Kitchen Design
Kitchen of the Week
Kitchen of the Week: Past Lives Peek Through a New Kentucky Kitchen
Converted during Prohibition, this Louisville home has a history — and its share of secrets. See how the renovated kitchen makes use of them
Built as a barn in the 1880s and converted into a house in the 1920s, this Kentucky home has been transformed again for the 21st century. The owner's family had made few changes since buying the house in the 1980s, so when she purchased it from her parents several years ago, she decided to give her childhood home a new look — but one that also highlights its unique history.
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and the wife's parents
Location: Highlands neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky
Size: 220 square feet
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and the wife's parents
Location: Highlands neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky
Size: 220 square feet
The original pine floors were still in great condition, so Fisher left them as is. The owners wanted to expose the barn's ceiling beams wherever possible; Fisher restained them in their original black color.
Countertops: Gunmetal, Paperstone
Countertops: Gunmetal, Paperstone
BEFORE: The kitchen's narrow entrance was well suited for the one maid it was designed for but didn't work for this two-generation household.
AFTER: The fireplace had been covered with plaster. Fisher saw a peek of brick during the demolition and worked the brick wall into the design.
Now a wider entrance combines the dining room and kitchen. Light gray paint highlights a built-in from the 1920s remodel. The original kitchen had two staircases for the maid to access the rest of the house: One staircase to the basement at the far end of the kitchen had limited width, and one staircase to the upstairs was right behind the fireplace. Fisher and her team linked them, building a single staircase behind the fireplace so they could expand the kitchen and concentrate traffic flow.
Dining table, chairs: vintage; dining room pendant: Drum Pendant, West Elm
Now a wider entrance combines the dining room and kitchen. Light gray paint highlights a built-in from the 1920s remodel. The original kitchen had two staircases for the maid to access the rest of the house: One staircase to the basement at the far end of the kitchen had limited width, and one staircase to the upstairs was right behind the fireplace. Fisher and her team linked them, building a single staircase behind the fireplace so they could expand the kitchen and concentrate traffic flow.
Dining table, chairs: vintage; dining room pendant: Drum Pendant, West Elm
BEFORE: The kitchen's original red cabinetry was fun and worked well with the narrow galley layout, but didn't offer much storage for food and dishes.
AFTER: The new cabinet layout combines uppers and lowers on both sides of the kitchen, creating more space by actually swinging the stove into the cabinet layout and extending storage to the very edge of the kitchen and dining room.
Backsplash tile: Malt Blend, Fireclay Tile; refrigerator, oven, microwave: GE Cafe
Backsplash tile: Malt Blend, Fireclay Tile; refrigerator, oven, microwave: GE Cafe
Salvaged red doors from one of the cabinets now open into a built-in pantry next to the eat-in nook.
The nook uses several elements salvaged from the renovation. The wood for the built-in bench is from another part of the remodeled house. The table's marble top was found in the home's basement and outfitted with a custom metal base.
Pendant: Industrial Glass Pendant, West Elm
Pendant: Industrial Glass Pendant, West Elm
Fisher covered the drywall ceiling in glossy tongue and groove paneling, drawing the eye toward the ceiling beams in the dining room.
At one end of the kitchen, the demolition revealed a single crooked post in the wall. The team used it to frame the end of a windowsill.
The renovation of this 19th-century barn-turned-home revealed another hidden treasure. When the owners opened a locked door in the basement cellar, they found a closet full of Prohibition-era liquor with some bottles dating back to 1919.
Does your house have remnants of past lives? Tell us about it in the Comments!
Does your house have remnants of past lives? Tell us about it in the Comments!
The 1920s homeowner, a romance novelist, turned this spot in the back of the house into a small galley kitchen for a house maid, using as many salvaged materials from renovations around Louisville as she could. Fisher and the client brought this same mentality to the new kitchen, salvaging materials from the original design and the demolition of other parts of the house.
The leaded glass window with diamond framing was part of the original kitchen, and one of the few places where natural light could enter the space. The client highlighted it by placing a cozy eat-in nook underneath.
Cabinetry: custom cherry and Ikea; sink: Gourmet Undermount, Elkay; faucet: Trinsic, Delta