15 Groovy Photos of Middle-Class Kitchens of the ’70s

From today’s beige, sleek, and everything-must-match perspective, the 1970s kitchen feels like another planet. Back then, everything was a focal point at once, and yeah — it was kind of a sensory nightmare. But people looked around and went, “It’s groovy.” Avocado green, harvest gold, bold plaid patterns — it was all in, all at once. This gallery is a tribute to that unhinged charm and total lack of restraint. 

If the ’70s taught us anything, it’s that more was always more. Why stop at wood paneling when you can pair it with sky-blue countertops, a fire-engine red sink, and wallpaper that looks like a grocery aisle exploded. The red sink is doing its best to be the center of attention, but the strawberry-shaped cookie jar was right there to steal it. It worked because it didn’t work.

This kitchen looks like it could make you a tuna melt and offer unsolicited parenting advice. Of course, everything is in avocado green because that was the color of the ’70s. If your kitchen didn’t have at least one appliance in this almost-edible shade, were you even trying?

This is probably what all ’70s kitchens strived to be — but then would go overboard with something. This one is, again, less middle-class real and more catalog wannabe, but still very ’70s. The shade, the wallpaper — it’s all there

The plaid in this kitchen is working overtime, and no one back then thought it was a problem — because in the ’70s, you couldn’t go overboard, even when you clearly already had. Everything in this kitchen looks like your uncle’s shirt and your grandma’s couch had a baby, and we are here for it.

If it’s not harvest gold, was it even the 1970s? This kitchen is so drenched in yellow-orange tones, it looks like it would vomit pumpkin spice if you poked it too hard. The appliances, countertops, and even the décor are locked into a never-ending fall.

If there’s an interior design equivalent of a bologna sandwich, this is it — in the best way. This was everyone’s kitchen in the ’70s. Brown cabinets, gold-toned appliances, plaid wallpaper, and those carved wooden chairs that were somehow in every house on the block.

If anything is more ’70s than this, I don’t wanna see it. It looks like every design choice was made with a “yeah, sure, throw it in.” Orange fridge? Why not. Yellow cabinets? Sure. Busy floor? Let’s do it. It’s like no one ever said no — and that’s kinda what makes it great. It’s a little much, but also exactly what you’d expect from a kitchen that probably had Kool-Aid in a pitcher 24/7.

This kitchen feels like walking into your grandma’s house — if your grandma had great taste and a thing for sunflowers. It’s cluttered in the best way, and clearly lived in. The floral wallpaper, the hanging pans and mugs, everything here says someone actually cooks in this kitchen. Probably something with butter. Lots of it.

This kitchen has everything: wood paneling, bold brass cabinet pulls, striped wallpaper straight out of a geometry textbook, and pom-pom curtains that definitely came from a Sears catalog. It’s the kitchen where dinner was at 5:30 sharp, Jell-O salad was considered a side dish, and no one ever threw away a Cool Whip container.

Nothing is more ’70s than avocado green appliances. Nothing — not even a disco ball. The wallpaper looks like a salad, the shag carpet is probably hiding secrets, and the microwave is built in and everything makes sense.

OK, so this one’s less middle-class and more “my decorator handled it,” but come on — how can you not love the built-in rotisserie chicken situation?

This is the other side of the same kitchen, and yeah — it’s way more tame. The fake brick, the wood, the little breakfast corner — it kind of pulls everything together. It actually looks like something right out of The Brady Bunch. 

If you listen closely, you can hear this photo yelling, “Moooom, make me a grilled cheese with the crust cut off.” The brown everything, the chunky chairs, the paper towel holder on the wall — it’s all so perfectly average in the best way. This was the kind of kitchen where you left your homework on the table and got yelled at for it later.

Besides the fact that the kitchen is so yellowish and feels like the sun actually lived there for a while, it gives off a cozy vibe.

This is such a cool reminder that not all 1970s kitchens looked like they were designed at a Studio 54 after-party. The warm wood, and soft colors lean more into Scandinavian calm than disco bonanza.