hmm.. i would never have thought of rasp and cream tiles. i'll have to look into that!

you can get from oven to fridge. there's a "hallway" through entire kitchen - linking breakfast nook to dining room.

re. wrap around cabinet, what exactly do you mean? more pics of the green room are below. we aren't 100% sure we are keeping the interesting paneled walls back there. it reminds me of the inside of our camper when i was little. like plastic. and...the green ceiling?

re. why no cabs to ceiling - basically budget. i haven't costed out only some going up though - that's a thought.

marcolo - ooohh.. i love that idea!

Great! I love having a guinea pig for my ideas--um, I mean, I love to help!
{{gwi:1747824}}
I may also do simple curved brackets at the ends of the cabinets, if they fit somewhere.

jejvtr - so cool that you were on this old house. beautiful!
the restoration tile site is gorgeous.
an initial mock up is below. nothing too crazy...but it's not a huge space. i go back and forth b/w the double pane/split panel - and just a plain door.
someday maybe in our next houses (this is our first!!) i will have crown point or kennebec inset, but unfortunately not now.

I saw the raspberry with seafoam.......

Here is a link that might be useful: raspberry and seafoam

kp

Love marcolos idea

no that is not my kit on TOH - just link to some featured Kennebec work

I searched & couldn't find great pics on wrap around hutch type cab so I'll post mine - but the pics aren't great - Others have done some great ones here - Perhaps you could do separate post on "show me your wrap around cabs" "hutch to counter types

Working kitchen side

Breakfast area side

If you have wall space on that wall - I think it would be a great design idea

This is a wonderfully intact vintage interior, from what I can see. The last kitchen remuddler came in and slapped cabinets on every available inch of the walls with no consideration of the house's period or style, but at least they didn't tear out that wonderful tilework. Did they leave the tile up behind the upper cabinets?

I would think about:
- Covering as little of the wall as you can. Fewer uppers, or more open shelves, will show off the tile and allow a small kitchen with not a lot of window to feel larger and brighter. Especially since your cabinets will be on the darker side; too many will make the kitchen feel like a cave.
- For the counter, I think the most authentic treatment would be tile, but you might want to find a way to get the look of tile detailing without wide, sanded grout lines all over the main field. Marcolo has posted, on other threads, a great picture of a 1930's style kitchen with white field tile and dramatic black edging, if we all ask nicely he might re-post it (otherwise, it is buried somewhere in the ''A Lot Of Livin' In This Kitchen'' thread). He has also mentioned a combination of solid surface with tile edging.
- There has also been some interesting discussion of whether tight grout lines with unsanded and/or epoxy grout might be livable.
- Since you have the nice French door near the kitchen, you might play off it with glass fronted uppers.
- What are you thinking for lighting?
- Hex tile would be beautiful. I agree, you need the right contractor. Find the local architectural heritage society or similar, and get recommendations.
- Your aisles in front of the range and the refrigerator look rather tight.
-

kpasso: Fun kitchen project! I'd be surprised if you didn't find wood when you pull up your floors. We, and most of the folks in our town who have renovated kitchen, have found wood when we pulled up the vinyl or linoleum in our 1920s houses. In most cases, with a little patching if there is water damage, it finishes beautifully. In a few cases the wood kitchen floors were of an inferior grade of wood, perhaps because the original builder in the 1920s expected the kitchen floors would be covered by some other material in short order.

I agree with Johnliu about not overdoing it with the uppers. If you're concerned about storage, do you have a pantry or somewhere else to store rarely-used things (the Thanksgiving serving platters, the fondue set, that stuff you got as a wedding gift but have never gotten around to using...)? A few strategically positioned uppers, preferably in a lighter color than the base cabinets you've described (e.g. stained wood below, cream/white above), and some open shelving, could be very pretty and really show off the kitchen you've got.

If you have enough counterspace, one thing that gives you a lot of storage without sacrificing the sense of openness and the vintage feel is to have a sort of built-in hutch--basically, a cabinet that sits on the counter and goes up to the ceiling or almost up to the ceiling. I've seen a few on these boards but unfortunately can't put my finger on them. I think there was one in the baking center in the gorgeous kitchen that someone had redone and was then selling... sorry i can't remember more!

I am in lust of your original tile work! I'm also so happy to hear that you're going to preserve this rather than tearing it out. We have a mantra around here, "Gut Fish, Not Houses".

I have nothing else to say other than I look forward to seeing your kitchen evolve!

there isn't a pantry unfortunately - and i have a lot of stuff. so...will likely need the uppers, even though i know open shelving is period. i like the idea of the open shelf under the uppers and am toying with that now!

I happened across this site after I had read this post of yours and then coudln't remember which post it was! Now I have the two together and you can see the colors.

Here is a link that might be useful: cranberry and seafoam?

Oh I love those Chicago bungalows! My parents each grew up in a in bungalow.

You mentioned looking for a builder. Where are you located? I'm in the western suburbs and can recommend some in the Hinsdale / Clarendon Hills area if that helps. (We did a big addition 2 years ago and interviewed a few. Many of our friends have done or are in the middle of doing reno's or builds.)

Like many others, I'm admiring your lovely tile. So pretty!

I love visiting this post and your lovely home and everyone's great ideas.

Chicagoans - we will be in Berwyn, not sure if they'd service there? If you have recos, that would be great!

kpasso:
I don't know whether our builders have worked in that area, but they're good guys and who knows? Might love to work on a great bungalow.

OTOH... it might be worth looking for builders who have a specialty in your kind of house, if you can find them. I've linked to a possible resource below. What you have is very special and you want to work with someone who can stay true to that.

But just in case it helps...
Our builders were Collins and Sarsfield: http://www.collinssarsfield.com/

Also have many friends who have used Normandy Builders with great results: http://www.normandybuilders.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicago Bungalow Organization

Hi again kpasso:
If you take a look at the link above, you'll see there's a Historic Chicago Bungalow Expo coming up on April 9 at the Mart. Might be a great place to get some ideas, find resources and meet some like-minded people. Bring some of your pictures... I bet people would love to see all those tiles!

Have you followed the adventures of honorbiltkit, who has posted her early 20th century kitchen. Here's the short version of her story. For the longer version, search for her name plus "loon."

Although her blue-green may not be exactly suitable for you, you will get the idea here. It's on the order of what I was suggesting when I said another tone deeper than the seafoam. Not necessarily recommending it for cabs, but for an accent color nevertheless.

Instead of the raspberry idea, you might consider a deep autumn red to bring out the red within the floor wood.

I don't recall the poster's name, but last year we had someone on GW who uncovered an original segment of floor tiles. The colors there were instructive also. Not what you might expect. There was an off-red and a mustard yellow I think.

You might want to hang out in some antique stores to see the various palettes used in the Titanic-to-1920s era. They liked startling combos. Look at the exaggerated oriental-type rug patterns, the tea sets, the Sunday china, the fabrics, the lampshades, the kitchen towels and aprons, the kids' book illustrations. They took pastels and then pumped them into a stronger shade. You are correct--black was used to outline and emphasize, but it might be too much in today's use. That's why I recommended the gray or dark bluegreen or dark redbrown for your deep note. Or raspberry but it might not be deep enough if its the deepest color. Deep maroon?

Here is a link that might be useful: scroll to honorbiltkit kitchen

i'm totally going to that expo!

Here's a gallery of 1920s kitchens.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gallery of '20s kitchens.

Hi KP, gorgeous intact kitchen you have there. I am so glad you will be keeping the tile it is awesome.

Welsome to the neighborhood, if I'm not mistaken you are in the Proksa Park area of Berwyn. I also live in that area but in a victorian house. Berwyn has gorgeous bungalows with numerous intact interiors, Im quite sure you will find hardwood floors under there, as we found pine planks in one of our properties. You may also come across maple or oak wood, very typical in our area (they really didn't skimp on wood details).

Definitely check out the book suggested by others, the New Bungalow Kitchen, here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/New-Bungalow-Kitchen-Peter-Labau/dp/1561588628.
The front cover shows a nice pic of a kitchen with subway tile, oak cabs and a yellow shade on the wall. I second that a nice shade of yellow or even green would play off your woodwork nicely.

Will you have seating at the island or is that more for storage? Another thought was instead of an island have table serve as an island.My first house was a bungalow with a similar layout as you intend, I really liked the island but it did interfere with my work triangle. The pro to that was that it offered a good amount of storage.

Can't wait to see the end results of your kitchen!!!

i wish i could do a built in hutch like a hoosier - or better yet, wish one was there. that's the one thing i wish was in the house....built ins. i'm sure they were there and removed? for some reason at some point. there's a giant mirror in the living room currently and i can't wait to see what might be behind it...probably nothing, but kinda exciting. we do have 8 stained glass windows in the front with gorgeous original dark wood work around them.

chicagoans - thanks for the recos!

little alexa - nice to meet you! yes we will be by the park. i wish they would allow dogs...my husband wants to start a petition.:) have you hired any contractors for work on your house? i would love to hire someone that has experience/knowledge/love for these kinds of houses.

i would love to have a vintage bakers table or something instead of an island - but i have a lot of stuff and have been waiting to have enough places to put things....so the island storage makes sense. we have a gorgeous butcher block table that my father made that we will likely take the top from and use it for the island countertop.

thanks everyone!!

yes!
im planning to go to the expo!

sorry for the long delay in posts. i've been busy getting everything together. pics below!

saddest thing so far - we weren't able to save the subway tile behind the cabinets. at least not all of it. the old cabinets were grouted into the tile and immediately started to fall when we were taking them out. we saved a bunch though and hopefully can reuse in backsplash somehow.

Final layout - there will be an island too in middle.

Went with granite over soapstone. It's Celestial Green, has lots of movement when you see the bigger slab. Will likely do honed finish.

Faucet, cabinet and hardware shot. Cabs - quartersawn oak in autumn with an ebony glaze. Oil rubbed bronze hardware.The tabletop everything is laying on will be our island countertop.

yay - maple floors underneath the grossness!!

demo

pendant over island. flared schoolhouse - 14 inch

small fixtures over six - 6 inch.

kpasso I just really enjoyed reading your post, and then all the comments/ideas that followed. I too am re-doing a kitchen in a 1924 house that didn't have as much of the original charm as yours. However I do have 2 elements that have been mentioned....a deep autumn red and cream (we think it's 1940's inlaid linoleum) tile floor, and an original hoosier cabinet. I'm linking my blog that shows photos of the project in progress. One other element to take note of is the etched glass in our hoosier cabinet. This is (to my uneducated eye) a great 20's look that you can incorporate into new clear glass cabinetry. I wish my tile had been in as good condition as yours!

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen blog

Can't wait to see it! The cabinets, hardware and faucet look like great choices. Pity about the tile but I'm glad you saved a lot of it.

kpasso,

Was just poking around and came across your posting; you are obviously enjoying your remodel journey and it seems to be a true labor of love.

I too will be anxiously waiting to see pictures of your finished kitchen; your choices should come together perfectly.

You didn't mention you would be using Showplace cabinetry but I saw the label on your color sample in the photo. Here is the inside info on your color choice; the Autumn finish with Ebony glaze was created to be similar to the most popular Stickley color so you picked a really good one that will stand the test of time and fit your home!

Somewhere in the comments I saw a reference to Hoosier cabinets; I thought you might enjoy this link to a recent posting showing how one family remodeled their 3rd generation home and included a 1920's freestanding Wilson Hoosier cabinet. If you have the space, you could always keep your eye out for something like that and add it later.

Keep us posted on your progress!

Here is a link that might be useful: Fun slide show of a 110-year-old home remodel

You are doing a great job from what ive read so far! This is one we allwant to see. So happy you've saved most of the tile. I bought what is supposedly the "best" subway tile, subway ceramics, and it does not hold a candle to yours. Yours reminds me of a junior league showhouse in my old hometown, with floor to ceiling subways. The house was 1905, but the subways came from... The subway. The owners had a crew in the garage cleaning up old cement or whatever on them so they could reuse!

thanks all!

yes, they are showplace cabinets. i was looking for a line that specifically carried quartersawn oak - and showplace's price was right for me! they're coming w/o 5/16.

stannley - your floor is awesome!! it didn't sound like you will be able to salvage? that's sad. :( your hoosier is amazing too! and i love the inset cabinetry. i'll have to wait on inset for my 2nd kitchen remodel...

The chopping block choice for your island top is a great choice.

Here is a link to a home (look at the 4th home down) that remodeled their kitchen and used a similar top for their island. In this case, the homeowner closed a restaurant they owned and incorporated the chopping block and commercial oven into their home project.

This was a refacing project that pulled-out some cabinets to make space for the oven and then added some cabinets (including the whole island) to make the space work. Then they removed the doors, changed the specie and added new doors in a vintage finish ... the vintage finish is an unusual offering for refacing and sold them on the project.

Here is a link that might be useful: View the slideshow next to the 4th kitchen (island with butcher block top)

How's the remodel coming along? What did you decide for your cabinet hardware? Curious as also doing a makeover kitchen on my 1920s bungalow!

things are coming along! the appliances are in and the granite, sink and faucet get installed tomorrow!

here's an in-process pic. i'm loving everything so far.

we went with ORB cup pulls and mushroom knobs from rejuvenation. i love them - and they match my light fixtures!

kpasso -- how is your kitchen coming along? I would love to see an update!

Finished pics finally! We finished about mid-July, but then some things came up - like our basement flooding...fun
:(

Anyway, the kitchen still needs a few final touches, but this is basically it! Thanks to all the GW insights and advice!

Details:

Cabs: Showplace QS oak in autumn with ebony glaze

Fridge: Samsung

Appliances: GE Cafe

Hardware/Lighting: Rejuvenation ORB fixtures and bin pulls/knobs; classic schoolhouse shade (Rose City and Laurel)

Sink/faucet: Whitehaus farmhouse; Whitehaus faucet

Outer Counters: Honed celestial green granite

Island top: Maple butcher block

Floors: Refinished hard rock maple covered in hideous tile, underlayment and then more ugly tile

Paint color: SW Opalescence

finshed pics in post

Well, done! My favorite kind of kitchen. Perfect for your bunglow!

Great clean lines, but great details! It really comes together nicely!
I especially like your sink wall with the open and glass front cab mix. Do you have a picture of the whole sink wall run? Or one showing both sides of the sink together?
Thanks and congratulations!

That is just beautiful! How exciting. I've been hoping for pictures of your end result. I think you should post a finished kitchen thread. I'm afraid people might miss this one!

Oh my, that's lovely!

What did you do where the tiles came off the wall with the cabinets?

sorry, thought i had posted one of these.

lazygardens: unfortunately we couldn't leave the tiles around the kitchen where the old cabs were. the old cabs were built into the tiles and they started falling down during demo. we saved as many as we can...not sure if i can do a partial bs or not, but definitely want to reuse them in some way!

BEAUTIFUL!

It's all gorgeous! Great job! I love your granite, too. How do you like it so far?

I can only think of one word for your new kitchen, but it really covers it well.....LOVELY!

I am sooooo jealous of all your original tile. I love love love it ;)

love! what a fantastic space. you've done a wonderful job. enjoy your home!

This is so pretty. I also love that you preserved the wall of tiles and so much of the original character of the room. Not sure how long you used the previous layout, but you must feel like you're in heaven with all that space to work and move about in.

Congratulations!

Thank you so much for this update! Beautiful! I love the little lights over the sink!

thanks everyone!

hi all - i'm back. this time finally finishing the backsplash in the kitchen. we tried to save as much of the original tile, to hopefully incorporate into the "new" backsplash. 'ive been told this will be hard since the new tile are made differently. i know i can buy more historical tile, like heritage ceramics - not sure of costs - so that i can integrate the old with the new, or at least try. otherwise, i've been told it would be hard to do otherwise since the sizing would be slightly off. another thought would be to do something different on the new part of the kitchen. still subway tile, but maybe a different color or type of material. thoughts? have you guys seen any pics of two colors in a kitchen? thanks!!