Here's What Kitchens Really Looked Like In The '70s

The 1970s were a time so different, it's hard to believe they were only half a century ago. During this decade, "Star Wars," the Vietnam War, and Microsoft were all making headlines. There was a new pope and a new (female!) British prime minister. Aesthetically, prairie dresses and disco reigned supreme. In American kitchens, however, a certain different aesthetic was rising to prominence. Earth tones, faux wooden paneling, and Formica were all buzzwords for homemakers whipping up those weird vintage desserts that people loved back then. Taking a look back at 1970s kitchens is not only a visual date with nostalgia, but it might be oddly inspiring if you are looking for décor hints in your own modern cooking space. 

Variety is the secret to making your kitchen cabinets stand out, but, as many a buyer of a '70s-era home has learned, wooden cabinets were everywhere in this decade. Dark wood was an especially popular choice, but knotty pine was also beloved by the masses. Those who couldn't afford actual hardwood often turned to faux options, which tended to be much less durable. 

Wallpaper in the kitchen was a big trend in the 1960s, but it was still going strong a decade later. Geometric patterns remained pretty popular, but large florals were on the rise thanks to the hippy-dippy vibes that were en vogue. Peel-and-stick technology has brought wallpaper roaring back in the 21st century ... are you bold enough to go retro in your kitchen?

Avocado, goldenrod, and brown ... is any color palette so distinctive as that of the 1970s? Those "back to nature" vibes were strong in kitchens, from cabinets to countertops to colored appliances. Although matching kitchen appliances are appealing to 2025 eyes, you should avoid putting a vintage fridge in your modern space, because those things can be seriously environmentally unfriendly. To bring the '70s safely into your kitchen, how about a harvest yellow paint job? 

Modern wisdom holds that you should skip laminate countertops in your kitchen design because they look cheap and don't hold up to regular use. However, laminate countertops like Formica were huge in the 1970s because they were high-tech ... and they came in a rainbow of colors! (We've discussed how they loved color back then.) Most 1970s laminate cabinets and countertops have been damaged and replaced by now, but you may still catch a rare sighting in well-preserved old homes. 

Every era has its status symbol(s), and, in the 1970s, certain appliances were considered aspirational. The quintessential 1970s homemaker likely coveted a trash compactor and a wall oven ... preferably a double one. This wasn't completely arbitrary, either. If you were a frequent host or hostess, having extra oven space was as useful 50 years ago as it is today. Of course, you are likely whipping up something completely different from the 1970s foods you can't find now, but we still love a retro main course. Jell-O salad, anyone? 

All that vintage Pyrex and Corelle that's currently selling for big bucks on eBay was brand-new in the 1970s. The tools that were used for cooking in kitchens were meant to be as decorative as they were useful, with autumnal colorways (again with the earthy colors!) and cheerful florals. Just like we love our aesthetic clear plastic containers today, so did the 1970s homemaker want these pretty serving dishes, casserole pans, and dinner plates. 

Tiled backsplashes were a serious "thing" in the 1970s, and these were not the understated, neutral subway tiles of today. Seventies tile was geometric, colorful, patterned, and always bold, which carried over into the graphic tiles trend of the '80s. Neutrals rule the aesthetic landscape of the 2020s, but we dare you to take a page from your grandma's kitchen and get a bit aggressive with your choices. One funky element in a kitchen — it could be the flooring, it could be the cabinet hardware — sets your space apart in a big way.