Kitchen Reveal for 1920 traditional townhouse
I am grateful for the help that we received on gardenweb on designing our new kitchen, and I also like the reveal threads, because they are often more budget friendly and work around more real issues than the photos on Houzz.
I would especially like to thank benjisbride for her help in explaining layout choices to me.
My first getting started thread, when we were ditching the first design and build firm and deciding if we needed an architect (we used a structural engineer to design the beam but decided to skip the architect): https://www.houzz.com/discussions/cabinets-for-traditional-kitchen-with-9-ceilings-and-getting-started-dsvw-vd~4692891
My layout thread: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4740995/need-kitchen-layout-help
and our thread where I was convinced to do a hardwood floor rather than ceramic tile: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5084761/blue-pearl-granite-for-a-1920s-house-with-cherry-cabinets After making this decision, everything else came together nicely.
We were working with a lot of constraints, and the layout changed some after the layout thread:
-We are in townhouse, and the shared wall is in the kitchen (along where the fridge is now)
-There was a three story chimney that is currently in use by the hot water heater and would have been expensive to remove
-We are under covenant in a historic district, which means that doors and windows must be approved (simulated divided lights wood windows only)
-Our backyard backs up to the yards of mansions, so if someone wants to spend a lot of money on a house there are plenty to choose from so we needed a prudent budget
-A significant motivation for redoing the kitchen was to remove all knob and tube wiring and fuses from the kitchen (their was a fuse box in the kitchen in addition to the 200 amp fuse box in the basement), and have proper heating and cooling on the first floor (we installed central air on the first floor, and added a radiator to the kitchen which previously had no heat). We also removed all knob and tube wiring from the first floor and we now have three pronged outlets, and replaced the steal pipes to the second floor bathroom, and we are replacing some cutters. We did all this and stayed under our 100K budget.
Shared Wall with adjacent unit:
Problems:
The pole light on the right provides the only light in the kitchen
It is in front of a chimney
The window to the outside is slightly visible on the left, and also on the left is a door to the covered porch. When the door is opened, you hit the person working at the stove. There is only minimal space on the sides of the stove for cooking activity.
Problems:
The doorways do no line up and create congestion problmes
Note the only three pronged outlet in the kitchen and the old fashioned under counter light next to it.
Problems:
The fridge was in this separate room, which had no insulation or heat. Sometimes it would actually be below fridge temp in this room. Only a counterdepth fridge could be moved into this place, and everytime someone opened the fridge door, the pantry was blocked. The door the living room is on the left of the picture There is a covered porch behind the outdoor door, that is as deep as the pantry.
Comments (25)
J G
5 years agoSolutions:
We put in a steel beam across the opening to the pantry room and the covered porch (they actually had to rebuild the floor because it was rotted), enclosed the porch and insulated the new space. The arch in the new space matches the adjacent arch in the living room. We have a new Marvin casement winodw in this area
Arch matches exisiting arch in the dining room:
The back area is my baking center, with stacked cabinetry, and my kitchen aid mixer and a counter top microwave. There open counter allows for a new radiator and will eventually have a stool for a single seat breakfast bar looking out the window.
J G
5 years agoThe microwave on the left is a countertop model and was one of the hardest decisions. We did not want it over the stove, because then it is hard to use with the person cooking. We thought about putting it on a shelf, but then the shelf would have stuck out farther making the corner space less usable (and putting it in the corner would have required a smaller window) . We decided it would just sit on the countertop. We have 60" along the left wall (we were using the original porch/pantry roof and foundation) and we were able to squeeze two 30" cabinets and a lazy suzan and drawer stacks along that wall.
The corner sink is not a favorite around here, but it allows the sink to go under the window and ties the added space into the main part of the kitchen. We were also very short long countertop runs.
We put lighted class cabinets on this short run, and solid stacked cabinets elsewhere. This was partly a budget compromise and partly a storage compromise. These are
The turkey plates are flow blue and are family heirlooms; I assume they date to around 1900. They go well with the blue pearl in the granite countertops (a group D granite spurge, but we fell in love with this and think it really gives the kitchen a unique feel). The cabinet next to the dishwasher is 12" and allows you to open the 24" dishwasher. The 15" trash pullout is convenient when entering from the dining room, but is a tight squeeze with someone standing at the sink (with challenging spaces, you have to make compromises). The light is mostly decorative, but it is handblown glass from bicycle glass (we both love blue glass)Related Discussions
Almost done traditional kitchen (with pictures)
Comments (23)Thanks so much for all the kind words. It's really all of you that helped make this happen- we searched this site so many times and found so many helpful people. I just hope I can give back. Here are some answers to the questions: Cabinets: we found a local cabinet maker (http://www.seattlecustomcabinets.com/) that was passionate about houses of our era- 1920s. He only does custom, and so was more expensive than other options, but choosing him was the best thing we did. If I have one piece of advice to folks that are in the planning stages, it would be that if you happen upon one of these people that is seriously passionate about your house (be it a designer, cabinet maker, GC, whatever), hire them right away! You can't find these people very easily and you can't buy the kind of advice they give. It was him that came up with the proportions and many of the details like the sink vent. Latches: We found these online for much cheaper than Rejuvenation and are very happy with their quality. Note that we ordered a large size (at the suggestion of someone who said you'll want them larger when you're older and it gets harder to grip smaller objects), and we like them. My advice for any hardware is to order one first. There a lot of places that sell cabinet latches online, but the exact ones we got are in the link at the bottom of this post. Handles: Restoration Hardware. Thing Left of Sink: this is a built-in compost bin. The particular model we got is called a Blanco Solon: http://www.blancocanada.com/frames/BlancoStart.htm#/pages/wasteManagement.htm Nook Outlet: Yes, that's what it is. We didn't think about putting a lamp there (were thinking about more boring things like laptops), but that's a fantastic suggestion- thank you marcolo! Behind Nook: That will eventually be a window. The lack of it being there now is one of our many delays :( Fridge: Yes, it's an integrated Sub Zero (700 TCi). Lighting: Rejuvenation (I don't have the exact models handy, but just post again if you want me to provide them and I can dig them up). Thanks again everybody for all your help! Here is a link that might be useful: Nickel Cabinet Latches...See MoreDesign Around This #3: 1920s Kitchens and All That Jazz
Comments (129)Jterrilyn, that floor is actual antique tile I saw on The Antique Floor Company's site (see link below). They're a French company based in Burgundy. This particular floor sold a good while ago (understandably). It was, quote, "recovered from a town house in the Champagne region of France." I'm sure it wasn't cheap, and shipping it from Burgundy to the US would also not be cheap. There are several close-ups at the website that you could use to recreate this tile, if you had infinite money. :-) Here is a link that might be useful: French antique floor tile at the Antique Floor Company...See MoreTwo toned kitchen reveal
Comments (30)KA refrigerator was delivered with a rather large hole inside. Had to be a squeaky wheel to get a new one delivered. KA wall oven-used self clean option once..... heard a loud pop. Had to have fan replaced. Fan still makes a very loud noise. Can't seem to get the temperature to 450 and stay there....See MoreBungalow kitchen reveal
Comments (59)Yep, the wall is tiled from countertop to the cabinets/range hood. My guess is that free-standing ranges and 4" backsplash go together in older remodels before tile backsplash was so ubiquitous. With the free-standing range, I went for cheap (er, "value") for my appliances, because all the brands seem to have poor reliability, so I didn't want to invest very much. I don't love the crack between range and countertop, though it's not a huge deal, and I might try to find if there is an attractive product that will block crumbs from falling in there. Still I'm happy with it and saving $1000. With the backsplash, I don't mind the look of a low backsplash and painted walls to add color (that can be easily changed). If I knew I was staying here forever, I might have gone that direction. But I like the tile too, and tile backsplash is very expected in a remodeled kitchen. I didn't want a hypothetical future buyer to diss my pricey kitchen for lack of tile backsplash....See MoreJ G
5 years ago
The dishwasher if next to the fridge panel. The pantry is next to the fridge is directly in front of the chimney. This give me a 12" deep broom closet and two additional storage cabinets in front of the chimney. To do this we moved the entrance to the kitchen over. The cabinet over the fridge is a pop top to avoid very small doors in the stacked design.J G
5 years ago
Looking in from the front door, the doors are now lined up. I am not sure why they were not before, but this draws your eyes outside to the backyard from the front door.
Another view of the sink and the light.
This is the stove wall. The door on the side of the counter is the entrance to the dining room. The stove is not centered along the wall in order to allow a large cabinet with pull outs to the right of the stove,and the smaller drawer bank to the left. We decided to do pull outs for pots.
Another view of the addition; you can see that we have a lazy susan in the corner and a nice large bank of drawers. There is still plenty of counterspace even with the microwave on the counter.
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J GOriginal Author