This Cabinet Feature In Older California Homes Is Actually A Low-Tech Refrigerator

An appliance as commonplace as a refrigerator might seem ubiquitous today, but free-standing refrigeration systems weren't always the norm. In fact, if you have an older California home — built in the late-19th or early-20th century — you might just have one of the modern refrigerator's predecessors, the California cooler, in your home. 

Also known as a cool cabinet or cool pantry, California coolers were strategically placed pantries with slits to the outside to allow airflow. As one of the vintage kitchen features no one remembers anymore, these ventilated cabinets in older California homes served as a cool place to store food; a low-tech refrigerator, you could say.

Long before today's high-tech refrigerators, which use cycle refrigerants between liquid and gas states to cool down the appliance, cellars and cool cabinets like those in old California homes were customary ways to keep fruits, veggies, and other foods from spoiling. To facilitate natural cooling, slits on both the top and bottom of the cabinet space seamlessly circulate cool air from the bottom of the pantry, as well as the flow of warm air out the top. In these homes, located in relatively temperate environments, the pantry was usually built right in the kitchen for easy cool storage.

You can spot a California cabinet by looking for a large built-in cabinet, along with little mesh-covered ventilation windows connecting it with the outside to facilitate air flow. If you notice one of these cabinets, the good news is that it can be used for more than just a vintage throwback design element. Temperature-sensitive prepared foods, dairy, and meat should always be stored in today's best refrigerator brands. However, if the weather is cool and temperate, you can definitely store fruits, vegetables, breads, and pastries in existing pantries designed specifically as cool cabinets. Plus, the airy and dark, cool conditions of the cabinet make for an excellent solution to prevent your fruit from ripening too quickly.

Like many retro kitchen trends, ventilated cabinets and food storage containers have their place in modern kitchens too. If your home doesn't have a California cabinet, you could consider installing this type of breathable storage component yourself. In older California homes, you'll find these types of ventilated cabinets on an exterior wall. So if you're installing them in a modern kitchen as a sustainable, low-energy solution to store fruits and veggies, just do the same so air can flow in and out from the outdoors.