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slander1709

Finished period kitchen - 1925 Craftsman Bungalow

T R
16 years ago

I am thrilled to finally be able to post photos of our finished kitchen. Most of the work was done last December and January, but it took until September to get around to installing the backsplash. IÂd have posted sooner, but about a week after the backsplash was finished, we made an offer on a new house so IÂve been busy dealing with the buying/selling/moving process. WeÂre heartbroken to be leaving our new kitchen (and our house in general), but IÂm planning to recreate much of it in our new house which was built in 1921.

Here are a few before pics:

HereÂs what the kitchen looks like now:

We tried to be true to the period of the house (1925 craftsman bungalow) without being rigid about it. In our effort to make the kitchen somewhat authentic, we kept the original floors, light shades, and built-in ironing board. We also chose inset cabinets and polished nickel hardware. No one would mistake it for the original kitchen, but it does feel like it belongs. We couldnÂt have done it without help from countless posters on this forum. Thanks for all the help.

Here are the details on the new kitchen:

Floors  refinished original fir

Cabinets  Brookhaven Louisburg

Cabinet latches  Crown Hardware (polished nickel)

Countertops  Soapstone

Backsplash  Subway Ceramics

Faucet  Cifial Highlands Wall-Mount (polished nickel)

Sink  Rohl Fireclay single bowl

Light fixtures  Original shades in new fixtures from Rejuvenation

Undercabinet lighting  Pegasus xenon pucks

Paint  Benjamin Moore Weston Flax

Appliances:

Dishwasher - Bosch Integrated 4 cycle SHV46-C13UC

Range - Bosch Integra Pro Electric Range HEI7282

Range Hood - Zephyr Hurricane

Refrigerator - Fisher & Paykel E522B

Comments (48)

  • holligator
    16 years ago

    Gorgeous! I can't believe you have to leave it, either. Well, I guess at least you'll have an easier time the second go round.

  • cat_mom
    16 years ago

    What a shame, leaving such a nicely done kitchen! I am sure you will apply what you learned while doing that one to the kitchen in your new home. Best of luck to you!

  • janwad
    16 years ago

    It looks like you redid the molding around the door and windows too. That was a nice touch!

  • lily1342
    16 years ago

    Sorry you have to move, but whoever is buying your house must be thrilled to pieces to be getting such a gorgeously remodeled kitchen. I'm assuming you've already sold it? I bet it was snapped up quick!

  • User
    16 years ago

    As an owner of an 1890 home I can see what a labor of love you have performed. It is beautiful. As everyone said I bet the house has sold or will sell VERY quickly. Please post the next one too ! Caroline

  • muscat
    16 years ago

    Gorgeous! You did an amazing job capturing the feel of the era, and yet it still looks modern and functional.

  • rhome410
    16 years ago

    Fantastic. If this house isn't sold, the kitchen will really help. It's a masterpiece. I have faith in you to accomplish the same in your new home...best wishes!

  • plllog
    16 years ago

    It's gorgeous!! Is the new house also a craftsman?

  • zoey_neohio
    16 years ago

    Tito, I LOVE what you did with your kitchen!! I especially like how you varied the cabinets with the glass, open, and enclosed doors. That really gives a nice look to your kitchen and your Bosch Integra fits in well. It gives me hope that an electric range can still work in a period kitchen. How are you liking it?

    It's too bad you have to leave all your hard work behind, but it sounds like the move was your decision so you must be making big plans for your next kitchen. Are you happy with your Brookhaven cabinets and do you think you will use them again? Also, what is the color of these cabinets?

    Good Luck with your next kitchen, though I don't think you will need it! Since you get to do another kitchen so soon, let us know the lessons learned(if any) and what you will do differently.

    What did you do on the side of the kitchen where the range used to be?

    Beautiful kitchen!!!

    Zoey

  • amck2
    16 years ago

    What a terrific job you did! I love everything mentioned above. Your tile work looks great and I am envious of your sink faucet. I love a wall-mount, but it wasn't an option in my new kitchen.
    Best of luck with your new home!

  • Mick Mick
    16 years ago

    Wow! I thought it was a picture from a magazine or a home decorating show! You did a phenomenal job!

  • fnzzy
    16 years ago

    That's gorgeous!!! What is the finish on the cabinets??

  • igloochic
    16 years ago

    It's beautiful and you should be proud of your work! And just think...you can do it again now :) That will be fun!

    I'm in the same boat. We hope to finish our place by February and this week we found a new place, though it's really a world away (in Duluth) but what the heck, it's another dream kitchen heh heh

  • lpolk
    16 years ago

    wow, this is an amazing example of the complete transformation that can be done in the same layout as your old kitchen. Well done! Gorgeous cabs. Everything you chose goes perfectly together.

  • nskylark
    16 years ago

    Wow! It looks like it is right out of a magazine. Just beautiful. Can you tell me how high your ceilings were? I love the look of your cabinets going all the way to the ceiling!

  • mims22
    16 years ago

    This is a beautiful & well appointed kitchen. Very classy. My kitchen was completed almost a year ago except for the backsplash. I want a simple & elegant design. Now thanks to you I just got my backsplash inspiration. Thank you!! What types of cover plates did you use for the outlets on the backsplash? They appear to be brushed nickel or stainless? Good luck with your move.

  • bayareafrancy
    16 years ago

    Beautiful!!!

    The cabinet company did an excellent job on the integrated dishwasher. I have looked at sooooooo many "inset style" panels in planning my own dishwasher. And yours is one of the nicest looking I've seen! Very nice how they framed it in for you.

    Francy

  • T R
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thank you all for the kind words. We really do love everything about the kitchen. If the rest of the house was bigger, we'd have stayed forever.

    To answer some of your questions:

    janwad: Good eye! Yes, I replaced the moulding around the doors and windows to match the rest of the house.

    lily1342: Yes, the house sold in about two weeks. We were a little worried given the softness of the market and the fact that we'd already bought a new house. I really do think the kitchen sold the house.

    zoey: We really like the Brookhaven cabinets. They seem very well made, and we were ecstatic when they came out with a line of inset cabinets. I believe the color is Alpine White. We have also enjoyed the Bosch range. We did have to replace the circuit board behind the control panel because the range just started turning itself on and off at random times. We thought it was haunted, but the new board seems to have solved the problem. Repair was under warranty at no cost to us. Lastly, the kitchen table is now where the range used to be.

    Buffetgirl: The cabinets are painted and I believe the color is called Alpine White.

    Nskylark: I'll have to check on the height of the ceilings and get back to you.

    mims: The coverplates are polished nickel in a Deco style from Classic Accents. That's also where I got the push button switches. See link below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Polished nickel outlet covers/switch plates

  • akrogirl
    16 years ago

    Very, very nice job indeed! The kitchen really works with the house.

    I would love to go back to a house that is currently for sale in Phoenix and show the realtor your photos. The house is a 1919 Craftsman style with wonderful dark wood and stained glass detailing. The guy flipping the house did a pretty decent job of retaining most of the period details. However, he totally ruined the place for me by putting in a contemporary kitchen with light birch cabinets - very nicely done, but totally out of place in that particular house. I told the realtor that the seller should have installed white/off- white, inset cabinets lol.

  • jakkom
    16 years ago

    Congratulations on doing one of the finest and most sympathetic remodelings I've ever seen. I'm normally a lover of contemporary kitchens, but what you did was truly a masterpiece. You have a wonderful eye for balance and detail!

    I'm sure your next kitchen will be even better. Good luck!

  • mindstorm
    16 years ago

    Tito, I too love your kitchen remodel. It is simply and utterly lovely. Everything that one can see is so artfully and tastefully done. Congratulations and I so hope that you can live in a similarly refined space in your new house. Congratulations on the new purchase and congratulations on what you just graduated from. Sweet!

  • fnzzy
    16 years ago

    and I forgot to say - i adore how you did the tile backsplash - and didn't go all the way up to the cabinets

  • bikey
    16 years ago

    Absolutely beautiful.... One of the nicest I've seen.

  • jejvtr
    16 years ago

    tito
    What a lovely kitchen - welcoming, calming - nice appointments -
    were those floors under that sheet vinyl?

    Well, now you have the knack so you will be a pro w/the next reno -

    gotta love those older homes - mine is 1930 - they have good bones, but you never know what is going on in the walls! Plumbing & electric are killers!

  • divamum
    16 years ago

    This is so very lovely - I only wish we'd had the funds and space to do something similar with our own 1928 bungalow!

    Congratulations on a beautiful job :)

  • dianalo
    16 years ago

    Hey Tito,
    I love both versions of your kitchen. I would have been happy if I could have had your "before" and change out the stove, fridge and floor, lol.
    OTOH - your new kitchen is stunning and works so well with the period of the house. I can see why it sold so quickly.

    I hope your new kitchen turns out as well and you can finally relax for a while. :)

  • zoey_neohio
    16 years ago

    Tito, another day and I am still thinking about your beautiful kitchen!! While trying to fall asleep last night, I realized that I didn't see a microwave in your kitchen. Is it hidden somewhere or do you just not have one?

    Are your cabinets more white than they show in the picture? I remember alpine white being more white. What is the color of the paint you used for the trim? It looks like it matches exactly. Also, I noticed that you don't have a light rail. Is this something inset cabinets don't usually need or just something you decided not to do. It looks nice without them and I always thought I HAD to have them.

    I like how you did the back splash. By not going all the way to the cabinets, it begs to be noticed and of course adds to all the charm.

    You cetainly have a good eye for making everything work. Truly amazing kitchen!! Zoey

  • oldhometara
    16 years ago

    Oh my goodness your kitchen is so amazing. I love everything about it! Good luck with your new home.

  • callieandkarin
    16 years ago

    I agree with much that has already been said... I'll add that I love how you combined the white/cream (creamy yellow?) colors so effectively without making them seem washed out. The Weston Flax is a perfect counterpart to the white cabinets and the black liners on the blackspash are a great visual delineation.

    I also love the moldings. I rented a 1700's house this past summer that had similar moldings (that I believe were original) throughout the interior as well as on the exterior of the doors/windows, and they were such a subtle but amazing design feature. They don't make moldings like that at Home Depot (or anywhere anymore). Nice work!

  • T R
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    I really appreciate all the compliments, though it does make me even more sad to be leaving our current house. We've got a lot of work to do on the new kitchen, and I'll be living with it as is for at least a few months. It is kind of nice to go into the next kitchen knowing a lot more at the start than last time.

    buffetgirl: I got the idea for stopping the backsplash short of the upper cabinets from jgarner53. I believe she has pics of her kitchen on the finished kitchen blog. Look all the pics not just the ones visible on the main page to get a good look at the backsplash.

    jejvtr: Yes, we had to remove vinyl from the fir floors. There was a layer of newer vinyl that was fairly easy to remove. Below, there were patches with 2-3 older layers of vinyl. Several flooring guys told me it wasn't worth trying to save the old floors. I'm really glad I didn't listen.

    zoey: We do not have a microwave. We had one before but rarely used it so we left it out of the design for the new kitchen. If we added one later, we planned to put it on the countertop. The cabinets definitely look creamier in the photos than in real life. In person, they look white rather than off white. When comparing the cabinets to the white subway tiles, however, you can tell that the cabinets are a warmer white. When choosing colors, I was originally attracted by the whitest white (nordic white?), but everyone else seemed to worry that would be too stark. I still wonder whether I should have gone with that white, but my wife prefers the warmer white. It's got maybe a little bit of a yellowish undertone. I got our local Benjamin Moore paint store to color match the cabinet paint. They do a manual color match rather than rely on the computer. We did not get a light rail. I just didn't want that added detail on what were meant to be simple cabinets. I think that all inset cabinets have a cavity underneath. On these cabinets, that cavity is fairly shallow. I chose the Pegasus pucks because they were exceptionally thin allowing me to skip the lightrail.

  • fnzzy
    16 years ago

    THANK YOU! Both are lovely.

  • angelcub
    16 years ago

    Wow, what a lovely kitchen! Looks like it should be in a magazine - great job! And it definitely looks like it belongs in your house. I'm so sorry to hear you have to leave it but just think of all the knowledge you've gained. I'm sure your next kitchen will be just as nice, if not better, if that's even possible. : )

  • starpooh
    16 years ago

    tito - may I archive your kitchen in the FKB? If so please submit the Category Checklist. Thanks!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Finished Kitchen Category Checklist

  • zoey_neohio
    16 years ago

    Hi Tito,

    Thanks for the information on the Bosch range. Was it just the oven or the burners that would come on by itself? Must have been scary if it turned on when you weren't at home.

    Also, what is your opinion on the Fisher Paykel refrigerator? Sure looks nice in your kitchen. I assume you choose it because of its width. Did you consider the Sub Zero at all? I ask only because this is the latest debate going on in my head. Don't know whether to spend the extra money for the "look" of a narrow built in or go with SS. Appreciate your thought process on your choice. Also, why did you panel the DW as opposed to SS like the refrig and stove?

    Sorry for all these questions, but everything about your kitchen is working and I want to know how to do that!!! Zoey

    Zoey

  • lynninnewmexico
    16 years ago

    It must be painful to leave such a gorgeous kitchen. You did such a great job with this reno. I love all the period touches . . .that clock is very cool! I'm sure that whoever buys this place is going to be thrilled to have such a beautiful kitchen. I know I would be.

  • sarschlos_remodeler
    16 years ago

    Absolutely lovely, and very much what I had in mind for our kitchen. Actually, it's kind of amazing how similar your original kitchen cabinets were to the cabs in my 1962 house. If you don't mind, can I pepper you with questions, too? :-) What are the dimensions of your room? Do you have a separate pantry area somewhere else in the house? Any chance you have a layout I could take a look at? Is there a gap between the undermount fireclay sink and the counter? TIA!

  • T R
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    sarschlos: Dimensions are 14'7" x 12'9", so it's right around 150 square feet.

  • sarschlos_remodeler
    16 years ago

    Thanks, tito!

  • zoey_neohio
    16 years ago

    Thanks, Tito for the info and more close up pics would be great. I would love to see the hardware and a closer pic of your trim and crown mould.

    Thanks gain, Zoey

  • danlan
    16 years ago

    If you wouldn't mind, can you include pics showing all angles in you kitchen (Including the wall with your table, the space just beyond the fridge and also the corner cabinets next to the fridge. I think you layout is nearly identical to mine, and the size is close as well. I adore what you have done - the space looks so bright. Any chance you can post the KD's layout? Sorry to be a pest, but I just love your kitchen!

  • mary_in_nc
    16 years ago

    Tito- What an amazing transformation! The kitchen is beautiful! I am planning my renovation of a 1925 kitchen. My current decision I have to make is hardware. I am strongly drawn to latch hardware on the cabinets. We have a couple of them in our bathrooms. How are you liking them in the kitchen? Thanks!

  • sugarbreak
    16 years ago

    We just moved into a 1929 Craftsman bungalow with a woefully inadequette kitchen. I just added your kitchen to my favorites so that I can duplicate when I am done paying off the kitchen i just moved from. lol Great job!

  • birdienewro
    16 years ago

    Hi Tito and Mrs. Tito-- You created a dream kitchen. It has all the nostalgia, beauty and utility that the Craftsman homes summon up. I wish you all the best in your new home. Your kitchen is my ultimate favorite. Swoon. Question on the Subway Tile Company. Were they user-friendly, and how did the cost of materials, trims and specials run? (If you feel like sharing that information.) Did you have to make special measuring adjustments on your cabinets because of the thickness of the tiles? Thank you for sharing your lovely kitchen.

  • dpkform
    16 years ago

    I'm late to the thread - got here on from a search for more info on the Bosch Electric slidein.

    What impressed me most - was how appropriate the Bosch smoothtop looked in that period kitchen. It looks much bettter than any gas range with the ugly grates would look - and far better than those gawdy inudstrial wanna-be lookalikes that IMO very inappropriately dominate and destroy the look of a proper reproduction early era residential kitchen. Despite the modern electronics on the oven - the Bosch has that classic UNDERSTATED elegance which is the true character of an early 1900's home.

    The Bosch is obviously not a true reproduction antique stove - but the flat top FAR more closely reproduces the iron flat top that was truly autentic to stoves in the same era as your home.

    We're currently undergoing a total interior reconstruction on our 1905 Edwardian Home in Toronto, and also are taking pains to be true to the original character like you were. LOVE the backsplash - and the black trim accents - was well worth the effort.

    Currently - the Bosch Integra Electric HEI7282 is on sale at Sears in Canada. We're thinking of purchasing one today - and immmediately using it in the temporary living zone we have carved out in our otherwise total construction zone house. Can't seem to bring ourselves to clean up and use the 20 year old filthy, came with the house, electric coil range which has been stored in the garage all winter - LOL. Our new kitchen won't be ready for a few months.

  • jimgreve
    15 years ago

    Please tell me where you got your hinges - manufacturer, name of hinge, size, etc. Please be specific. Thanks!

  • swiveler1_cox_net
    13 years ago

    I guess I am in the minority in that you destroyed a perfectly original kitchen, with 3/4 inch decorative liner and everything. I think it's a shame how people "modernize" beautiful existing kitchens. Even the scalloped molding above the sink was charming, and now it's gone. Phooey on this kind of "restoration." Does anyone look at ACTUAL brochures and magazine from that time era. What people are doing now is an interpretation of what they "think" kitchens looked like then. The only thing that comes close is the style of cabinets and the subway tile, but it's a sad interpretation in my book.

  • Kathleen Sandin
    last year

    Excellent and thank you so much for the inspiration.