Thank you, thank you for so many thoughtful posts. This is an international move for us, so I have been travelling to coordinate everything involved - I only had 2 weeks to find something and this house ticks a lot of boxes for us, so I will work with it. I completely agree with many of you on working with what is there and with the Scandi modern look - as I said in my first post "will try to go with a mix of nature (lots of wood), clean lines, bright colors (fern green, orange, yellow, turquoise), and some funky accents". My mom is Danish and I have inherited Danish modern dining table & chairs, buffet, turquoise pottery, floor lamp, etc. so that is our style in general. Our stuff is pretty modern, but not industrial, more nature-oriented mixed with lots of ethnic art and crafts bought on our travels. I'm definitely not trying to recreate a period-perfect kitchen or house - as palimpsest accurately guessed, this is a split entry colonial revival ranch so I'm really not sure there is any period-perfect style anyway. But we do like to respect the period features of our homes (most recently an 1882 Victorian and a 1910 Tudor revival, both 4 stories so we are really looking forward to one main level!) (And I really enjoyed reading all the commentary here on period issues.) Nonetheless, Tuscan-looking or even American traditional just isn't us, or the rest of the house, ergo my desire to create a feel in kitchen more in keeping generally with our eclectic stuff and the period of the house. Even though they are not my taste, there is no way I could take down almost new solid maple (cherry-stained) cabinets, as much as I might love IKEA. Anyone have any experience stripping stain off cabinets like these? I "might" think about that as I would like them better in a lighter wood tone, of course even better with a slab front but too many cabinets to contemplate that. I like the suggestion to take down and store the uppers next to the range and do a big tiled backsplash with a big stainless range hood. I like that idea aesthetically and practically since microwave vents are never powerful enough and uppers near a stovetop always wind up sticky and greasy. Will definitely look for a sleek stainless pull, maybe with a curve. I wonder if it possible to somehow cut off the mullions from the glass-fronted ones?? For the floors, I have loved the look and feel of cork previously so I'm inclined to go with that - it needs something less busy to minimize the busy-ness of the cabinet fronts. I don't know what to do for the counters? Formica or metal-trimmed aren't what I was contemplating. I think stone or tile will look too "Tuscan"/90s - whatever you want to call it - with the cherry cabinets. Already too much wood cabinet for butcher block. That leaves concrete, stainless or that manufactured quartz that looks quite uniform. Any thoughts? Thank you for all the links - I loved some of the tile patterns, but am concerned about busy-ness. I haven't had a chance to look at all the lighting links - thinking something clean lined, Scandi looking, not space-age. I'm also a bit stuck on backsplash and paint color. I love green and will be using it elsewhere in the house, but I have too many memories of dark green with cherry in 90s kitchens. Maybe another shade? I do love yellow and orange, which again will show up elsewhere in the house alot. I guess I am just really hung up on that cherry and what goes with it...

Our cabinets, though old, were in pretty good shape and now look lovely with our new paint job. I think with older homes it is wise, as you are doing, to consider the period of the home and work with it rather than do what is currently popular. And I think each home has different needs so I'm sure you'll love your new cabinets! I have to admit I was a little sad to see our 1950's GE Stratoliner range be sold but that electric cooktop was so hard to do anything but boil water on and not much could be on simultaneously, and I fell in love with the Lacanche. Anyway, I also agree per above posters that style wise it doesn't have to all be one era. Our vintage artwork is from the 30s, our red formica table and chairs (not in the pic) are from the 50s and our cabinet pulls are newer but probably 50s inspired. I love the pulls you picked and I like the 30s-50s updated kitchen in the last several posts, which seems like it would work with your bathroom staying as is. One thing we considered is that if we tore out the kitchen and put in a true MCM kitchen it would look wierd with our 1950s extensively pink tiled bathroom and then that would need to be updated. By keeping the style of our kitchen to its era, the kitchen and bathroom seem more in sync and I don't seeing us (other than putting in new grout and maybe painting the walls) changing our pink tiled bathroom, which also made our approach more cost effective. I think doing a blend of 30s-40s to early 50s, your bathroom would fit nicely into the updated kitchen.

Hi, the key consideration to work with is that the home is not MCM, but Ranch, and should be treated as such. Unless you want to engage an architect to change the roofline and windows, you should work within the Ranch style. I suggest you step back and reassess the design approach and consider "modern/updated ranch" vs MCM, in order to pull together a good overall design. With that in mind what needs to change first is the front door itself-it is out of sync with the house (color and style). Adapting the front entry to add a sunken patio is intriguing, and in line with Modern-Ranch approach. Minor comments: color, as that is not my strength, but if you're going to live in it vs sell then do what you like. I agree with the suggestions of the landscaping updates. For better or worse you have a huge tree too near the house that you'll have to deal with. The small one should be moved sooner than later as part of the overall plan. You have a huge front yard to work with but unless you're a gardener, I would suggest not doing too much beyond anchor plants and then add potted plants for pops of color-but those minor items alone will do wonders for the look.

Maybe a bigger project that you envision, but I would replace the porch surface with brick, add a broad, deep step off the porch and an equally wide brick walk to the street. Take out the odd little brick bed next to the house and use those bricks for the step, if nothing else. You could also remove all the brick bed areas and use them on the porch.Or you could replace the brick with concrete and face it with your own bricks sawn into 3 pieces to use as facing bricks. Pick up on that orange brick near the step to paint the front doors ochre or sienna. I would paint all the trim, porch siding, column and garage in back with a soft white like those two bricks just below the left corner of the front window. Replace or move your house numbers to the column or to the brick wall opposite it. Other than the azaleas, which I always love, I would replace any non-blooming plants with more azaleas or with low growing evergreen shrubbery that will stay below the windows without you having to maintain it.