And yes, that sink run is oddly high.

what's the 'lighting strike' to the right of the fridge?

what else is in the 'fridge' corner to the left of the stairway?

what's the X box next to the sink?

do you want to keep all 3 doorways into kit?

are you willing to change windows?

Celticmoon, I have seen your previous work and have no qualms about your ability to transform this into a workable space. What a cute little squirrel of a kitchen! I want to know whether that is a counter height "eating bar" between K and LR, and whether those central areas are somehow load bearing (I note a somewhat free floating wall/post between K and LR that seems to demarcate a hallish thing). I am clueless about most construction and have no idea how they put a house together in 1913. Overall I would not hesitate. This will be fabulous! And it is nice to see you back :)

There might be SOMEthing under that sink run...

But it's not bad is it? Love how they sacrificed the half bath (probably not original anyway) to save that lovely window.

I think you should go for it if this kitchen is the only thing holding you back. Look at the floor!

Tall cabinets, all the way up! And a cute retro kitchen stool with the step and the seat to get into them.

It sounds like a great neighborhood and porch! :)

Maybe something like this? You could go back to the smaller half bath, but a downstairs shower might be nice, in case anyone temporarily can't climb stairs. {{!gwi}}From Cottage house plans

That's a bookcase for cookbooks, between the stairs and bath...and I just realized my fridge is too small, but you get the idea!

Depends on what you think, don't it?

I think you can do a kitchen with a fair sized pantry in place of the ref tunnel,
or do something taking the floorspace that lavender shows
or flip it with the dining room or flip the deck entrance to the dining room and take down the back stairs - its kinda odd that a house that small has any. Oh wait, are those stairs going to the basement?

You could think about reducing the size of the ref to one of those 24" wide ones or some ref drawers. You just don't need the same amount of room when you can easily shop within a few blocks.

When I lived in NYC, I would just stop on the way home and get whatever I felt like for dinner that night. Plus you'll go out a lot. Plus there were these marvelous places where you could buy pre-made dinner that you'd finish off at home. So, I actually used to get stuff from the original Silver Palette or the place that catered to busy people who kept kosher or the eastern european diner that would sell you dumplings to cook at home. It was a lot better than frozen food and without the time limits and choice limits of take out. Maybe they'll have some places like that.

I don't know from the floorplan posted, but the other thing I'd be interested in is a first floor closet of some type - not just for coats, but for cleaning things and longer term storage. And aren't you in the desert? Do you know these things called "snow" and "cold"?

Sometimes, in an old house/space, you just learn to make a funky layout work. In this month's Country Living magazine there's a "spread" of a tiny family cottage that has a small kitchen that would function perfectly for the type of urban cooking that bmorepanic referenced above. I think that the joys of living in a vibrant urban area offset not having 42" of prep space to the left of your stove. :-) When you want - or need - to do a "big cook" you'll figure out how to make do. Also, the current appliances look to be too big for the space. A 24" fridge and a 24" stove might be what makes that place work. It hasn't been too long that Euro scaled appliances have been available in the American market - and it's been even less time that Americans would consider them.

If you do a home inspection, I'd have the inspector see if they can determine *why* the sink is on a raised platform, so you are armed with knowledge, but a challenging kitchen might not be such a challenge once you know what you're up against.

I would run like h*ll. I've learned better.

It's not that small!

But 2 blocks from the lake? THAT lake? There's a certain time of year where you won't want to be going out shopping every day so probably best to not downsize the fridge. :)

Looks like the windows are upgraded? Where are our exterior pictures? How does the rest of it look? Has it been a VRBO or has it been lovingly maintained? It looks clean and cared for and gads does it need to be a different color--I think that pink makes it hard to realize it's not that bad!

Thank you for all the thoughts.

It has been a crazy 24 hours. We reluctantly are passing on this old girl - though it would have been great to pretty her up for her 100th birthday. I just know that space could become a really great kitchen.

But...so much else needs to be done there and after way too much money, I'd still be left with midget closets & bedrooms, etc. The capper was the garage guy seeing the site and saying whoa, we need to double my earlier estimate.

Marcolo, pithy and spot on. As usual.

We'll keep looking...

There is always hope! I think it would involve changing that window, though it is hard to say exactly without seeing more the first floor of the house!

Is there another bathroom on this floor of the house?

I should have answered the questions. Stairs go to basement. 'Lighning bolt' indicates switch between drawing upper (pantry) and lower (stairs). I was told the sink and other run were made high because the prior owner was tall.

Thank you, lavendar lass, for the idea to put a whole bath in. (I do think about breaking a leg someday...)

I love the exterior and the street. Makes me sad to pass when I look at that porch.

Listing link is below. Sadly, the rooms are all a good bit smaller than what is listed, so I'd have to buy all new small scale furniture. Walls, floors and trim all would need work. It goes on and on.

I am too ambivalent to take this one on. It will be my benchmark. We will find the right one. The houses in this area are pretty much all 100 years old, so we shall have charm. There will be charm.

Darn it would have been a great kitchen. And porch. Sigh.

Here is a link that might be useful: listing

I should have answered the questions. Stairs go to basement. 'Lighning bolt' indicates switch between drawing upper (pantry) and lower (stairs). I was told the sink and other run were made high because the prior owner was tall.

Thank you, lavendar lass, for the idea to put a whole bath in. (I do think about breaking a leg someday...)

I love the exterior and the street. Makes me sad to pass when I look at that porch.

Listing link is below. Sadly, the rooms are all a good bit smaller than what is listed, so I'd have to buy all new small scale furniture. Walls, floors and trim all would need work. It goes on and on.

I am too ambivalent to take this one on. It will be my benchmark. We will find the right one. The houses in this area are pretty much all 100 years old, so we shall have charm. There will be charm.

Darn it would have been a great kitchen. And porch. Sigh.

Here is a link that might be useful: listing

I think you made the smart choice. It has been way, way too extensively remuddled. It's missing about $300K in trimwork, which is what it would cost to put back today.

Oh, man. Seeing that reminds me of what bad things the 80's-90's did to historic homes.

I am in the process of trying to undo the 90's here and I can tell you, maybe it is wise to pass.

AH well. Good luck finding a better house with a worse kitchen! :P

Sigh, for sure.

So, next one: Charm, location, and a main level bath or potential for. LavenderLass's point was a quick stop for me. It would be very sad to come to love a wonderful old conveniently located home and then HAVE to leave it for lack of a shower.

Reminds me of one property when I was an appraiser. The hall between kitchen, living, and dining (now bed) rooms was about 4' wide, so the very elderly sellers had some years before put a molded shower stall in the only place they had for it--that hall. It obviously worked for them. He also dug a hole in the back patio, set an old bathtub in it, relaid the patio brick around it, and they had a lounging pool. There were a few other quirks and a fair amount of deferred maintenance, but the house was the sort of thing you're looking for--charm, great bones, good location. It sold fast and well.

LOL, fori. That would be my goal! A better house with a worse kitchen.

I don't have the time or money to save something architecturally intact but falling down. But undoing solid yet unfortunate remuddling is so, so painful. You keep hitting your head and saying: 'What were they thinking?!' Or worse, 'well, where the hexx are the French doors then?!' Or that missing built-in buffet...arrgh.

Once I was lucky enough to find a grand, one owner 1918 house that hadn't been touched. Miles of oak woodwork. The very elderly owner's father built it, and she had lived in it alone her whole life. Working on that house was a labor of love, but so worth it.

We'll keep looking...