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Inside the 1970s Kitchen

A young adult female in a residential kitchen, surrounded by various fruits and plants with yellow tiles as a backsplash.

After a brief introduction, the Recollection Road channel immediately takes us back to the 70s, starting with a few historical facts about kitchen decor. With homeowners growing tired of plain, solid colors covering their kitchen walls, floral wallpapers quickly caught on at the beginning of the 70s.

A residential kitchen scene with wooden cabinets, a central island with a dark countertop and potted plant, chairs at the island, a clock on the wall, lamp, radio or speaker unit near refrigerator, small items on countertops, stove, oven or dishwasher under sink; window shutters partially open allowing natural light in, greenery outside suggesting spring or summer

Offering 1,000s of color and pattern options, these floral wallpapers provided an easy way to "redo" your kitchen. However, this reign was short-lived, and the floral patterns began to fall out of style as the decade's end drew closer.

Patterns weren't limited strictly to walls: the easy-to-clean linoleum floors of the 70s also had many designs and color schemes available. This made completing your kitchen's decor easy while minimizing the time spent cleaning the floor space.

A group of adults gathered around a wooden dining table indoors during daytime with natural light.

The more "natural" look had also come into style, featured in various decorative items like rattan furniture and macro-may wall decor. Interior shutters, however, were generally immune to this trend, as they served more of a practical purpose than a decorative one.

With interior shutters placed in the kitchen pass-through, homeowners could enjoy the views of an open-concept kitchen as they wished. Need some privacy? You could simply close the kitchen shutters!

A residential kitchen with wooden cabinets, a central island, patterned linoleum floor, and natural light from windows. The setting appears to be indoors within a home.

Colonial decorations also resurfaced in the 70s, with decorative wooden chairs quickly becoming a kitchen staple. Perhaps influenced by the timing of the 200th anniversary of the United States, America-themed symbols were often used in decorative pieces.

Even with everything above, we've only covered a small portion of the 70s kitchen design! If you want to learn more about 70s kitchen decor (or perhaps prepare to give your own kitchen a blast to the past), check out the full video on the Recollection Road YouTube channel!