Where to Buy Retro Appliances
Buying old vintage appliances has always been difficult because it involved scouring dozens of antique shops. Not only that, but the vintage oven, refrigerator or wood-burning stove usually required some sort of repair and was anything but efficient. These days you can get the warm retro look and vintage feel of old appliances without all of the hassle of repair and without sacrificing energy efficiency. If you're interested in buying a retro refrigerator, stove or oven try clicking on the "Buy here" link text below each of the reviews on the left. We've already found the best prices for you!

The prices shown for each brand are for refrigerators and stoves. Some brands offer different appliances, sometimes for much less. For instance, retro dishwashers are usually about half the price of a stove or refrigerator. Some also offer retro toasters and vintage-style microwaves.

Big Chill has some cool 1950's style refrigerators and dishwashers (I like the Beach Cruiser Series pictured on the left) but so far you'd have trouble finding the stove to match. Their website says stoves are coming soon, however. The other downsides are availability and quality. The units are decent quality, but not to the level of craftsmanship as AGA or Heartland. Perhaps the lower price makes up for this.

Northstar is the new, energy-efficient retro appliance line from Elmira Stove Works, which also makes traditional vintage appliances like real wood burning stoves and ovens. To be honest, we had a hard time choosing between Northstar and Heartland as our Editor's Pick. In the end it came down to the fact that Heartland was more readily available, had more styles to choose from and just appealed more to our tastes aesthetically (which is of course subjective).

Pastense sells refrigerators and stoves in 1950's styles but with 21st century technology. Appliances meet or exceed modern federal energy efficiency standards. and come with a one-year warranty on parts and labor. They have a nice style, but there doesn't seem to be anything particularly worth the price tag other than the look. The other downside is the lack of choices. There are plenty of colors to choose from but only one style. Another thing that bothered us was that Past Tense sold all kinds of "retro furniture" and home goods, and it seemed like the large kitchen appliance line was sort of an afterthought when compared to some of these other brands that specialize in only such appliances.

AGA are the least retro-looking of the vintage appliance brands in this review. However, they do have a certain antique quality to them, which probably comes from the super craftsmanship using materials like cast iron. You just don't find that kind of quality in a typical modern GE or Maytag appliance these days. But for those seeking that classic retro-look (either in a 1950's style refrigerator or turn-of-the-century stove) you could get a Heartland appliance for about the same price. In short, they're probably the best in terms of quality (closely followed by Heartland and Northstar) but they lack some of that quintessential 'retroness' you may be looking for.

Heartland won our Editor's pick for several reasons. On the downside, they can get expensive compared to some other options, but that extra couple-hundred bucks is well worth the craftsmanship, style and choices if you're going to shell out this much money on a retro appliance anyway. The stove shown looks like a classic, 1800s woodburning cookstove, but it's actually a high-tech, modern electric stove and oven. Heartland also offers retro styles from the 1950s and 60s.