Gingerbread house finds vintage

Vintage kitchen cupboards

I’m not sure how it started but I became obsessed with having a vintage kitchen cupboard. You know the kind, with lots of drawers and cupboards and a lead lined box to store your milk in. Somehow I ended up with two, greedy I know.

The first I found in one of my favourite vintage shops in Exeter. The shop was stuffed full of antiques but they had a couple of kitchen cabinets and the decorated glass panels really caught my eye. It was made by Blue Gate Products Ltd. A ‘Pride o Home’ Unit, made in Harold Hill, London.

Pretty much the same week my father in law offered me the kitchen cabinet he had in his shed. It belonged to his mother in law and was home to many spiders and his screw collection. I accepted and we arranged to get both transported to London.

before                                                 after

When they arrived I washed them both with sugar soap and they sat, either side of the chimney breast in our dining room for a couple of years. When we finally got round to decorating the dining room we decided we only had room for one so sold the lovely retro red one with the playing cards. We kept the one which had been in the family and one Bank Holiday weekend took it out into the garden and got started.

We haven’t restored many pieces of furniture but it wasn’t too difficult. We took the doors, hinges and handles off and removed the sticky old oilcloth which lined the shelves. Then we stripped, sanded and primed before painting it with a lovely bone grey paint from The Little Greene Company. The finished cupboard looks fantastic, has plenty of extra kitchen storage and is practical too. I will be definitely looking out for another when we move so I can store my sewing supplies in it!

24 Comments

  • Reply
    The Joyful Thrifter
    July 10, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    FANTASTIC!!! love love love!!

    Smiles,
    the Joyful Thrifter

  • Reply
    Lakota
    July 10, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    I’m really jealous, I would LOVE one of these. All I’ve seen cost an arm and a leg though.

  • Reply
    Anonymous
    July 11, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    Love these and now on a total nostalgia trip as me and my friend Louise used to play in my cellar as children and pretend to play house with one of these in a yellow colour there full of tonic water as I recall which we once tried to get drunk on

  • Reply
    BeckyKay
    July 12, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    So jealous! I am always on the look out for “things with drawers”!

  • Reply
    Madleen
    July 27, 2011 at 11:42 am

    Amazing! I think we had a cupboard just like the one on the first picture in my home when I was a child. I have been looking for furniture from that time in vintage shops lately. That old stuff does not come cheap, though.
    I even considered buying retro furniture made to look old-fashioned instead, as that can sometimes turn out to be the better deal. Or just wait to inherit all of it from my parents someday.

  • Reply
    Kathy
    November 3, 2011 at 2:47 am

    Hi there,
    I was sooo happy to see your blog about your cabinets. I just bought one last month at a St Vincent DePaul store out here in America, which is a second hand store. It definitely needs to be sanded and painted again, but it is so lovely. Thanks to you I now know what it is. I had no idea I just knew it was sooo cute I had to have it. I would love to send a pic but I don’t see a place for one. It’s cream and the doors and cabinets are teal colored. Made by the same company as yours. Can you give me any information on where I can find out what they’re worth or how much I can sell it for if I need to? I can’t find a single thing on them other than your blog. Thanks so much!

  • Reply
    Alison
    February 27, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    We have just rehomed one from a neighbour, its out of place in our house and will be looking for a new home. Needs sanded down and painted, all original features, including decorated glass panels, doors, handles etc sold as seen. We are located in South London and would be available for collection only. Blue Gate Products Ltd London ‘Pride O Home’ range. email the above address if interested. Many thanks

  • Reply
    John Holden-Ross
    December 4, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    Hi All

    I have a Pride o Home cabinet made by Blue Gate Products Limited and will shortly be offering it for sale on Ebay unless anyone makes me a reasonable offer beforehand. It is located in Cheshire. I can tell you more and issue photos for anyone interested, or watch Ebay.

  • Reply
    King of his castle | the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    April 11, 2013 at 10:32 am

    […] to paint and actually use, my poor neglected bureau is one of them. I’m also aching to use my vintage kitchen cupboard as fabric storage rather than extra kitchen […]

  • Reply
    Kathy
    October 19, 2013 at 8:09 pm

    Hi Jenny, I tried to send you an email from the link above
    but it says not recognized. I have a similar cupboard and had some
    questions for you. I just subscribed to your blog can you tell me
    the right email to send it to? Thanks Kathy

    • Reply
      jenny
      October 19, 2013 at 10:41 pm

      Hi Kathy, the email listed on my homepage should work fine jenny{at}the-gingerbread-house.co.uk – just replace the brackets {at} for an @ 🙂

  • Reply
    Donna
    March 25, 2014 at 10:58 pm

    Hi, Just found this as I was looking at old vintage cabinets…I am just buying the exact same cupboard with the playing cards on it from Cornwall…AND…I grew up in Harold Hill (it is actually in Romford, Essex, although it is in the London Borough of Havering too)…it was meant to be mine 🙂

    • Reply
      jenny
      March 26, 2014 at 9:09 am

      I sold mine as my house wasn’t big enough for two vintage cabinets (so my husband said). I adore them though, much better than furniture from Ikea!

      • Reply
        Donna Watson
        March 26, 2014 at 2:22 pm

        Aww, what a shame 🙁
        Mine needs lots of refurbishment, but got a great company to do it for me and it should be with me in a few weeks.
        P.S. Love the blog 🙂

    • Reply
      John
      March 26, 2014 at 10:26 am

      Hi
      I have one of these for sale in vgc if anyone is interested. Let me know and I can send pics. It’s in North Wales but I can probably deliver.
      Regards
      John

      • Reply
        Donna
        March 28, 2014 at 9:33 pm

        Hi John, I know someone who may be interested. Don’t want to leave my details on here though, so don’t know how you’re going to get the pictures/details to me?
        Thanks

        • Reply
          John Holden-Ross
          March 30, 2014 at 11:30 am

          Thanks Donna

          Yes I can appreciate that. I wonder if we can do it by facebook? My name is John Holden-Ross (not many of them around – in fact I’m the only one in the world!). I live in Conwy. If you send me a friend request I’m sure that will work. Let me know if it works. If it doesn’t I don’t really mind putting my mobile number on here and I can sms photos to you?

          Regards

          John

          • Donna
            April 8, 2014 at 6:15 am

            Hi John,
            I left you a reply ages ago but it seems not to have shown up for whatever reason,.. Probably something I did wrong 😉 I messaged a John H-R on FB but got nothing back, I could only find one on there. Check your “other inbox” on your messages.
            Hope to hear back soon.
            And sorry Jenny, I hope you don’t mind us leaving these messages? xx

    • Reply
      Geography Police
      June 3, 2015 at 9:29 am

      You’re half correct. Harold Hill is in the London Borough of Havering, as is Romford. This means that neither of them are in Essex. Essex is run by Essex County Council, not by any London Borough. The London Boroughs are what make up London.
      Some people mistakenly think Romford, & by extension Harold Hill, are postally in Essex. This is incorrect. Check any Romford postal address on Royal Mail’s address or postcode finder, not one will have the word Essex in the finished article.

      • Reply
        Donna
        June 3, 2015 at 11:47 pm

        Thanks for the reply but I think you’ll find that all addresses in Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster have the postal address of Essex at the end….I should know as I have lived in Romford and other parts of the London Borough of Havering for over 40 years and my postal address has been Romford, Essex etc all that time.

        • Reply
          Geography Police
          June 9, 2015 at 12:16 pm

          Like i said, check the postal addresses in Romford, Hornchurch, & Upminster on Royal Mail’s (you know, the people who actually deliver the mail) address or postcode finder (online) & you will find that you are mistaken.

    • Reply
      marilyn northcott [fry]
      January 22, 2017 at 9:01 pm

      hi donna I have the same cupboard in my beach hut in devon have been trying to find some
      detail about it was there a factory in Harold hill this firm made lots or cupboards hope you
      may be able to help marilyn

  • Reply
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    […] vintage home vibe. We have some key pieces of furniture which will be staying, such as my beloved vintage kitchen cupboard which houses my fabric stash. There are some lovely ways to decorate and I’ve been pulling […]

  • Reply
    A space to work - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    February 21, 2021 at 5:41 pm

    […] that I’ve decided to add a few more colour accents into our downstairs. We have a gorgeous vintage kitchen cupboard which I use to store my fabric supplies and I’ve decided to give it a fresh coat of teal […]

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