Renovated Kitchen Reclaims Historic Charm in an 1810 Farmhouse
A brick floor, a tongue-and-groove ceiling and an expanded pantry return traditional character to a Connecticut kitchen
Before: The former kitchen featured black-and-white checkerboard linoleum flooring. The door to the left of the former range led to a back stairwell.
What Lies Beneath That Old Linoleum Kitchen Floor?
What Lies Beneath That Old Linoleum Kitchen Floor?
After: To increase the size of the kitchen, the design team removed the back stairwell and the former range wall. A new alcove where the stairs used to be now houses the refrigerator. The back wall received new beadboard siding. “We wanted to reuse the original beadboard siding, but it wasn’t in very good shape,” Ciccarello says.
The design team added new Shaker-style lower cabinets painted in Sherwin-Williams’ Light French Gray. The cabinet hardware is oil-rubbed bronze, and the countertops are marble-look quartz. “The countertops have a satin finish that gives it more of a honed look,” Ciccarello says. “We tried to avoid shiny finishes in general to be more in line with the age of the house.” The team avoided another shiny finish by concealing the new stainless steel dishwasher behind cabinet doors under the sink.
Find oil-rubbed-bronze pulls
The design team added new Shaker-style lower cabinets painted in Sherwin-Williams’ Light French Gray. The cabinet hardware is oil-rubbed bronze, and the countertops are marble-look quartz. “The countertops have a satin finish that gives it more of a honed look,” Ciccarello says. “We tried to avoid shiny finishes in general to be more in line with the age of the house.” The team avoided another shiny finish by concealing the new stainless steel dishwasher behind cabinet doors under the sink.
Find oil-rubbed-bronze pulls
The designers and the homeowners thought that adding upper cabinets would make the galley-style space feel too cramped, so they opted for floating shelves. The shelves are made of reclaimed wood from a local lumber store. Elongated subway tile and a dark gray grout cover the backsplash wall. “The dark grout plays off the oil-rubbed-bronze hardware and adds a more traditional look,” Ciccarello says. LED strip lights hidden under the lowest shelves light the countertop at night.
Sink: Kohler
Find a kitchen designer in your area
Sink: Kohler
Find a kitchen designer in your area
Before: The designers removed the wall behind the range, seen here, to gain space and make the pantry feel more open to the room.
After: The homeowners love to cook, so making enough space for a 48-inch gas range was at the top of their wish list. The new range is where the sink had been before the remodel. The design team added a second window to the right of the range to bring in more light.
Range: Thermador
Range: Thermador
The one feature that the homeowners really liked about the former kitchen was its open pantry. As mentioned, the designers opened the pantry even more by removing the old range wall and back staircase. They added reclaimed-wood shelves to create storage space for a bevy of spices the homeowners love. Vintage plumbing pipes support the shelves.
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Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two daughters
Location: Madison, Connecticut
Size: About 150 square feet (14 square meters)
Designers: Gerard Ciccarello and Kira Van Deusen of Covenant Kitchens & Baths
Wanting to live within walking distance to the ocean, a family of four bought this 1810 farmhouse a block from the shoreline in Madison, Connecticut. The owners loved the home’s historic character, but the kitchen, last remodeled in the 1960s, didn’t have the same charm as the rest of the house. They hired designers Gerard Ciccarello and Kira Van Deusen to visually turn back the clock on their kitchen while adding modern amenities—this family loves to cook.
The design team removed the former kitchen’s linoleum flooring and replaced it with thin bricks picked up locally. The new tongue-and-groove pine ceiling received a medium-tone brown stain. “We first talked about adding reclaimed-wood beams to the ceiling, but the ceilings aren’t very high, so we didn’t want to make them look even lower,” Ciccarello says.