The 35 things every kitchen had in the ’80s

You hear a lot about how home decor trends from the ’70s and ’90s are making a comeback, with the push to bring more comfort and coziness back into our living spaces. But then there are the 80s – somewhere in between, with a lot of white, a lot of dark, and actually it’s just not pretty.

The music, moviesAnd everything else from the 80s was truly spectacular. The home decoration? Not so much.

The kitchen from the 80s has a lot of content

'Incredible Hulk' actor Lou Ferrigno and wife in kitchen splendor in the early '80s. — ‘Incredible Hulk’ actor Lou Ferrigno and wife in kitchen splendor in the early ’80s. (Getty Images)

This brings us to the kitchens of the ’80s, where ’80s kids spent more time than ever before. My mother was probably at work, and now there were kitchen islands – even stools to sit on and do your homework.

MORE PHOTOS from the 80s: What life was really like in the 1980s

This was before we retreated to the ‘computer room’, and after we were no longer forced to watch TV in the den because there was holy smoke, some of us even had TVs in the kitchen!

What did the average 80s kitchen look like?

With the ’80s came the need to collect stuff… lots of stuff. Everything was plastic, sometimes cheap, and plentiful. The counters were full of gadgets that seemed essential at the time, there were appliances we hadn’t seen in decades, and decor trends that felt super modern in 1985 and were completely confusing in 1995. Some of it (cockerel theme and everything about the country) just happened, and everyone went along with it – all in.

An Air Popper and/or Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popping Corn — No 80s kitchen was complete without an air push button. (PRESTO // Orville Redenbacher)

Let’s go back to the kitchen island, immersed in the fluorescent light of your childhood – here are the things you would find in an everyday kitchen from the 80s.

PHOTOS: Things you’d see in an everyday ’80s kitchen

Check out 35 things that made every ’80s kitchen unmistakably and unapologetically ’80s.

Gallery credit: Stefan Lenz

WATCH: Daily life of the 80s captured in photos

Step back into the everyday world of the 1980s: mall hangouts, boxy sedans, Walkmans and family snapshots that capture life in all its utterly ordinary charm. These photos celebrate the little moments, styles and scenes that made the decade unforgettable.

Gallery credit: Stefan Lenz