The Kitchen Decor Boomers Loved That Can Add A Vintage Touch To Your Space

Remember the feeling of walking into your grandma's kitchen? Everything was functional, there was always something on the stove, and tchotchkes inhabited every corner of the counter. It's nostalgic, and it feels like home. When it comes time to decorate your own space, you may want to capture a bit of that magic for your family. Boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, had the right idea when it came to balancing function with design. One way to replicate that retro kitchen decor in your own style is through details like recipe boxes and gorgeously decorative vintage dinnerware.

Flipping through a catalogue of recipes feels a lot like perusing a family photo album. The difference is that while you can't exactly relive a memory, you can recreate a generational meal. The childhood home may be long gone, but the pie your mother baked on Sunday afternoons tastes just as good today. Not every meal from the boomer era is a winner (pork cake, anyone?), but recipe boxes preserve the sentimentality of food. 

Similarly, boomer kitchens were full of elegant details. Decorative plates have the same effect as framed art prints. Intricate etchings on heavy china were masterpieces you could eat on, though they were much too beautiful to do so. They were a sign of taste and collection. "Plate walls are a way to ... create a unique display of personal memorabilia — places visited, objects picked up along the way," tableware designer Olympia Irving told Vogue.

A recipe box of childhood dishes improved over time is a little more sentimental than a mass-produced cookbook on your counter or a folder of links stored on your phone. But even if the documentation is personal, it doesn't have to look like something from the 1950s. Traditional recipe boxes were pretty compact and often made of wood, usually holding 3-by-5-inch notecards. Keep the essence the same with index cards, but modernize its look to fit your design taste, like with a ceramic lidded box or a Rifle Paper Co. recipe tin. Handwriting on the cards is key, however, to capturing the nostalgia of an old recipe. 

In a similar way that recipe boxes created a focal point on the counter, decorative plates added visual dimension to shelves, walls, and china cabinets in boomer kitchens. To recreate the plate wall look, you can find options at just about any antique and secondhand store, or online marketplaces like Etsy. The vintage options are often adorned with florals or patterns, but if you want something more modern, opt for handmade ceramics in imperfect shapes and a mix of vintage and new styles. You probably don't have a china cabinet like your grandma, but decorative plates work outside the kitchen, too. Use them as soap or candle dishes or even jewelry trays.