Ooooh, you want to make me and Marcolo jealous, don't you, stuck out here on the East Coast with nary a revival tour, nor even a Bungalow Boogie, in sight.

Looks fabulous. and I am indeed jealous. We will demand photos complete with rubbed-out facial identifications.

This brings back memories. In my youth, mostly in the 1980s, I lived in Portland, OR. I lived in many buildings and houses built in the 10s to 30s. I was young and this was all I could afford. The kitchens and baths were hitoric because they were original! I had marble hex tiles, tiled countertops, frigs that iced up, toilets with tanks above your head and you yanked on the chain. You name it, I had the original. Yes, the kitchens and baths were all modest and historic AND orginal to the day they were installed. The cabinets were inset but painted over many decades and rarely opened and closed properly. The trim and moulding was beautiful old growth wood but extremely grimy that had 10 coats of paint or stain on them.

I often wonder what has happened to these apartments and houses during the past several decades while the housing market has gone through the stratosphere and back. I can't imagine that these kitchens and baths were 'redone' sensitive to the original style since that would have cost a fortune. Maybe the tenants are still living with the original claw foot bathtub that has no shine of the porcelain glaze left on them. Try cleaning that tub when there is absolutely no shine left on the porcelain!

Johnliu- Thank you for posting that link! There are some very nice kitchens, but the 2009 yellow kitchen is beautiful!!! :)

Is that a 1940s kitchen? Whatever it is, I love it! Totally not my colors, but the style is fantastic! It even has a work table...and those little cafe curtains are perfect, over the sink. This kitchen is wonderful...any ideas, where I can find more pictures, with this style?

{{!gwi}}

Thank you for that wonderful link! It is fascinating to see how our old house influenced the choices we made, often without our realizing it.
Lynn

Grrrrrr.

Thank you for sharing John... wish I were able to hitch a ride on that tour....alas...another jealous one on the East Coast... Have fun!

OMG. I just visited your friend's website through the link in the article. That is the coolest A&C dining room I've ever seen!

Here is a link that might be useful: Coolest Arts & Crafts Dining Room!!!

Yes, he does really cool interior design and art work. Most (or all) of the wall painting in those pictures is by him too.

I'm drowning in drool! Oh, be still my heart! Take pictures of backsplashes, please! Why does anything that is even remotely interesting have to be so far away! I would go on that tour so fast it would make your head spin. If you see the linoleum stuff on walls, take some notes. And notice if you think it's new or original.
I am so jealous of you!

Well, why are you asking us for advice?

On another note: Did I link to this already? Or was that another thread? Where am I? Is there too much aluminum in my diet?

Anyway, Vintage Home Style now has a brand new set of super cool 1920s kitchens. Go there now. Do it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Really, really cute 1920s kitchens

And I wasn't going to spend the whole night surfing old kitchens........

Am I the only one having trouble posting tonight? Maybe it's a sign.

This is fantastic! Yet another East Coaster wishing she could be in Portland on April 16th. I will be heading to Ft Lauderdale for a week long Spring Break cruise that day, though. A week without looking a a demolished kitchen, ahhh...

Maybe my head won't be so wrapped up in my reno by then, and we could head down I-5 for some drooling..I mean kitchen gawking. Sounds like a fun road trip to me!

So, any idea, what decade the yellow kitchen represents? I'm hoping to find more kitchens, with these details! Thank you :)

@lavender, looks like 1920s or possibly early 30s. Slab fronts were in by the 40s. (Our old kitchen was last renovated in 1939 and they put plywood over the center panel of the Shaker-style door to our cooler to make it look like a slab front to match the cabinets---happily a chisel and a hammer took the plywood right off to reveal a Shaker door painted light green!) If you haven't already looked at Bungalow Kitchens, there are a bunch of nice examples from that era in there.

Too far for me, but john, please go, take a camera and a notebook, and give us a full report! A nice long one!

PS Thank you GWers, for this thread and so many others. GW has helped me keep my sanity since my father died early last year, and again when my mother died a few months ago. Both things have turned life upside down for me, and my family, and I spend most of my time on the laptop answering questions for lawyers, accountant, business, and emailing, scanning, faxing documents, etc. Clicking away to GW every so often has kept me from going under more times than I can count, so thank you all. I plan to spin this particular thread out for as long as I can : ).

Becky

Thanks so much for posting that, as I had almost forgotten about it. This is the first year since I've lived here that I'll be able to attend- I'm so excited!
Most of those homes are an easy bike ride from my house, so lets hope monsoon season ends soon!

Sounds like we might have more than one KF person there. I'll revive this thread just before (unless it has dropped to unbumpable) and maybe we can do a meet-up.

aren't those black tiles like the ones ZacsDaddy just tore out at his house? :(

becky... *hug*

How far of a drive from Seattle to PDX? Any Seattle area G'webbers up for a road trip?

I had the same kind of tiles in one of my previous houses. It was in La Mesa, CA and built in 1952. The only difference was my tiles were a beige-y yellow field with burgandy trim. I guess the general style didn't change in that 20 to 30 year time frame, just the colors of the tiles.

I love the built in soap holders in the wall behind the sink and the cut away doors. I recently read somewhere, maybe This Old House Magazine that this was done for ventilation of the pipes. The look is really cool. My 1950's house had a metal fretwork grate in the door. I guess it accomplished the same thing.

On the subject of old kitchens, I was at a used book store the other night. It was late, they were already announcing closing time when I stumbled across a book about kitchen history. I snapped a couple of photos of a 1949 "Kitchen of Tomorrow." I honestly can't remember the name of the book and I haven't had a chance to get back over there yet. Anyway, here it is:

Here's some of the features of this kitchen:
L shape
Long runs of counters
Stations - Washing, cooking, food prep
Dishwasher
Ventilation (a window)
Stainless steel counters
Hotplates with varying power
Multiple ovens
TV or computer in the corner (!?!) looks like the models from the 80's
Corner susan
Two sinks, one for washing, the other for prep
A lot of lower drawers
Open lower cubbies, a dedicated space for towels
Glass front cabinets
Refrigerator drawers (6!)
Deep sink
Garbage disposal (flushing system, suction outlet for all refuse)
Faucet with flexible hose
Instant hot water (boiling water tap)
Foot-pedal operated (!)
Automatic scales (do they mean built in the counter?)
Cubbies at the food prep station for flour, spices, etc
Desk and cookbook storage

I think they pretty much nailed it on the head how a future kitchen would look and work. All you would have to do is extend that working table a bit and it becomes a modern-day island. The ovens appear to be the 3 small drawers under the cooktop. Ranges at that time usually had one or two small ovens that were well insulated. Today this would be one large oven and/or separate wall ovens and a separate microwave. And of course we have range hoods instead of relying only on windows for ventilation.

Thanks, ironcook : ).

kathec, I think I'm going to hold out for the "Incoming Delivery Hatch"...

Becky

Unbelieveable. Super susans, tapmasters and all. There is a GW member who did install that exact waste hatch recently, going to a trashcan in her garage.

As I mentioned to johnliu somewhere else, the striped tile lasted for essentially the entire first half of the twentieth century--a bit longer in the bathroom. It was simply considered the way tile was done. But just as kathec said, later versions moved away from black to different accent colors.

Becky and all, the one piece of this Kitchen of Tomorrow that I think is too clever by half is the delivery hatch. Who would use it instead of the door that's right there? We have groceries delivered regularly, and if they all had to be handed through a small hatch, it would take twice as long to receive them.

Perhaps it would work if the delivery one was accepting was was a package of chops from the butcher for that evening's supper, or two quarts of milk and one of cream from the milkman. Maybe what the designers of this kitchen failed to take into account about "tomorrow" was the demise of most of our small neighborhood specialty stores that deliver.

To be fair, it was designed when people received just that: a constant stream of deliveries of small items like milk. I remember having a milk man growing up; it wasn't really all that long ago.

Interestingly, these services are coming back in places. I read an article in "Edible Boston" about the growing number of people getting dairy deliveries from local farms. I think in the future, the economy will change a great deal, as globalization declines (which it has done before) and local sources reemerge. So maybe there will be a use for that delivery hatch after all.

Actually, I just want to see a hand coming through the wall.

Marcolo- You make it sound like something out of the Addams Family! LOL

Becky- So sorry to read about your loss...I'm glad this offers a nice distraction and a chance to spend time with friends :)

Oh, the milkmen are still there, I know. I grew up with one as well. We have several friends who use them now, and we would ourselves if we weren't getting milk brought with the rest of the groceries. (Although, given that we're already up to six gallons a week, and the oldest of my sons is only ten, it has been suggested more than once that we just get a cow.)

Next remodel, years and years from now, perhaps the delivery hatch will be warranted. I hope so. I'll keep walking to the farmers' market and the bakery and the local cheese shop in the meantime.

marcolo, a much better option than a hand in a box, like the Adams Family's Thing.

Actually, what the delivery hatch reminds me of is the present-day ability to order groceries etc. from Amazon and elsewhere without setting foot in a store! Speaking of the demise of the neighborhood specialty store, sigh, let alone the ones with delivery....

But yes, I would have expected it to be for the milkman. Though daily deliveries of M&Ms during stressful times would be nice!

Becky

Oh my GOD, Marcolo, you're right--that arts & crafts dining room is INSANE. I am deeply and physically in love with the wallpaper. And look at this other interior they did (see link)!!!!

Johnliu, it says on his website that he does art deco but I don't see any examples. Do you happen to have any links to art deco interiors? We're trying to design a kitchen that is what I think of as northern or European art deco (as opposed to, say, Miami art deco), since our house is from the 1930s and in a northern climate, but we're also complete suckers for stained wood and arts & crafts style, so what we have in mind--but have not yet been able to fully visualize--is something that looks like it was made during the transition from arts & crafts to deco. Then our little off-the-kitchen powder room would be full-on Machine Age deco, since the other two bathrooms are already that way (they still have their original sinks, original CRAZY AWESOME tile, etc.).

If anyone has inspiration pics that would fit this description--and this includes pics of rooms that are not kitchens; it's the style that's key--I would welcome them with open arms.

Here is a link that might be useful: CJ Hurley White Rose Symbolist interior

Ideagirl2, open a separate thread. This is something I'm also interested in.

beckysharp, I find it fascinating that I've NEVER seen a new house layout with a delivery box. My gosh, what decade are homebuilders living in? We're all sick of little yellow tabs on our storm doors and Amazon boxes left out in the rain.

What I like about that 1949 "future kitchen" is that it is purely a kitchen. No durned eat-in, homework zone, spectator seating, dog run, conservatory, etc.

I deplore this trend to ''live-in kitchens'', where all your friends and their grubby children are supposed to hang out, kibbitz, admire your sangfroid, and chatter about the third-degree burn you just received.

Sure, if your kitchen is the size of a tennis court, by all means include table, chairs, big-screen TV, sofabed, massage table, foosball, cosmetics counter, whatever.

But there are so many potentially fine small kitchens that get turned into something only suitable for making sandwiches, unpacking take-out, or one-pot meals, just to accomodate those extraneous functions.

Meanwhile, the dining room becomes a dusty mausoleum. Once a year, the family discovers that they actually have a dining room, as they sit down to their takeout turkey.

Yes, please start a thread on arts & crafts, art deco, and maybe even include art nouveau design inspirations. It is all so gorgeous.

marcolo, I live in the back of beyond where delivery trucks don't even make it. I have to drive to town to the depot to collect parcels, so I don't even know what decade I'm living in!

Thanks, LL : ). I didn't see before that you mentioned Thing, too!

Becky

Thanks for the suggestion--I posted a separate thread. (Link below)

John, re your comment about live-in kitchens ("Sure, if your kitchen is the size of a tennis court, by all means include table, chairs, big-screen TV, sofabed, massage table, foosball, cosmetics counter, whatever.")... does that mean I should NOT put a tanning bed in our new kitchen? Is that what you're saying?
:-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on arts and crafts-art deco kitchen style

John, I'm laughing at your last post. That's because I've got one of those small, NYC galley-styled kitchens, that is well-segregated in the rear of a turn-out of century townhouse. Nevertheless, I insisted on forcing a small dining area into the layout. Flying solo as I do, my kitchen dining nook is a place of personal hangout. It comes in handy for doing things like banging out this post on my laptop or grabbing a cup of joe and looking out at the garden. Most importantly, it gives me a comfortable landing area from which I can plan and manage my meal prep. Still, it's a teeny area for a small kitchen consisting only of a cafe table and 2 rattan armchairs in a bay window alcove. Occasionally, I invite/allow a guest or 2 to my "bistro", but never more than 2! Instead, my dining room, living room and other common areas of the house get their due workout when there is company and folk instinctively realize that my kitchen is just not set up for group gatherings. Like you, I like it that way.

As far as a separate thread on art deco/art nouveau is concerned, I would also really welcome that right along with you, Ideagirl and Marcolo! That's my favorite design era and I've got influences from that period throughout my house. Some were installed by the PO and some by me. Although no one room is distinctly of any era, my dining room could be a prime candidate for that with the right inspiration photos and coaching.

marthavila: I insisted on forcing a small dining area into the layout. Flying solo as I do, my kitchen dining nook is a place of personal hangout.

I should have been clearer. It is okay to admire one's own sangfroid. So it is okay to include a little nook where one can kibbitz with oneself. Best to do that sort of thing in private, really :-)

ideagirl2: does that mean I should NOT put a tanning bed in our new kitchen?

I proudly decline to make a risque quip here.

Thanks,John! Having just reread my post where I described my house as "turn-out of century", I'm now in the kitchen dining nook admiring my own sangfroid as I recover from my typical typo mania. :-)

:-) Threads like this keep me coming back to the kitchen forum all the time, even though I finished my kitchen what? almost 5 years ago now! Love to be in Portland this spring for the tour... I'll keep living vicariously through you all!

I've never seen a hood in an old kitchen but apparently they had them. Scroll down to

3. The kitchen of the middle-class villas, before 1914

Located on the first floor, associated with the dining groom, the kitchen is a spacious room naturally lit and opening on the garden. The sink is situed infront of the window and the kitchen range infront of a wall with an extractor made of glass.

Here is a link that might be useful: tiled hood

kathec, If it's this book
Architecture and design for the family in Britain, 1900-70 you'd better make a special trip after it! Price it at Amazon!!! I found a second copy for $700.

Here is a link that might be useful: book

Thanks so much, Johnliu, for this thread. I forwarded the tour link to my friend in Corvallis who has two rentals in NW Portland she is about to reno the kitchen in one. She talked me into buying a ticket to fly in for the home tour. So, now I have a home tour and a visit with an old friend on my dance card for that weekend. Thank you.

What I like about that 1949 "future kitchen" is that it is purely a kitchen.

that post was really funny, johnliu! :)

so now that i'm done laughing, do i need to take the "dog island" out of my kitchen? :(

Thanks for the heads up johnliu, I'm in Portland too. I want to check this out although I'm very scared since we're nearly done that I'll be filled with "woulda/coulda/shoulda!"

I fear this is bad forum etiquette, but since there are so many old house aficionados here, can someone help me with my "what type of hinge" question? Really I'm just talking with myself here since I've gotten no responses ;) Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: old house hinges?

The Kitchen Revival Tour is this Saturday, April 16. As I understand it, you go to the Architectural Heritage Society's office to pick up tickets, map, and tour materials. I believe they open around 10 am or a bit before.

It is a self-guided, self-paced tour of whichever of the houses you choose to visit, so the local and visiting KF'ers will run into each other randomly if at all. But I thought it might be fun to list some secret recognition codes that we and only we will know to look for.

Here's mine: I will be the guy wearing chrome-plated Ray-Bans - propped up on his head, if not over his eyes.

Anyone else want to post a top-secret, spy-behind-enemy-lines, recognition code? Your dashing yellow silk cravate, the boa feather in your chapeau, green lizardskin handbag held by the second and fourth fingers of the left hand? Just keep it a secret, lest we be betrayed to the stasi.

Brilliant disguise ideas. If I were near there this weekend, which unfortunately I will not be, I would distinguish myself by wearing a huge lilac straw hat.

1909 Bungalow - unfitted period-authentic kitchen

This was a small unfitted kitchen. The owner's goal was an authentic repproduction of what the kitchen actually would have been in 1909. Not a ''period inspired'' kitchen, an actual period kitchen. Hence everything is unfitted and if the modern refrigerator were simply replaced by an icebox, you would essentially be in the early 1900s. And you know, it wouldn't be a big hardship.

Drainboard sink - not original to the house, but not a modern repro.

Hoosier cabinet

Range - I was liking vintage ranges more and more as the day went on

This woman was full of style - she could have made a FEMA trailer look good.