Congratulations on buying an old house!! (I am an "old house freak" in every sense of the word.) Vintage kitchens are not what we would consider 'user friendly' today, but I prefer the older look and feel of whatever is original to the house. (I have a 1934 gas stove I wish I could still use, but we have no natural gas out here in the country, and converting it to LP would be a chore.)

For some great ideas on how you can make your kitchen more convenient and still retain the charm and character of your old house check out: "Old House Interiors," "This Old House" and "Old House Journal" magazines. Your local library may have collections of back issues. Each of these magazines also has a website. If you visit www.oldhouseweb.com they have a great message board covering anything you can think of about old houses. (Sometimes more than you want to know!!)

No, I am not "selling" anything. I just love reading through these kinds of things and looking at all the neat pictures, etc. And of all the rooms (areas) in an old house, the kitchen is my favorite. I am just 'nuts' about old kitchens and back porches.

We're redoing our kitchen. My present home is fairly new, but I've always loved old houses and I wanted an old house feel to my kitchen, while still having all the handy dandy modern conveniences.
I bought magazines, checked out library books, searched online, gathered pictures....I finally stumbled onto a great source for old fashioned looking kitchens. United Kingdom MSN.
www.msn.co.uk

Search there for kitchen design companies under English Revival, Victorian kitchens, Edwardian kitchens,Georgian kitchens, Regency kitchens....
You can find a lot of inspirational looks to help you onto an old house design. If you search in just google or regular MSN you get a lot of the same American sites that you see in magazines everyday as it is. By the way, when you search in UK MSN, you can check a box which is supposed to give you only British results.
If you care to check my kitchen blog the link is below. I just started it recently. There might be something helpful. I'll be adding to it from time to time. Yesterday and today we tore out some closets and a wall. Well, actually, DH did all the tearing this time. I had to do clean up. I wish that man wasn't always in such an all fired hurry and had used some sheets or tarps.

Here is a link that might be useful: rekitchening

We are in the midst of our 1890 kitchen and masterbath reno. There are numerous current threads on the Kitchen forum about "old house kitchens" with lots of pics in the finished kitchen blog. Check the library for Johnny Grey's kitchen book, The Bungalow Kitchen also by Jane Powell. Also "Google" unfitted kitchens, David Smith Kitchens ( in Ohio). Also Bungalow Kitchens as a Google topic. There are many pics on the British sites as stated above. Have fun and ask as many questions as you want on the kitchen forum , they love to help.

Yes definitely look into the "unfitted kitchens" concept. Very appropriate for old houses even if using contemporary pieces. Saw a pic once of a kitchen done with scandinavian pieces w/ very clean lines) and various open shelving... looked great, very light and airy. And very reminiscent of the old fashioned turn of the century kitchens. Ikea has a line of unfitted kitchen pieces with legs that there again kinda has a a vintage look in spite of it being definitely scandinavian-- guess its the legs which make it kinda reminiscent of hoosier cupboards.

Thanks for the suggestions. I am intrigued by the notion of a clean lined scandinavian unfitted kitchen...lots to think about and i am sure I'll be back with more specific questions

We have an 1860s home (although the kitchen was probably more like 1920s). We just finished our kitchen remodel. We weren't purists by any means. We gutted to the studs and subfloor and went with drywall, Kraftmaid cabinets, granite tile countertops, and all new appliances. We just tried to do things that didn't look super modern given the rest of the house. We kept as much of the old trim as possible and where trim needed to be replaced, we rebuilt it to look like the old trim. We went with hardwood floors like we have in the rest of the house. We went with white appliances vs. stainless steel. We went with oil rubbed bronze knobs and pulls and faucets (not necessarily vintage, but they look more in keeping). I guess our idea was that it shouldn't seem like we are walking into a kitchen in someone else's house when we walk in to ours. It should look like it belongs in our house. Hopefully we accomplished that.

sksgrad...would love to see any pics. We will have an unfitted look but not 1890's. Wood countertops and soapstone, gas cooktop and black d/w. Marble for the coffeebar area. Frig. Twins around the corner from the main kitchen ( they are going in the area that has taped over doors in the demo pics I posted ). We are thinking a very eclectic look but one in which we can do the serious cooking we love to do. Yours sounds great ! Caroline

Caroline - Your kitchen sounds like it will be great! Below is a link to an album of pictures of our kitchen before and after. I've tried to put descriptive captions on each picture so hopefully you'll be able to tell what's what.

Ladybug - I hope these pictures will be helpful in your planning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen - Before and After

We have an 1850's home. the kitchen is in the new (1900) addition. The look we went for is an evolved look. One that says that each new owner kept what was good from the previous life of the kitchen, while adding their own elements.

We have a number of unfitted pieces: pantry/recycling/dog kennel in a reproduction pine hutch, bake centre and glass front hutch with a shelf for flour jars, antique butcher's block for an island, hanging maple pot rack.

The stove is a 1940's reproduction. The sink is soapstone, as are some of the counters. The other counters are wood. The fridge and DW are hidden behind panels.

sksgrad : your transformation is wonderful...and you have a chimney too ! We left the one in our attic conversion as a feature next to the builtin bookcase. We liked it so much we are leaving the one above the mantle showing in the kitchen too. Did you seal your brick to prevent the mortar and coal dust from working its way out ? If so what did you use ? Thanks for posting .

sharon : your kitchen was my first inspiration ...I thank you again for your e-mails about soapstone. I have 2 slabs that have been in the carport for months, along w/ the 2 old sinks. Can hardly wait for the workers to get consistent 40hr weeks in so we can get this done !!

Caroline - Our contractor told us we could probably use the same sealer we used on the granite. We haven't done anything to seal it yet, but the contractor did use some sort of acid to clean the chimney up a bit (so far we haven't noticed any dustiness but it has only been a couple months). If you figure out what to use to seal it, let me know! Thanks for the compliment on our kitchen transformation.

Trailrunner,
sounds like you are doing what I hope to do. We have a 1912 house that we are converting from a two to a one family and I would like a kitchen that doesnt quite look like it was always there, but has a timeless old fashioned quality to it.

One word of caution about John grey's book. I wouldn't bother to buy it (I did buy it). It is very, very, self important and simply a very expensive catalogue for his own design work with a super high end english cabinetry maker. You don't get that many good ideas from it, and the ones you do get will be so expensive or so tied to his cabinetry line that they can't really be implemented. I've liked "Kitchens for the rest of us" Susan Susanka's work (although again, I wouldn't buy it because most of what she suggests is really for people building new, not people renovating an older house. Check out Renovation Magazine, too. Its one of the few that consistently shows before and after pictures of old houses not just new built to spec houses. I don't know if you know this but libraries will often give you their old decorating magazines, too, six months to a year after they came out. Its a great free resource for page ripping and ideas.

abfab

I have never seen Renovation Magazine...would it be at Books a Million ? I should be done looking at pics but just found the work table island design 2 days ago!! I had to revise a lot of the design when we gutted the areas to the left and right of the gas/coal fireplace insert. It is 10ft up and 5 1/2 feet wide and 3 ft deep on both sides. We are planning the coffee bar to the far left and the double ovens to the far right of these spaces. Then the areas adjacent to the now showing chimney will be open up to the ceiling and have art work from our hometown, New Orleans , hung there. We are going to use very subtle track lighting since I hate recessed cans and pendants won't work except over the island. We are using the porter pendant that has a counterweight so I can raise and lower as needed. I just loved looking at JG's book. I did borrow his design for a platerack and his wood countertops. Also we will have a wooden slatted drain shelf over the soapstone sink, that only Europeans do. Anyway, I run on and on about this. I can hardly wait til it is usable. The appliances will be here 7/18. Did you see my demolition pics I posted on the kitchen forum? It was last weekend. They are still around back a few pages. GOOD LUCK !!

sk grad- you TORE out the butler's pantry?? Can I have it?

I'm serious.

kashka_kat - I know...I know...we hated to do it, but the dimensions and door openings and such made it next to impossible to keep the pantry where it was and fit in modern depth cabinets, countertops, etc. We did put in a walk in pantry to replace it.

I had to put a new kitchen in.we went to restoration people.We got our wood floor from them,we bought used brick from an 1800 school house and built an arch.Which inside the arch sits my aga stove.It looks old, black .We put washer & dryer behind doors,Cabinets are wormy chestnut.We hjad all hardware hand forged,beautiful...We had wood casement windows built 4 of them side by side.I like the look.All wood was antiqued including floor.Theres ways.