You need a good local Kitchen Designer. Most of the time, the design services are included with the cost of the cabinet purchase, so they are essentially free to use even if you need to pay a retainer up front.

Ive heard that white is better in a smaller kitchen, and it also seems to me that NO images Ive seen of 1920's era kitchens show wood cabinets

Well, I would do painted cabinets because I like them, but:

1926

1929

and so on. There were plenty of European-folk-style kitchens in woods, especially in the later 20s.

Writersblock, thanks. Didn't see the last one; wasn't sure if the top two more were wood or painted.

Holly, we have a great designer and he has helped us amazingly, including selecting cabinets we love and setting us up to see them installed in recent jobs (though now we may want them with butt hinges). Thing is, how true to some era's design cues is upon the buyer to decide, which is exactly our issue. We have no problems from a smart design, ergonomic, workflow and related perspective...

Thanks!

I'm struggling with the same issue (1917 house here). In looking at the pictures writersblock posted, what stands out to me is:

1. Frame and panel cabinets (painted or unpainted would be your choice).
2. Checkerboard patterns.
3. Curves, i.e, rounded corners, arches, etc.
4. Chair rails, i.e. two-part walls.

I think if you concentrate on the general style of that time, you can then incorporate all the modern features that are so great in today's kitchens and still have it look like it belongs to its time period. Good luck. Keep us informed as to what you do.

that's very true. I noted in another thread on here that some folks seemed to think that all the colors were as much advertising as anything, and that wood was still used extensively. The old kitchens Ive been in seem to have wood, but the 20s seem to be a transitional time when one goes from more classic designs to modern ones. But maybe I dont know what Im talking about...

It still seems to me that there is LOTS of turn of the century basis for wood, and then there is plenty of wood from the 50's on, but inbetween white and soft colors were used extensively. Perhaps it is the comeback that white has made, but it is throwing us off bigtime...

Get the book "Bungalow Kitchens"! It will help you a lot because even if you don't own a bungalow that is the era you are thinking of.

Just say no to granite because it is inappropriate. If you want stone counters, go with soapstone or marble. I don't think tin ceilings are right for the era either. Marmoleum would be great for floors. Choose inset, recessed panel cabinets with a rail and stile design. If you want to be more authentic, get ones that have exposed hinges.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the lead on the book! I was thinking slate, but we saw some granite that we absolutely loved, and so were thinking of that. Nothing is set in stone (ha, ha) yet.

But I should be clear that we do want to take the design elements from across the eras that we like, and put them together. We arent trying to make an absolutely time period specific reproduction (sorry if that is heresy), but rather make things that we want to be realistic, to be so. That said, I also dont intend to make it a ridiculous hodgepodge either.

So given that we like certain things that may not be 1920's, it is sort of silly for me to fret over cabinet color... But we do have one original piece in the house, NOT painted, but I just can't see any other examples of unpainted 20's era kitchens to compare the rest of the design to.

Thanks for the recommendations on materials, Ill look into the stones. We were leaning towards marmoleum, but we took some home and the wife didnt like it because it felt hard underfoot compared to the cork...

Thanks again!

I like your cork flooring idea. I think I know where you are coming from. You want to use some of the elements to its roots - just modernized a bit. We were there too, in a 100+ yr old house. The kitchen did originally have a wood floor. We did the cork floor, although I considered a rubber floor, but it was more from a comfort stand point. We did painted cabinets cause we thought it would brighten a dreary room; one of the original pantry cabs did seem to have been originally stained. I didn't want the house's age to dictate everything in the kitchen. As a way to pay homage to the house's past, I took elements from around the house. The railing had fluting, so I put fluting on kitchen columns. I did do soapstone as what has been suggested above, but my soapstone design 'looks' modern more like granite, I think. It has several strong veins that are not commonly seen in soapstone.

There's so much going forward that *will* drive you crazy, so save that energy for the implementation stage! The design stage is the dreaming and excitement over what's to come, so don't stress too much about things.

Jumping back in here and hope I can offer some perspective to both questioners here. We own a 1916 house and have children with houses from the 1920s.

In our house we wanted to keep the period feel but not do an authentic reconstruction of the past. We wanted the kitchen to reflect what would have been fairly modest upgrades through the decades. The 1916 house and early 1920s houses were more in that simple "sanitary" mode. As the 1920s progressed into the 1930s, more color came into play. And, remember that kitchens from this era were not considered to be "entertainment centers" where people showed off to their friends.

Cabinetry is really key to setting the tone, and cabinetry from that era was not overlay. It was inset with exposed hinges and flat panels. Cabinetry from the era that was not painted and was natural wood was often birch; time aged the varnish to a rich, deep honey color, possibly with orangish tints. Countertops may have been wood, linoleum, tile or possibly marble or soapstone. Shiny granite does not work here at all. These are kitchens where classic, white subway tile is a great choice for backsplash. Today's trendy glass tile is not a good choice. I struggled with appliances because white probably is the best for the earlier era, but it is nearly impossible to find a good selection in white these days.

As far as comfort for flooring. One child has cork and the other has marmoleum. I have not noticed a difference in feel while working in their kitchens so would not make a decision solely based on comfort. We have natural maple floors in our kitchen.

There are people on GW that know so much about this, I hate to even chime in, being pretty much ignorant about this. But, I agree, I think you can go with white or a natural finish cabinet, dark stains wouldn't be in keeping with the 1920's style, I wouldn't think. I agree, partial overlay doors, with exposed hinges. ( But you could probably get away with concealed hinges and it wouldn't be a big deal.) Also agree, granite would not work well, soapstone would be a much nicer look. As for the flooring, cork, marmoleum are both authentic, but I think you could do a wood floor too, maybe a distressed type wood. Or even ceramic, in a black and white check pattern. For old fashioned looking appliances, Big Chill has some really great looking one, in colors as well as white. Someone did a 1950's retro kitchen on GW a while back, it was amazing. I love the retro vibe of these period kitchens, while keeping the modern conveniences. So unique and refreshing, I wish my house was appropriate for that style, but unfortunately, it wouldn't work. :(

The most extended and detailed discussions of 1920s kitchens that I recall on gardenweb had to do with Marcolo working out design decisions in his renovation. You can find them most efficiently with a google search rather than the search function at the bottom.

I'd think elements would include a freestanding sink if that's in the budget -- and a freestanding look where possible (cab feet rather than flat toekicks). Also color: the early 20th century fixation with a sanitary look (white cabs, white subways) was being moved out by more deco-ish colors (think greens and yellows). A stove in a color would work, too. The Big Chills have a 1950s look; more modern looking ones in color might blend, too.

Something other than granite would be right, too: butcherblock, zinc/stainless, soapstone, maybe marble.

We finished up a kitchen in an 1880s house that had a 1910s addition that added plumbing, including a kitchen and bath. We wanted to keep the costs around 25,000, so that dictated keeping our existing stainless appliances. No salvage sink popped up when we needed it, so the budget left us with a non-freestanding sink. Some cabs are freestanding; all have feet; there is a full Hoosier, a kitchen table, and period salvaged lighting. We went with stained wood for the cabs.

I have what seems to be a mostly original 1926 kitchen. We had the ice box (complete with exterior hatch for delivery of ice) still in the kitchen when we moved in for example. We removed that to make way for a dishwasher. We still have the built in Hoosier style cabinet with pull-out cabinet. I'm not sure how you would describe the doors--some are full overlay, some partial. There are no inset cabinets in our 1926 kitchen.

We also want to do a remodel that is sympathetic to the period and style (French revival) of the house without being slave to those things. We are currently thinking we will keep the Hoosier-style cabinet painting it a color that makes us happy, replace the sink run entirely with white cabinets of a different door style. We were planning on soapstone counters, but I am revisiting stainless as a possibility. Stainless would be more appropriate to our location. I'm planning on white locally handmade white 6x6 tiles for the backsplash. The appliances will not be retro at all due to function/size/cost constraints.

Here's picture of that Hoosier-style cabinet

Check out the kitchen 1929spanish did. She posted a reveal a couple of years ago and staying sympathetic to her 1929 Spanish Colonial was a key focus. I don't know how to post a link, but I found several of her posts by doing a Google search.

Thanks for posting the piucture!

Here are some pictures of the original cabinet in our butler's pantry. Photobucket compresses already grainy pictures, and everything is a mess because we ripped out a lot of stuff already. Got down to the second from the bottom floor (4" green tiles), the bottom of which is a black rubber mat with some design (the black may also be glue from the tiles). Inside underneath the original cabinet is some old linoleum with an interesting pattern.

So it seems that the cabinets, at least in the butler's pantry were just wood. I dont know that they were ever refinished, the folks who lived in the home before us didnt really care for the cabinet, and we have been somewhat afraid to try anything with it because of its age. All the woodwork in the home is natural chestnut.

But I have seen where the butler's pantry is wood and the kitchen itself is sanitary white. I dont know that this cabinet was ever moved, nor if there ever were more of them. The pantry has a deeper section where I guess a freestanding hoosier could have been.

When we remove the 50's stuff, it will be interesting to see what remains of signs of yesteryear...

We are not interested in doing white cabinets, but a neutral wood color, perhaps even slightly lighter than this, or white are our two thoughts. Or even to do another white cabinet in the pantry to compliment this one (plus more storage) without having a conflicting wood tone, and then new wood cabinets in the kitchen so it looks a bit warmer in there.

Ugh, I just dont know!!

Wood cabinets were definitely done in the 20s. I have friends with a 1920s Tudor and they kept some of the original fir cabinets and had some new ones built when they redid the kitchen. Craftsman architecture was also popular through the 20s, and embraced lots of natural wood throughout the house including the kitchen cabinets.

Don't know if you have seen this site or not. It should give you lots of ideas.

http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/inside/kitchen/1920s/gallery/page05.htm

Marcolo is really the expert on this subject, but I haven't seen him lately. I know he said that the 1920s (one of my favorite eras) was a time when CLEAN became very popular. Surfaces that could easily be scrubbed, painted, bleached, etc. as well as tiled walls. The early 1920s were right after the flu epidemic and many people were afraid it might return.

Here's a link to a few kitchens....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blastmilk/galleries/72157624767806060/

The 1920s have so many styles, there is a lot to choose from. WWI and travel to Europe brought back a lot of 'fairy tale' style or European cottage...as well as Art Deco, and many others. Have fun! :)

Link to pictures is below...

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to pictures

Hi! I've been traveling for work way too much lately. Our kitchen was newly added space to our home so there was nothing to save. Here's the link to our reveal. We had a moderate budget that covered a new bathroom, new addition and kitchen move.

Here is a link that might be useful: 1929Spanish's Kitchen

For what it is worth, I just tore out original, never painted birch cabinets in my 1915 house. I thought long and hard about keeping them but as it turned out they were immediately snatched up by another old home lover and carefully pried out for reuse. So they will go to a new home. For 100 years old the cabinets were in remarkably good condition. Here's a couple of photos. In the first photo the original cabinets are the uppers only; the cheap lower cabinets date to the 1970s.

Reproducing those cabinets today costs more than many people's total kitchen remodel budget. I should know.

Is the original poster still around? I'm not entirely sure what the question is.