Finished Kitchen - 50's ranch refresh

11 years ago

I want to thank all of you who have weighed in on my choices, photoshopped options, and shared your trials and tribulations so that I can learn from your experiences. This is such a great community, and I learned so much from you guys!!

This is a 1952 ranch that we're slowly rehabbing. We decided to do a refresh rather than a gut for a few reasons - the cabinets and appliances were in good shape, the two original bathrooms are going to need a full gut at some point so we need to conserve money, and neither DH nor I were anxious to lose the kitchen for 3 months with two hungry boys around. With this project, we were only moved out of the kitchen for about 2 weeks, which was bearable.

The pre-reno kitchen was from 1998, and although the layout is not great, it was just going to have to stay. The finishes were beat up - paint yellowed & peeling, stains & burns on the counter, stains on the floor, scratches and gouges in the sink. DH liked the backsplash, but I was not a fan.

The only new cabinets are the island and the bar. We needed storage for pots and pans by the cooktop - I hated the open shelving of the old island. Our only budget-busting splurge is in the bar - the fridge/freezer drawers. We entertain a lot and the counter-depth fridge didn't always provide enough storage. It's been fantastic, totally worth it. OTOH, we decided not to splurge on a new micro drawer after much consideration, but maybe someday. Not enough functional improvement for financial outlay!

Wall & cabinet paint - BM White Dove
Sink & perimeter counters - custom fab stainless
Faucet - Grohe Concetto
Island and bars - luce de luna quartzite from WZ
Cabinet doors - Scherr's lyptus stained dark walnut
Floors - Marmoleum sheet in Volcanic Ash
Backsplash - Fireclay Debris in Crater Lake
Fridge/Freezer Drawers - Subzero
Stools - CB2
All other appliances - existing

Thanks again to all who helped, and to the many of you who have posted gorgeous inspiration kitchens. I wish I could say this design fully sprung out of my imagination, but the truth is most of it is copied from many of you!

Kitchen Before:

Finished Kitchen:

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Comments (35)

lincolnduncan
11 years ago
Nicely done! Can I ask the price of the quartzite? I'm trying to talk myself out of Calcutta and it seems like a good option. Thanks!
a2gemini
11 years ago
Great job - Wow - love your cok and baking area! Great tile but I want to see your countertop - on your island.
I found FireClay too far along in my tile - but saw it after I finished my kitchen.
Have fun!
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cat_mom
11 years ago
It looks very nice!
rmiriam
11 years ago
I've been drooling over your cabinets since you put up your first picture of them. Love, love, love the white/lyptus.
gwlolo
11 years ago
What a great job! I love the contrast of dark doors and white cab.. so european looking! And the tile.. the color is perfect. Your guests are going to want to leave! I like it so much that you have kept it real and functional - the splatter screen, the skimmer and the skillets right there.
Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
Well done!
momand3boys
11 years ago
Very nice job of just refreshing! I like the color of your backsplash. Enjoy!
MarinaGal
11 years ago
I love it! The stainless counter and glass tiles are so lovely together, and the white and wood grain - so perfect to my eye. I love your taste and that this was a rehab. Congratulations!
Jfay
11 years ago
fun and funky. It looks like a happy place to be. I want to sip coffee and surf on my lap top at that counter facing the windows. And I'd daydream while I did the dishes and looked out that window. Very pretty colors that would put a smile on my face every morning.
Enjoy!
drybean
11 years ago
I knew I liked you Deb! I grew up in your neck of the woods.

Your kitchen is gorgeous! I'm so happy to see more photos of it. You did such a great job. Love the marmoleum, the backsplash, and especially those Lyptus cabinets!

Is that a draplin TX poster I spy ? I ordering one of those as well. Gotta love seeing Willie Nelson's face every day. :-)
onedogedie
11 years ago
I could look at your kitchen all day long. I"m happy every time I see it. It always makes me rethink my kitchen to be. Don't be surprised if it shows up as a youngdeb clone.
EATREALFOOD
11 years ago
Your choices are really, really nice together. Layout aside I wouldn't renovate this kitchen anytime soon ! The cabinet color with white trim/counter & the dark flooring are wonderful together. Oh and the backsplash--very pretty color.
halfwaythere
11 years ago
I love everything! But the two ovens under that bad *ss cooktop, wow!!!!!
deedles
11 years ago
Beautiful redo! That tile is perfect with the dark and light cabs. It's really nice. Like your fridge, too!
itsallaboutthefood
11 years ago
I love your kitchen!
MichelCleark
11 years ago
Perfect kitchen. The kitchen sink is place at perfect space and the natural beauty shown in a picture is really amazing.
remodelfla
11 years ago
I"m crazy in love with the stained lyptus and your backsplash. Beautiful job!
youngdeb
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you all so much for the lovely comments!! It's not as grand as so many here, and it's a decidedly downrent homage to sochi's kitchen, but we're really happy with it! The cabinet color works really well, it could have gone the other way as I really never got a great sample. I have to admit we did this slowly, picking the floor after the cabinets were done and picking the backsplash after everything else was done. Don't know how people do it all in one go and get it right!

lincolnduncan, we had to buy the whole slab, which was 2600, plus 750 to hone & fabricate. We still have just under half the slab left in the garage, which will probably end up in the bathrooms. Not cheap.

a2gemini - took a better picture this morning of the quartzite. Shiny spots are wet from post-breakfast cleanup. It has a lot stronger veining than a lot of the ones you see here, but it works really well with the charcoal marmoleum.

drybean - yes, that's the draplin poster! I love it, the colors are perfect for the space, and the complexity of the design inspires me (and guests) to sit and really look. It's perfect for that spot.

I particularly love our new sink - the last sink was a drop-in that constantly had gunk along the edges and was banged up beyond what bleach and scrubbing could cover. We cook a lot, and have an enormous custom smoke pit we use all summer, and the big sink has really been a huge workhorse for us!

Thanks again for the lovely compliments!
debrak_2008
11 years ago
You have one of those kitchen that both the before and after look good to me. Like how you can move the island around. Enjoy!
onedogedie
11 years ago
EXCUSE ME but does that breakfast bar SWIVEL? What a great feature. I would love some up close in action pictures of the clearances between the top and the backsplash. Have you talked this up before? If so please direct me to the post. Am I late to the party? If not there should be a party about this swiveling bar top.
youngdeb
Original Author
11 years ago
Onedogegie, yes, it swivels! PO put it in, and I think it's one of the reasons the house didn't sell...I think people found it confusing. My kids eat breakfast there every day, and it's a great place to prep things or lay things out for parties. I do sit and have coffee there on the weekends a lot.

I know I've mentioned it before, but I don't know when. It's loooong - 7 feet, and I expanded the width 6" in the remodel to 18". It's insanely heavy, but it's anchored really well into the cabinet. It's got a big sleeve in the counter that it slots into, and is on a huge wheel on the other side. It's leaving a semicircular groove in the linoleum, which doesn't bother me. I would be much more concerned about having to stand on any floor hard enough to regularly withstand the weight!

You can see the whole setup here:
onedogedie
11 years ago
How can this kitchen be on page 6! I came back to say what i thought the other day when i read your comment on the swiveling peninsula leaving a groove in the linoleum, that it reminds me of the wonderfully compact dirt paths that cows and dogs make through grass. I think it's completely wonderful and ingenious.

How about a close-up of the tile? I do wonder about "engobe." Your tile is so much the bomb (think I might be too old for that expression) that it makes me a believer in plugmold. Your hanging cords look so hip!

If anyone else was thinking that Lyptus was a new-to-them wenge, epe (spelling not checked), I was interested to read that it is a hybrid of two varieties of Eucalyptus.
louisianapurchase
11 years ago
Wow. I love it. I must admit the before was not too shabby. Though I do understand that there may have been elements that do not project onto photos like paint issues.

The finished product is spectacular, and I love how you worked with some of the elements that were already established. I love the swivel breakfast bar, the backsplash, the countertops, the refrigerator and its surrounding box, etc. So many things to list. I even love the sculptural element of the roaster on the top of the bookcases.

Amazing space. And thanks again for being so gracious to post the pics of your mouldings on drybeans thread. I actually had a meeting with the contractor this morning to discuss those things further.

Enjoy that great space.
hosenemesis
11 years ago
Those cabinets are wonderful. A fantastic kitchen- I love all of the windows and light!
munchladyland
11 years ago
Omg I love what you have done!! Just gorgeous. Particularly the backsplash tile. Great job!!

Quick question...what brand is your existing fridge? Is that a subzero?
suska6184
11 years ago
That moveable peninsula is a fantastic feature!
youngdeb
Original Author
11 years ago
You guys are so sweet! Onedogedie, I love that visual. It will be interesting to see whether I grow to love the little path or whether I come to despise it. Knowing me, I will grow to ignore it. If it ain't broke...

The old kitchen was fine functionally, but up-close it was showing its age in a way that the most upbeat person couldn't classify as patina. The painted edges of the counters were chipped and yellowing (all the paint was yellowing), the counters were burned and stained, and the floors had some enormous weird stains that turned out to be adhesive that had wicked up from below. But the real reason for the renovation was that I hated that island and the drop-in sink. Hated. Really very virulent with the hating.

The tile was a compromise. DH wanted the green tile and I wanted the blue, he wanted the 4x4 and I wanted the 2x8. He felt strongly about format and I felt strongly about color. He was right - I think this format is really great, it has a strong reference to the 50's and the color matches our pool outside those windows (which is covered right now.)

I posted the tile on a separate thread, but here's a closeup. The engobe is really subtle. I thought I'd see more color variation, but am happy enough with the final result! Ignore the old coffee grinder, it was replaced with a fancy one at Christmas!

Louisiana, can't wait to see what you do with your space, I love these old ranchers. So fun to see them come back to life. The roaster is up there because WHERE ELSE WOULD IT FIT? ;-) It's a great pot, though...people ooh and aah over it. Best pot ever for super bowl chili.

Munchlady, our fridge is a 3-year-old glass-front JennAire. I'm pretty sure they still make it. We love it, although the icemaker is on the fritz right now and the rubber gaskets in front have required some duct tape. Hard to know in our house how much of that kind of thing is rough use by shorties and how much is manufacturer planned obsolescence. I can't tell how often I walk in there to find a 60-pound kid hanging from a fridge door or practically doing pushups on the freezer drawer. (And yes, I tell them not to several times a day. That and everything else I repeat several times a day. This is why I am A Drinker.)

Can't take credit for the rolling peninsula, it was here when we bought the house. It's super practical, takes up a lot less space than a table and chairs and allows us to have traffic flow around the island while we're cooking. Which we need, since it is a classic Barrier Island.

Thank you all so much again for the lovely compliments. We are really happy with the results and I am happy to take a break from reno for a little while!!
taggie
11 years ago
Awesome kitchen. There have been some real beauties posted this week and this one is stunning. Love the backsplash especially, and the overall effect of your decor is so fresh and soothing. Congrats on your great new space!!
User
11 years ago
Your kitchen turned out beautifully. I love the versatility of your bar. Does it lock down so it doesn't move under you? And I really, really love your double ovens and big cooktop.
amandapadgett
11 years ago
Beautiful! Light, fresh, clean and eye-catching. You did a fantastic job!
youngdeb
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks, everyone!

Marti8a, the wheel has a foot lock on it so you can freeze it in one place.
jakkom
11 years ago
Wow. I thought your kitchen was beautiful, and then you posted the pic showing the bar was MOVABLE! Now I am totally floored (oooh, inadvertent bad pun, sorry...) and even more impressed than before.

Love the lyptus with the walnut stain. Lyptus seems to have died down a bit in popularity here, it was all the thing a few years ago until cherry pushed it off-stage. But I think it's a really gorgeous wood, and your use of it with white frames is so beautifully appropriate to an MCM.

I'm so happy to see this architectural style finally get some love. It has a wonderful and rich history and I've always thought they were amazingly livable.
oldbat2be
11 years ago
I smile every time I see your tile and kitchen. Lovely combination!
gr8daygw
11 years ago
I love it! Great job.
hlove
11 years ago
There is truly nothing I don't love about your kitchen...it's wonderful! The tile, the white cab boxes and lyptus fronts, the marmoleum, the awesome swiveling bar!!! And the quartzite is just amazing!
I must have missed this when you first posted...glad it was bumped up...enjoy!