10 Retro Kitchen Items Making A Trendy Return In 2025

Hop on Instagram, search for #cottagecorekitchen, and prepare to feel an overwhelming sense of joy and calm. Retro stove tops and ovens complete with oven skirts sit under back splashes of white tile. Copper pots hang from walls with intricately designed wall paper. Retro refrigerators with chrome handles and rounded edges catch your eye immediately, and ceramic crocks filled with sugar, flour, and salt line kitchen counters. Social media can be a chaotic place, but this corner of the internet is calm.

This style of vintage, retro, old school — whatever you want to call it — kitchen aesthetic is making a serious comeback for those who aren't searching for the latest and greatest in high-tech appliances and wares. This aesthetic is simple and classic, and highlights the importance of appreciating the little things. It's giving purpose to small elements in and around your kitchen, and, if you love cooking, hopefully you're spending a lot of time there. With that in mind, this space should be a joyful one, so adding a few uniquely retro and nostalgic elements will only serve to make it a more beautiful, enjoyable space to be in. Plus, these aren't just items that will make your kitchen look adorable. They are all functional, useful pieces of kitchen equipment that look as good as they work. If you're looking to add a little #cottagecore to your kitchen, get one (or all) of these retro kitchen items making a humble comeback in 2025.

If you grew up in a family that survived on more than one casserole-type dinner per week, you're probably familiar with the iconic Corningware casserole dishes with the blue cornflower designs on them. They represent not just a sort of old-school kitchen flair, but the importance of quality kitchenware. Corningware casserole dishes are made from a glass-ceramic material that can handle high temperatures for long periods of time, so that high-heat lasagna or even low-and-slow brisket can come out looking perfect, and the dish will, too.

These dishes are also safe to use on your stovetop, in the broiler, in the microwave, or even in your freezer without so much as a break or crack in the material. Someone with a taste for casserole-style meals could easily buy a set of metal baking dishes that look nice and shiny, but will they literally stand up to the heat like a Corningware or Pyrex casserole dish can? With the popularity of casserole-style dishes on cooking Instagram and TikTok, the high-end old-school dishes are making a comeback, leaving the metal alternatives in their ceramic dust. Take a stroll over to #healthylifestyle or #easymeals on Instagram, and you'll find thousands of casserole-style meals, all of which will look absolutely fabulous in your new (old) casserole dishes.

Fancy a cup of tea? Sure, you could heat up water in a kettle on the stove, but where's the fun in that? Where's the whimsy? The tradition? That's the mindset of the people who are bringing back tea samovars, arguably the most impressive way to prepare a cup (or several cups) of tea. Tea samovars are a warm and comforting way to make tea more of a conversation piece and less of just a drink, with the first one introduced by Cossack immigrants in 17th-century Russia.

Having a samovar at home was, and still is, a sign that your home is a welcoming one. Plus, just look at them. Samovars are a work of art. They can be made from copper, brass, or silver, and beautifully decorated with fancy engravings and designs. Even the simple-looking ones carry an air of sophistication and beauty. Dive headfirst into tea samovar Instagram, and you'll be blown away by some truly impressive tea samovar sets, representing just how much people are coming to appreciate the art and craftsmanship that goes into this piece of equipment as they look to add decorative, nostalgic pieces in their homes.

There's something to be said for the number of retro-style kitchen items making a comeback that fall into the organization category. Crocks for coffee, tea, and sugar are undoubtedly some of the most remarkable, as they are as functional as they are helpful in the kitchen. Plus, they're aesthetically pleasing — you could have your bag of coffee beans, box of tea bags, and bag of sugar sitting pretty in your kitchen pantry, but that doesn't exactly enhance the look of your kitchen. Get a matching set if you're going for a singular look, or get different styles for a funkier, more rustic style of organization.

Coffee, tea, and sugar crocks are incredibly cute, no doubt about it, but the functionality of them is what makes them so darn useful in the kitchen. It's not just because they look great, which they do. It's because they also keep items fresh. You'll find a lot of these crocks are ceramic, keeping the contents inside cool and dark and away from outside temperature changes to ensure freshness and quality. A quick scroll through Etsy has some beautiful vintage ceramic canisters with metal lids to store coffee, sugar, or loose leaf tea, adding a little bit of vintage elegance to your kitchen decor.

If you're like me and love nothing more than having a constant stash of homemade chicken stock in the freezer to whip up a quick chicken soup in the winter months, you know the importance of having a quality stock pot at home. When it comes to quality, there's really no brand that stands out more than Le Creuset. Even after 100 years in business, the Le Creuset mantra hasn't changed all that much. It's still using enameled cast iron and stoneware to create products that are durable and functional, and that, after countless visits to high-temperature ovens and stoves, can still look and work like brand new.

Le Creuset has undoubtedly started the comeback of enamel stock pots, but it isn't the only trendy vintage brand. A visit to a vintage shop or flea market can be an embarrassment of riches for someone looking to enhance their kitchen with some enamel stock pots, made with quality materials and beautifully designed with old-world hand-painted patterns and vibrant colors to act as decorative pieces in the kitchen. Plus, because stock pots are large and can take up a lot of cabinet space, a beautifully designed enamel stock pot can sit on your stove and serve as a decorative element in addition to being a useful one.

You're at a dinner party, and the spread is positively artistic. Smoked salmon dip in the shape of a fish. Foie gras in the shape of a duck. How did they shape all of these snacks so wonderfully, you may be asking yourself? Copper molds, that's how. Not only do copper molds come in a seemingly infinite amount of shapes and designs, but they also add a rustic, vintage effect to any kitchen almost instantly. Aesthetically, copper molds are an ideal accent piece. But functionally, copper molds are a great addition to any kitchen, especially if you're looking to create beautiful baked goods and dips with a little extra zhuzh.

Copper, as a material, is a consistent heat conductor, which is why it's as useful in the kitchen as it is nice to look at. For something like a bundt cake, which needs a decent amount of time in a high-temperature oven, a copper mold will retain the heat and make sure the cake cooks evenly throughout but also doesn't burn on the outside. To be clear, copper molds are not to be confused with bronze ones. Copper is a pure metal, whereas bronze is typically made of copper and tin. Both look great in the kitchen, but they offer different uses and benefits as a result of their makeup.

Pyrex is an iconic name in the world of kitchenware with an incredible line of durable glassware for the kitchen. However, there's an entire line of Pyrex that you may not know about: Pyrex bowls with designs that go back to the 1930s, representing for many a sort of snapshot in time that can be shown off whenever the mood strikes to mix something up.

To find the Pyrex collectors community, you don't have to look too far. They're posting pictures of their vintage finds on social media, and searching far and wide at antique stores and yard sales for the next great vintage Pyrex piece. But why the hype over these older Pyrex bowls? In addition to the fun and flirty patterns, the material of the older Pyrex bowls differs from the ones made today. In the 1950s, Pyrex changed its formula from purely borosilicate glass to tempered soda lime glass. That original borosilicate glass is more durable and less prone to cracking under high heat and thermal shock, making these old Pyrex bowls valuable pieces of kitchenware.

Put in a search for "retro refrigerators" on Instagram, and the infinite amount of photos of beautiful, minimalist, pastel colored refrigerators you'll get in return is astounding. These aren't old photos that people got from their grandparents to post on their social media; they're usually from modern, minimalist-style kitchens that want something with a little vintage flare to spice things up.

There are a number of brands that come to mind when considering this retro style for a refrigerator, but none hit the mark quite like Smeg. Started in 1948 in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, Smeg has made a name for itself in the household appliance space, creating innovative products with a focus on quality, design, and energy savings. While it has several different lines of modern-looking appliances, the '50s-style aesthetic range is vibrant and stylish, putting in the work of a modern appliance with the unmistakable look and feel of days gone by.

On the outside, these refrigerators are clean and minimalist, but inside, they're downright impressive. Unlike the refrigerators of today, which are basically high-tech computers that can also keep your food cold, these older refrigerators focused more on creative storage capacity, making even a small refrigerator able to hold quite a lot. Adjustable shelves, swiveling and removable storage shelves, heated butter containers, and bottom freezers are just some of the features you can find in a vintage refrigerator, and for someone with a hefty grocery list, an appliance that can safely and smartly store everything will never go out of style.

I love "The Great British Bake Off," and I always watch with bated breath as the bakers "beep beep beep" away on their digital clocks, hoping that they set the right time for the perfect bake (soggy bottoms be screwed). Whatever happened to the old-fashioned egg timer? Just turn the dial to the five-minute increment of your choosing and wait for that satisfying ring when time is up. Well, while digital clocks and timers are still very much around, analog kitchen timers are making a comeback for those who want to have that retro aesthetic at home and don't need to count the minutes, seconds, and milliseconds while they cook like the "Bake Off" contestants do.

Could it be that digital timers are a little more functional, since they can be set to virtually any time, whereas analog timers tend to only go up to 55 minutes? Perhaps. But from a design perspective, analog kitchen timers reign supreme. The classic egg-shaped egg timer is a classic look, but there are more fun ones to explore, like pigs, cows, and even little chefs to add to your kitchen aesthetic. Or, you could opt for a magnetic pastel kitchen timer with a mechanical dial from a company like Dulton Co., which specializes in these retro-styled timers.

Growing up, I never understood why my parents had a set of cabbageware. They were a translucent light green, and they really only saw the light of day for bigger dinners, like on Thanksgiving or for a Passover seder. However, I now understand. Cabbageware, which very much looks like cabbage, down to the curls of the leaves and the veins that run up the middle and throughout each leaf, may seem like a niche style of serving plate, but they're undoubtedly works of art. They have a unique aesthetic that can be hard to achieve with simple white plates and bowls, and for those who want that retro look and feel in their kitchen, a set of cabbageware is key.

In a 2013 article for the Wall Street Journal, Suzanne Harrison, a porcelain and ceramics specialist for Sotheby's, explains the history of the cabbageware trend, which has been around since the 18th century. She notes that this style of pottery and porcelain dishes that looked like fruits and vegetables were widely produced in England and Europe, and in the 1960s it became popular in the United States. Dodie Thayer, a potter who made lettuce ware in her home workshop in Palm Beach, Florida, in the 1960s, gained a huge following from a number of A-list celebrities, like Frank and Barbara Sinatra and Jackie O, and in 2018, the Sinatras' 307-piece set of her lettuce ware sold at auction for $37,500. That's a lot of cabbage.

Here's a little secret that you may not know about butter that may just change your life: There are multiple ways to store butter, including some outside of the refrigerator. Does that mean you should be keeping a full stick of butter out on the kitchen counter always? Not necessarily. You definitely need to refrigerate butter most of the time; however, if you like a little buttered toast for breakfast and want your butter to be perfectly spreadable every time, you can keep a small amount out on the counter at room temperature, as long as it's fully covered. Rather than unwrap and rewrap your butter from its paper wrapping each time, go the stylish route with a butter dish or a butter crock, both of which will cover the butter from air and light and ensure it keeps its shape.

With butter boards a trendy addition to any appetizer spread, and vintage home decor continuing to make waves, it's not a surprise that butter dishes are having a legitimate comeback in 2025. At John Lewis, a department store in the United Kingdom, a collaboration between &Klevering and Hal Haines includes a butter dish shaped like a house, serving a useful purpose while also adding a playful, nostalgic element to a kitchen table or counter. And like so many pieces of vintage kitchenware, butter dishes represent the importance of finding joy in the little things, adding character to your home in small ways, and taking a moment to slow down and enjoy something beautiful.