We also have a plain vanilla ranch built in 1950. It was never MCM nor any style. It was just churned out as a tract home. The basic layout of bedrooms and living space was ok, but we opened the wall between the kitchen and living room, extended and moved the kitchen so the old kitchen is half of the new one and partly as our new main level laundry room. The rest of the kitchen is part of the extension and is adjacent to the new den we added on. Due to budget constraints, we only cathedraled the new extensions' ceilings and the master bedroom ceiling was vaulted as we extended there too. Where we did not raise the ceilings we added in skylights and a 5ft eyebrow window in the front of the house, boxed in like a skylight (and we have a skylight over the den up high). The greater amount of natural light is fabulous and it feels so much more spacious with the openings for the skylights and eyebrow window. We had hated the all low ceilings when we moved in. Our previous house had vaulted and cathedral ceilings over the living spaces and it was hard to adjust to low and flat. I truly think that being able to raise the ceilings and/or use skylights is one of the best features about a ranch. Since the house was built with little style and updated with no style either (unless cheap and ugly are styles, lol), we felt free to create our own vibe. We went for retro modern with a 40s feel. What a modern person would have done prior to MCM is how I'd describe it. It has some deco feel to it but the lines are simple and not ornate. Crown moldings would not have worked, so we have done simpler ones. We chose modest looking but well designed materials. No one would ever think it is fancy or frilly. We wanted clean lines but not sharp edges. It is supposed to feel homey and unassuming. Like a well worn pair of jeans that fit well. We want guests to feel at home. If you come up with your own style mission statement you can check your choices against it. At one point, we fell in love with white marble and wanted that for our counters. Then one day, we figured out it went against all our other choices and was too elegant. We ended up with Corian in their Rain Cloud pattern, which mimics the feel of a white marble, but is not trying to fake anyone out. It has a softness to the look but with all straight lines and an eased edge profile, it looks neat. We ended up with Carrera marble in our master bathroom for the counter and in the faux rug part of our floor. That space is meant to be more grown up and fancy since it is our private space and not designed for the kids. The veins that make it great there would have been too busy for the kitchen. If we had gone for another look, I'd have loved to use the marble as I usually drool when I see it used anywhere. If I ever do a kitchen again, I would want qs oak with white marble or some other medium toned stained wood. The door style would be different as well. We are happy with our vision and how the look has turned out (the gc screwed us on condition, but that will be fixed, someday). It is not plain vanilla any more! Our house looks like no other in our area and I dare say, it is now one of a kind. Hopefully, you find your groove and your end result reflects your style and vision, and makes you smile too ;)

"By the way, the conversation pit made it easier to pass around the peace pipe, if you know what I mean." Ah, that makes sense. I guess I never thought about that specific activity. "Conversation pits were popular because people actually had conversations. No computers, no cell phones, no texting. You actually looked people in the eye and talked." I do understand that the 1970s were certainly a social era. Perhaps I'm out of touch with the generations younger than me, but I'm fairly certain people still have conversations. I absolutely understand making a seating area just for conversations. But what I'm wondering is: why a pit? Why not just a circular or semi-circular seating arrangement? Did it make the room feel more open? Make the conversation area feel more intimate? I've never been in one and have always wondered what drew people to the idea of a pit.

You also might consider something like a china cabinet (a Haywood-Wakefield -style china cabinet would be very hot!) as a furniture-style solution. It can hold more than china -- vintage staples canisters, cookbooks, linens on the bottoms etc. That way you can just move it around the house as needed. Some people find things stay cleaner. (I have open shelves and don't have a problem.) You can definitely replace the laminate counter (they pull the whole counter out, not just peel off the skin) and put in a new laminate counter, or put in another kind of counter. Sometimes a "period feel" can be done with just what you have and some accessories. You don't need to add a thing that would turn anyone off. I also wanted to raise the issue that some people, contractors, designers etc, may come in and advise you to rip everything out. They may do this for a silly reason -- it's just easier for them, or a real reason -- a slow drip has been rotting the sink cabinet for 15 years, and it actually does have to be replaced. It's easy for things to get the "while we're at its" as someone here called it, and before you know it, your very modest kitchen plan calls for bumping out 3 stories and adding an indoor pool. I just want you to remember that, no matter what you decide, YOU are the one in control of this project. It's YOUR house. You can really say "No, we're happy with X as it is. We'd just like a quote on the Y right now, thanks." If you needed to get a couple of cabinets built because one is very rotted and unsalvageable, it might be done by a local carpenter for a reasonable amount of money, less than getting a whole new set of cabinets. But if what you really want is a whole new kitchen in 5 years, then -- get the leak FIXED, come back and let us know.

I bought 40 of these pulls and found a dozen knobs that match nicely, so these are my starting point! I picked up some green and some cream 4x4 tile samples. What do you think? Cream cabinets with green tile is my favorite. (I had to use a tile to simulate cabinet color) Navy cabinets and cream tile backsplash. Love the hardware on the blue, but feels off otherwise. Thought maybe tile the are behind stove with a decorative tile like the third pic??? constructive criticism & suggestions welcome.