# What were these on Leave it to Beaver? Washer/dryer, oven/dishwasher? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [May 9, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160 "2025-05-09T15:32:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/21 "2025-05-09T21:59:06Z")
When I was a kid we had the gas oven over broiler combo. We moved when I was in high school to a house with the avocado green double electric. Got spoiled with the double oven, has been a must-have feature in every house where possible (where we’ve built or remodeled) since then. The Leave it to Beaver pic seems to show two separate wall ovens stacked. I don’t remember our gas wall oven having a window. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/22 "2025-05-09T22:03:09Z")
Under what situations do you need both ovens? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/23 "2025-05-09T22:06:43Z")
Perhaps preparing the food for events like a Thanksgiving dinner? I can imagine needing to cook various things, at different temperatures. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/24 "2025-05-09T22:08:51Z")
As @Dewey_Finn says, cooking for holidays. Multiple dishes requiring different temperatures. Plus one can be a warming oven if needed. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/25 "2025-05-09T22:11:07Z")
It looks exactly like it’s single over counterpart in this sort about restoring a 1959 GE wall oven… > **[The Old Appliance Club comes to Kathy's rescue - her 1959 GE wall oven broils...](https://retrorenovation.com/2012/07/02/the-old-appliance-club-comes-to-kathys-rescue-her-1959-ge-wall-oven-broils-again/)** > > The Old Appliance Club helps reader Kathy find a way to fix her 1959 GE wall oven instead of having to replace it with a newer model -- yes it can be fixed! I think it’s real, or at least the front panels from a real oven without the guts. Wouldn’t be surprised if GE was a show sponsor. In this case, it does not look like the oven/broiler over-under combo, but like two stock wall units stacked. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/26 "2025-05-09T23:49:36Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > As @Dewey_Finn says, cooking for holidays. Multiple dishes requiring different temperatures. Plus one can be a warming oven if needed. 'Zactly. Any time you’re cooking for a party, two ovens are super handy. Once you have them you’ll never want to go back to just one. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/27 "2025-05-09T23:50:39Z")
What’s weird to me is that the ovens or whatever they are, are installed in a wall between two or more rooms. There are doors on either side of them. I suppose one side might be just a hallway and the side wall extends far enough to cover the sides of the appliances. Also weird is that the upper one has no window. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/28 "2025-05-10T00:58:07Z")
Here in Melbourne, the only double ovens my brother saw were in Jewish homes (used for kosher cooking). And the only ones I saw were in Greek homes (used for family cooking). One of the Greek guys I worked with explained that he only ate at home on a Saturday night about 4 times a year. Those 4 times were a stretch for him – there was a lot of food bought – but it was balanced by not having to pay for the meal the other 48 weeks of the year. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/29 "2025-05-10T01:31:29Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Under what situations do you need both ovens? - My mom cooked the turkey in the tall one, and the sweet potato casserole and other flatter pans in the shorter oven. Our ovens were sort of a brownish color. I think the stylish avocado green came along later. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/30 "2025-05-10T01:35:41Z")
Mine were brown too. Now I wish I took a picture before I remodled. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/31 "2025-05-10T01:42:20Z")
And just to bump it up a notch in history a microwave oven replaced the upper oven when they came into being. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/32 "2025-05-10T01:49:19Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Also weird is that the upper one has no window. Neither one has a window. That model didn’t come with a window in the door. [![](https://retrorenovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/vintage-oven-1.jpg) ](https://retrorenovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/vintage-oven-1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/33 "2025-05-10T01:50:55Z")
Harvest Gold. Olive green. Or Copper tone. My aunts all had a version. My Granny had Coppertone. I liked it because of the color looked like flames. Well, to a 6 yo.it did. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/34 "2025-05-10T02:12:10Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I vaguely remember dual wall ovens in the Brady Bunch house. I remember watching an episode of Graham Kerr’s _Galloping Gourmet_ before he went nuts and the set had a dual oven. After preparing a chicken for roasting he slid the pan in the upper oven, closed the door, and said, “So we put it in the magic oven and bim, bam, boom --” touching the upper glass, the space between, then the lower glass before opening the lower oven and taking out a finished chicken, “–it’s done!” ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/35 "2025-05-10T02:56:04Z")
I grew up in a house that had a double oven (electric) in a walk that was between the kitchen and the family room. So that looks totally normal to me. The walls were just drywall, too. My parents had a kitchen fire, once, but it wasn’t from the oven my father was doing something with hot oil on the stove and wandered away. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/36 "2025-05-10T04:43:17Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > ls that an electric skillet on the counter top? > > Kids weren’t the only ones who could be induced to want things because they saw them on the TeeVee. Yes, it is. My sister has one exactly like that. She inherited it from our mother. > [@Loach](#): > > I thought everyone was issued one of those in that exact color. Matched the refrigerator. I don’t know about these days, but during my Army brat days and my own military days, almost every military family had Westinghouse, Frigidaire, and Kenmore home appliances. A few outliers had Maytag. Of course the popular color (as in: “You can get it any color provided you only want…”) was white. > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > Wouldn’t be surprised if GE was a show sponsor. A quick search tells me GE sponsored the later seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/37 "2025-05-10T05:02:17Z")
Dry wall is fire resistant. Now wood studs and insulation burn. My walls are wood. Where my stove sits is a interior wall backing it. It’s pine planks. The range has a fire shield. Just cause I’m a nervous nellie. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/38 "2025-05-10T05:14:49Z")
One oven to cook in, and one oven to store pots and pans so you don’t have to drag them all out every time you needed to bake. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/39 "2025-05-10T12:09:10Z")
Lots of 1960s /1970s ovens did not have windows in the doors. I suspect the glass of the time wasn’t quite up to the task, or at least was very expensive. So the lower tier contractor grade and mass market appliances didn’t have them. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160/40 "2025-05-10T18:20:38Z")
Hey, btw. If you catch an episode of _Bewitched_ check out Darren and Sams kitchen range. That thing is fan-cy!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-on-leave-it-to-beaver-washer-dryer-oven-dishwasher/1018160.md?page=1)