What makes Smeg's 50's style line recognisable

The Smeg retro line is one of the rare cases where an appliance is bought as a piece of interior as much as a tool. Its kettle, toaster and stand mixer are recognised even by people who take no interest in kitchens. Here is what that look is actually made of, and what is worth knowing before you build a whole set out of it.

The shape

The basis of the style is a soft, rounded outline and a continuous, almost monolithic body with no unnecessary lines. Handles, levers and switches are emphatically mechanical: you can see them, you can take hold of them, they do not disappear into a touch panel. That frankness about its parts is what reads as the fifties — the appliance is not pretending to be invisible, it stands on the worktop as an object.

Colour and finish

The line is built around saturated single colours and matte metal surfaces. That is practical as well as decorative: one shade runs through different appliances, so a kettle, a toaster and a juicer look like a set even when they were bought years apart. A pastel body works well in a neutral kitchen where the rest of the fronts are quiet; a bright one belongs where the appliance is meant to be the accent.

The practical side of colour deserves a thought as well. A matte surface is less fussy about fingerprints than gloss, and neutral shades — cream, grey, black — survive a change of kitchen more easily: fronts are replaced once a decade, while the kettle goes on living on the worktop. If you are unsure about a bright colour, start with the appliance that is easiest to move or put away, and watch how it behaves in your light: the same shade reads differently in warm evening light and in daylight.

Things to settle before buying

• these appliances live in plain sight, so plan worktop space and a socket next to it from the start;
• a matte body is more practical than gloss, because fingerprints show less on it;
• see the colour in person, or at least in a room photograph — against the white of a catalogue a shade reads differently;
• build the set gradually, starting with the appliance you actually use every day;
• mechanical switches prefer dry hands and a soft cloth, never an abrasive.

Fitting it into a modern kitchen

Retro appliances do not require a retro kitchen. They usually look best where everything else is restrained: flat handleless fronts, a neutral worktop, one or two coloured objects in the whole space. If there are more than three coloured pieces, keep them in one shade and on one line — then the worktop reads as a composition rather than a shop display.

What people want from this line is a mood. The colour will not make the coffee taste better, but it does make the kitchen somewhere you want to walk over to. If the look appeals to you, start with a single appliance and watch how it lives in your room for a few weeks.