I realize that you've invested (and darn successfully) a lot of effort in redecorating. You can come and do my 1924 house anytime.

Ok, this may be cruel but your cabinets are late 1940's at the oldest and 1970's at the absolute youngest. I lean towards the early 1960's because of the cooktop and ovens.

They look a little funky because they were built in place - probably by a handy homeowner or a handyman. sorry, sorry but I don't think the existing cabinets are any great prize and will look worse when most of them are gone. (I am not talking about your decoration of the cabinets, but the cabinets themselves).

Right now, they gain some charm by at least matching each other. If you replace the base cabinets, that will be gone.

You could get the surviving uppers new glass doors or just more interesting doors to look a little better, repeating the partial overlay and painting them blue.

A "1928 kitchen" originally wouldn't have a lot of cabinets. They tended towards free standing pieces. The ones they had tended to either be Victorian utility looking or somewhat reminiscent of early american.

The tall cabinet ideally should be destroyed and replaced with bases and uppers that would emulate a hutch or a storage piece. Another idea to consider is trading the range to the blue box wall(without the blue box) and moving the storage to the range wall. It's hard to know without a floor plan, but it looks like that would work better.

I do like lipped cabinetry and love the colour. I think the mix you are proposing sounds appealing. Oak is a good choice (easy up keep and a great look). Not sure about the full overlay, I think I would go partial so they looked more like the lipped cabinetry (full overlay is just frameless without the space or cost advantages so you aren't really losing a lot by going partial). I would also probably go with slab drawer fronts, again to relate to the lipped doors. I think changing the sink run is a good idea - are you certain once you get the new cabinetry you won't regret keeping some of the older stuff? Good luck!

I have the original lipped cabinetry in my 40's era apartment and I will say I did notice that yours does not have an exposed face frame at the bottom which I do sort of miss. I don't think period accuracy is required or necesarily even desirable unless you really want it.

I just want to say, I know its not functional, and I understand why you want to change it, but I love that blue! I hope you keep some of that color, even if none of the cabinets are the same.

wow - thanks, what great feedback!

bmorepanic - thank you for your honest opinion! I do know what you are saying, but, emotionally the thing I am MOST attached to in my kitchen is actually the blue box. You are right, they are built in place. I did not indicate but the cabinets that the cooktop and ovens are in are much later additions - they were built to sort of match. The rest I agree could perhaps be 60s.. That said, if I changed the doors or anything on the uppers then I think I might as well get rid of everything and then I am into huge scope creep.... Right now DH is going to have a heart attack if I replace the lowers. Changing the range to the blue box wall I think would leave me with very difficult ventilation issues. I am very much trying NOT to do a full demo but to retrofit into the exisiting footprint.

caryscott: Thanks for that link to the Blue & QS - yes, that was an inspiration picture for me! But, I do take the point of bmorepanic above who has very valid points.

The last thing I want to do is invest heavily and have it look a mess. I did my bathroom period style a couple of years ago. That was full demo and I think it is one of the reasons why it came out OK (see pic). However, full demo is really not an option for my kitchen..but I don't want to do anything if it is going to be a mess.

Bathroom pic:

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Maybe I should just pull the gear from the cooking wall and stick in a range with a hood and a freestanding chefs table next to it and not touch anything else and save a whole load of money?

It is driving me crazy!

Thank you all again.

If I recall maureeninmd also started out wanting to salvage her lipped cainetry and in the end opted for a total gut. You have to sort of think it through (the logistics) but doing a phased in reno is possible. You could keep the uppers and the tall cabinet and if it doesn't work you coud alway replace them at a later date. I got the sense maureeninmd had some regrets, her kitchen wasn't done but I think she found the newness and uniformity of her renovated kitchen were quite a big change. I think she had layout issues that made it hard for her to keep any of the original cabinetry(and once she got into the gut she had some surprises so you may be wise to avoid that route). She might be good to contact because she definitely started with the kind of vision you are talking about.

I think bmorepanic has some sort of bias against lipped cabinetry. What do you have against lipped cabinetry bmorepanic? What did it ever do to you? LOL

caryscott,

Thank you for all your advice and I am glad that you seem to like the direction I am trying to take. I just read the thread on maureeninmd's kitchen and it just scares me to think about getting into demoing anything more than is absolutely necessary. My bathroom ended up costing the earth in labor and behind the scenes stuff when I did the demo because of the old house problems. I can see why maureeninmd needed to demo... her layout was not functional or efficient. However, I think my layout, with a range with cabinets either side, is quite usable.

Thank you for your suggestion about not doing FULL overlay. I will have to see what options are available for that in the lines I am looking at. Thinking of Bertch or Brookhaven just because Bertch is where my contractor sent me and Brookhaven I think is supposed to be a good semi-custom cabinet. I am open to suggestions though.

Thanks!

Tina

bmorepanic has some sort of bias against lipped cabinetry

I ain't takin' no lip from no cabinetry.

I really don't care one way or the other except I think the upper doors were replaced with these (oh shall I liken thee to a convenience store) doors. I would replace them with flat paneled doors or get glass prepped doors and local glass. The wall cabs would look a lot better and can still be painted blue.

In the world of doors, Scherrs or Contestoga are makers people here have used.

I'll bet that darned bottom frame is there behind those doors.

bmorepanic

Thank you for persisting with the analysis of my upper cabs. So what do you mean about flat paneled doors - do you mean a flat recessed panel? If I did glass it would absolutely have to be ribbed or something because I do not want to show what is in there. Here are the inside scoop pics: no bottom frame I am afraid, so how would that work with the new door idea?

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Also, what is it that you don't like about them - are they just too plain? I do see that perhaps they will look even more work-a-day if the lowers get fancy oak... But, please, do you think if I jazzed up the upper ones with new doors (glass I am liking the idea of) could I keep the "blue box" as is? I love the country feel to it and it is practical and has a cute display area. Also, the display area on it and the whole right side are actually in front of the laundry chute so I will not gain anything taking it out as that space is unusable.

I am thinking new lowers add new functionality but the uppers and the "blue box" are actually very functional and just need to be tied into the new cabinetry/design. I will still have to keep up on the blue paint repairing chips/nicsk etc. but that is doable I think.

Thank you for your advice.

Tina

Thank you again.

Tina

Well, I love your kitchen! especially the blue box - so useful. I really would not do too much to it - it is 100 times better than my old one. You may have seen my before pics - no counterspace, no way of installing a dishwasher, stove sat nearly a foot from the wall, a giant radiator took up about a third of the lowers, they didn't even match for crying out loud.

Your lipped cabinets are so much like my old ones (makes me miss them a bit). I will warn you about demo - they were so well built that they were difficult to rip out - they took chunks of plaster with them.

Maybe you need to make a list of possible combos? Something like:
No. 1. You would just re-do the stove section, plus something next to the big box? I like mixed cabinetry and I think that would be really nice. I love the look of blue with qs oak, like Danielle00's kitchen (caryscott's link).

No. 2. New sink wall bases as well. How bad are the lowers? Could they just be fixed up? Would you have to modify the door to the breakfast room? (the yellow room?) if you deepened the sink wall cabinets? Then most of the cabinets would be new? Would the imperfections of the old cabinets (paint chipping, etc) be more noticeable to you? They look very old-fashioned and hand-made, which I think is wonderful but many people do not. Many people buy old houses and rip out everything to get a modern, open floor plan - I think that's awful.

No. 3 Just keep the blue box and get everything else new. My new cabs (lower-mid priced factory made) are OK and I got what I really wanted (counterspace and DW), but they lack the solid furniture-ness and charm of the old ones. It would be wonderful if you could go with Crown Point or a local custom cabinet maker. I think it's the best route for an old house. (Also search for arlosmom's kitchen, it's really beautiful.) I couldn't afford it, myself. It might have been wise for me to wait and save for custom, all solid wood cabinets but we've lived with the old kitchen fro 10 years already.

Good luck to you. I'd love to see what you decide to do.
Maureen

This is a very cute image from a matching year to your house. This is showing glass + curtains.

This is another example of the type of woodworking that can be used for style hints - the exterior door, the paneling on the back of the inglenook.

Partly, it's hard for me to see this in my head and then look at those doors.

If you replaced the uppers and the box, as far as function goes, you would get adjustable shelves. You have a lot of empty vertical space in your cabinets.

Some of mine are set to soup can height and some set a bit bigger than a box of rice. I have more shelf space in the same area than you do and that gives me more storage. Do I move them? Not really. It took a couple of moves to figure out how to fit the most stuff.

This piece is in terrible condition, but think of something like this beside the box if you're keeping it. It's a separate piece that does the job of what you're talking about, but without breaking the 1920's vibe.

I'm sorry about the venting issue - its hard to tell what does what from a photo.

I don't like ranges where the presence of the cook or open oven doors close off access to another room. Because the space for the range is tiny, I would put the range itself on the edge towards the kitchen sink and place all 36" or so of counter on the other - the side towards the dining room door. I would rather have one side be very usable that two smaller areas. I would try to find an older piece that was roughly counter height and replace it's top with something practical instead of doing modern cabinets.

I would replace the sink run with modern cabinets.

I love the blue and white.

I just wanted to caution you that you will probably be dealing with lead paint. It may be easier for you to avoid lead dust if all the cabinets were removed (rather than touching up some when others were removed.) You will also need to be careful in the future when they need to be repainted. Just a heads up.

Hi Tina,

I think your kitchen is so cute!

I like your blue box too. I wouldn't change it. It's not in the way of anything (at this stage anyway), it makes your kitchen distinctive, and you like it.

I think context is everything. I don't know what the rest of your house is like, but what I can see looks pretty simple (I mean that in a good way!).

The blue tile and cabinets and cream paint and the light fixture and the wainscoting all looks cohesive and simple together.

I love quartersawn. And the two can look good together. And you could do a KNOCKOUT, gorgeous wall.

So gorgeous that it would make the rest of your kitchen suddenly look inadequate by comparison, which it's not.

So you might try frantically to upgrade it in pieces, or decide you had to redo the whole thing, fight with your husband, blah blah blah.

But you don't need to do that. Just be careful to keep the elements in balance. Keep it simple too.

Or consider slotting some other old pieces of free-standing furniture in where you have wire units. Like a table, sideboard, stepback cupboard (like the one bmorepanic showed you) or pantry cupboard.

Good luck!

I do want to thank everyone for the great feedback and ideas.

maureeninmd... yes I do love how cute my kitchen is and I know how close my cabs are to your old ones as I saw your pictures. And thank you for clearly stating my options and scenarios and the warnings about demolition issues.

hestia_flames..yes I know all about that. I actually did the blue paint job that is on them now and whereever it chips which is especially on the edges of the interior shelves it freaks me because I don't doubt there is lead paint involved...I am sure it is on the plaster of my walls too. The chipping and repainting issues do make me want to demo the sink run, uppers and lowers.

bmorepanic... I am coming round more and more to your point of view. Yes, I agree about keeping the range as far away as possible from the dining room. Right now my wall oven door opens down direclty in front of the dining room entrance and I always feel I am cooking right in the dining room. That is really awful when I have guests and they get to see all the last minute panics in the oven area. I have only about 63" to play with and so a single cabinet to the right of the range would be good.

growlery...I am glad you like my blue box.. I could never demo that I am so attached to it! Yes, the rest of my house is simple but I think on the elegant side...I do love the simple kitchen look and right now I don't feel it is NOT country looking which I like. BTW I did not do the blue tile - it was there and I did the cabinets blue to tie in.

The more I think about all this the more I think that I will not be happy really unless I demo all the cabinets except the blue box and install new. Now I need to figure out what to replace them with! I love the all white look but cannot run to inset doors. I also like the look of the shaker style doors that are not full overly and also have the lipped inset. I wonder if I could do something like those. I am not sure I would want to get quarter sawn oak uppers... too heavy and too mission looking for me. I want to keep the feel of what I have now but with new cabinets!

I feel scope creep coming on but thank you all for you advice.

Tina

All: Thank you again so much for the advice. Have been going round in circles and perhaps you have seen my questions on other threads.

I am going to find it so so hard to get rid of my "blue box" but yet I am having trouble seeing what I could put with it. What do you all think of the idea of the Crown Point frameless Transitional line (see link) in the off white paint? I am thinking I could do everything but the "blue box" in this and it would have the funk and charm of my current kitchen but would give me all new cabinets with modern convenience. CP is supposed to be excellent quality and although this option wouldn't be truly period correct I am thinking it would at least be consistent with the needed quality if I am going to demolish what are already well built cabinets.....

I got a quote from them for all new cabinets except the blue box in their regular face frame with inset doors and OVERLAY drawers and it was not as shocking as it could have been. It may still be out of my budget but I am thinking that the frameless might give me more wiggle room and give me a distinctive look.

Tina