Sorry, one more pic to show the entrance to the kitchen where the breakfast bar and the new fridge location will meet:

Blake- I'm planning a remodel to a 1904 farmhouse...so I feel your pain! The floor damage concerns me. Have you had any professionals in, to look at the water damage and maybe replacing that huge radiator?

Can you possibly draw out a rough sketch of the overall layout? It's hard to follow the pics, with no overall reference.

As for finishes, I believe you can do a very nice kitchen, with less expensive finishes, in an older farmhouse. Marble countertops would look a little out of place, but I like your idea of butcher block with the white cabinets. The vintage stove is a wonderful idea, but I don't know if the hood is going to fit in...are you planning to use other stainless steel appliances, to balance the 'modern' hood?

Before you start any work on a remodel, I would recommend you have a home inspector (if you didn't have one during the sale) investigate all the 'problems' in your kitchen and give you a realistic idea of what needs to be replaced and how much it might cost. If you still want to move forward, at least you'll have a better idea what your budget might need to be.

There are a lot of wonderful things about living on a farm, but there are challenges too...and all old homes always need more work than you think. Best of luck on your project and I know it will be a beautiful, inviting and comfortable kitchen, if you decide to move forward :)

A layout on graph paper would definitely help with details.

For the radiator you could make cabinet doors with grille inserts to blend it in with cabinets better.

Butcher block counters are a good idea.

A different finish or paint color on the new cabinets might work well if they are all on the same wall.

You could remove most of the upper cabinets and put in shelves.

A more transitional, less modern hood would work better with the vintage stove.

We finished our renovation to our farmhouse kitchen last year and were able to do most things very reasonably as we used a lot of antiques that I had been collecting over the years. My most expensive items were appliances (fridge, stove, hood, and farmhouse sink). I am posting the below pictures to hopefully give you some ideas on how you could possibly reuse items you already have.

We bought a 1930's Chambers stove that we fell in love with that fit in beautifully with the house. I have to agree with everyone that has already posted that you might want to go with a much less modern hood as it will give you more of the look for an early farmhouse. I originally was going to go with a chimney style hood until I saw a barrel hood on this site and fell in love.

We did not do any upper cabinets, only shelves; the only cabinetry I have is the piece beside the stove (which I found real cheap in an antique store, painted and put a scrap piece of granite on top) and the ones pictured below--again, was able to get someone locally to build very cheaply then painted myself). Countertops were pre-cut soapstone slabs. I think as long as your cabinets are in good shape a new coat of paint and some new hardware will really look good.

I used several antique pieces for storage, including an 8' long bakers cabinet and a few pie safes.

I made an island out of the base of an entertainment center that we had decided not to use at the farm. I painted it, put some new hardware on it, and was able to find a large remnant piece of marble. I found the prep sink and faucet on e-bay and DH did the necessary cut-outs.

Good luck on your renovation and am looking forward to seeing your progress.

Farmhouse- Beautiful kitchen! I especially love your baker's cabinet and island. It's so neat to see how people reuse old items (like your island) and come up with an even better use for them. Lovely kitchen...do you have any more pictures?

Thank you! We basically designed the kitchen around the stove and antique pieces and love the way everything turned out. The cabinets came out two-toned because I couldn't make up my mind what color I wanted--I had painted the doors the creamy white, then thought I would rather have the green and painted the cabinets. DH said he would probably have to sand the doors down some so wanted to put them up and see before I repainted them green; when we did, we both decided we liked both colors (LOL)!

There are a few more pictures in the Finished Kitchens Blog but I probably need to update.

I vote to change the range hood to something less modern. Does the present hood work? I'd keep it. It's not so noticeable and wouldn't be a WHAT'S THAT! kind of double take.

Since you are experienced DYI I assume you have already checked out the water damage floor. I don't know a thing about radiators but if it were mine, I'd make it a decorators inspiration point! Will the heat from it be hard on any kind of wood placed over it?

I agree about the venthood. You should go with one that is like what is there if you can't reuse it (is it off white?).

If you use toekick heaters, you could remove the radiator because it takes up too much space.

Try IKEA for cabs and the butcherblock counters. You can get much better cabs for less than you may think. We have a large kitchen with a lot of cabs (18 cabs plus shelves for uppers) and ours cost less than $4k. If you replaced a bunch of uppers with shelves, it would be a perfect farmhouse look and also cost less.
IKEA butcherblock counters are very cheap and yet look remarkably nice when done. You can stain them any color you want.

Farmhousebound, beautiful kitchen! You could do painting similar to their cabinets and change out the hardware. Ebay has hardware cheap. If the radiator is functional and the counter above is counter depth (24in), I'd go with either doors or faux doors with the metal inserts. I did this to all my lower cabinets in a 1920 house. The radiator was under the large farmhouse sink. You can get the panels at Lowes or Home depot. I think the butcher block or even just wood planked counter will look lovely and in keeping with the period.I also agree with the OP, keep the vent hood simple, not too modern. Good luck to you. It must seem overwhelming, but just dive in! Keep us posted.
BTW, have seen some really beautiful kitchen renovations here on a small budget.

You have a lot of space, it's just not working very well, esp those little lips that pass for work spaces. If you could really re-do the entire space cost effectively, that would be best, not only for now but for longterm. Can you give us a good idea of what you have in budget and how much DIY you can expend? And where you are in the nation--climate, costs, labor, etc?

One problem with planning on finding antiques and useful castoffs is that you will find them a week after you quit your search and commit to a plan B. Doesn't sound as if you have the luxury of time to collect useful stuff.

I like to think that our G-shaped kitchen is somewhat like a farm kitchen. We can have 4 working cooks inside without saying "excuse me." We got new oak "shaker" cabinetry by a local guy at $8,000-10,000 and $3500 for finish and installation--you can avoid much of this if you re-use your oldies and work in some additional ones or perhaps just doors, trims, etc. We had to put in new floor and walls and plumbing and electrical fittings and had to marry three wood floors and accompanying walls, which was a big expenditure in time and money. You're in a better position--not making new spaces. As you note, you don't need to follow all the fanciest choices--we sure didn't for much of our project. I like the idea of Ikea butcherblock (we have two hunks of this in beech) but don't discount the new laminate countertops either.

Don't feel the need to buy new appliances right now--you can leave standard spaces and swap out your stuff later. That's what we did--hard to trash or sell a 4 yr old Energy Star refrig so we didn't put it into a custom housing. When it dies or someone decides to trade it out, it can go. We have very modest appliances; affordable white enamel in sinks and appliances.

If the old cabs are salvageable, it's possible to get doors to match new units. Or give your plain slab fronts a custom paint treatment, perhaps paint with one color and add a distinctive recurrent stencil motif along the bottoms of doors or such in a complimentary color. Then if the other new unit doors are similar, the motif can be used to make them match more.

It's very important to plan for the young people when they become adults, or at least adult in physical presence. What will grown up women feel like in the space--you and a subordinate or co-cook? That collision potential was the worst aspect of our old kitchen and the best part of our better planned new space. I actually like other people better in an efficient kitchen than in an inefficient kitchen, or put it another way, my old kitchen made me dislike my own family sometimes.

On one of my constant tirade topics, I recommend pullout breadboards/cutting boards to expand work surfaces and plunk space.

Are your countertops less than 24 inches at present or do they just seem narrow? Eliminating the 1-inch backsplash at back give you another inch of room on counter.

What amp electrical service do you have and how extensive will the work be to bring everything to code if it's not there already? Will you be opening up any exterior walls? If so, insulate, insulate, insulate. Even if it costs.

Since you have marked that you are moving the sink, give yourself permission to really redo the room arrangement--you're committed to plumbing costs already.

Strongly urge you to visit the paint counter each time you are in a store--ask about "mistake paint." One of our vendors gives it away; others ask $5 per gallon. This stuff might give you the freedom to paint insides of cabs & closets, clean up stained areas, etc. You can try some experiments with it too.

Consider a movable work/island cart as a way to expand efficiency.

If the floor cleans up but still looks sad, consider stencil painting a design on it, perhaps in a classic folk motif if that's your taste. Or just checks, stripes, rectangles for rugs, whatever. There are a lot of examples to look at and a wise pattern can reinforce or define a room's visual layout--walkpaths, work zones, etc.

One thing I would definitely consider is a toekick heater to replace the radiator. You'll be able to do something functional with that space. We bought Turbonics units to replace our radiators. You're probably familiar with them, but they connect to the same hot water supply and take up a tiny fraction of the space.

Here is a link that might be useful: Turbonics toekick heaters

I agree that the fan/vent shown in your pic looks much out of place in that kitchen. you can get the old style (60s-80s - even 90s) at Lowe's or HD. you could get it in white - if that would match your stove - or the SS if it has any in trim work on it.

shallow cabs under the 'bar' (12") would give you great storage.

a good piece of grill work in front of the radiator would fit in - what (if anything) goes on top would depend on how hot it gets there. you could put a top on the grill work 'box' and then put shelves over it on the walls. the DIY guy that redoes apartments in older homes has put in the grill boxes around a radiator several times. search the DIY website for info.

a layout on graph paper of what is there and one of what you are 'thinking' about doing would help tremendously. what to do with the space the fridge WAS in will be easier to figure then. at this point I think maybe adding lower cabs to make the turn, putting in that LS and using that area of counter top (with the higher upper cabs) for toaster, coffee pot, slow cooker etc would work.

those who grow up and move out often return... at least for visits and holidays. whether you move into this house will probably depend on the space you need and if you like it better when it's done than the house you are currently in.