is the opposite of a wet bar: it is a bar without a sink. Typically, dry sinks are small and low, with a cabinet underneath for the liquor and a flat top with a one-inch raised panel around the sides to keep the bottles from falling over. If you do a Google image search for dry sink, you'll see lots of good examples.

Thats a great deal, I just bought a wall unit from europe through craiglist but I could totally see this replacing it and then moving the wall unit to our living room

My grandma has one, and it's in her kitchen. It's used everyday!

I just bought a vintage Hoosier cabinet for my tiny studio apartment kitchen! I love the enamel-top workspace and the easy-to-reach storage. It has so much more character than the kitchen cart I was considering.

my mom had something similar, but she called it a hutch. it was the same size, but didn't have doors. it had shelving, a couple of drawers and a pull out cutting board. it was from the 1900's.

the first photo posted is sooo charming! i love it!

I scored one recently for only $425-- after looking on craigslist for years for a nice one that would show off my pyrex. It's easily my favorite piece of furniture ever, and my first antique furniture purchase.

Picks are here: http://watershed.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/my-first-real-antique-furniture-purchase/

we didn't have one growing up, but a ridiculous amount of my childhood was spent in antique stores in illinois and indiana while my mother looked for the perfect hoosier cabinet. I don't think she ever really intended to buy one as we didn't have a lot of space for it in the kitchen (a pretty standard ranch kitchen), but she liked looking.