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marys1000

9x8 kitchen in a 4 bed, 3 bath old house?

marys1000
14 years ago

anyone familiar with what the likely floor plan is here? A 9x8 kitchen seems unusually small. I'm a little surprised no one knocked down a wall to enlarge it - unless the floor plan doesn't allow.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/9008-Milton-Carlisle_New-Carlisle_OH_45344_1105417459

Here is a link that might be useful: House on realtor.com

Comments (9)

  • vjrnts
    14 years ago

    That does seem quite tiny, but the kitchens in a lot of older homes were built for servants, not the homeowner. They tended to be, even in very nice homes, very stripped-down and utilitarian. The kitchen wasn't a gathering-place for friends and family the way it is now.

    I don't see, at a glance, when the house was built. But imagine a stove, a sink, some shelves and a worktable. That's about what it probably held.

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    14 years ago

    if this was as it appears, originally a farmhouse, then that size of kitchen was not adequate. I would believe that the original kitchen was elsewhere, in another room, or a basement space or even a separate building. Food storage, processing and preparation wasn't a hobby back then, it was the principal occupation. There was always something coming in from the garden to be canned, and meat to be processed and salted/smoked/stored.
    That amount of work could not have physically been accomplished in such a small space. If the room with the sloped ceiling is directly at the rear of the main house, It seems to me that it is a recent addition, most likely replacing the original kitchen "wing".
    Casey

  • marys1000
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    If they put in an addition and replaced the kitchen wing - then the teeny kitchen is new which again seems odd. But I'm not sure they did. I wish they would have an open house:)

    I just looked it up - House built in 1915, bank barn 1930, says remodeled in 1965. The barn was the only improvement listed but that doesn't mean anything. The county site rarely seems to have additions, new garages etc. listed.

    I don't understand the sketch, their is one main 20x40 rectangle, behind that a 26x30 basement and a 16 by 30 garage (squaring the house). Is the basement under the 20x40 rectangle or is there an addition with a basement under it? I can't tell. They list the main floor as 800, 3820 with basement.

    Finding a small acreage with a pond is so rare (and very appealing to me).
    However the house is already higher than I want to go and I can't live with a kitchen that small. If it were significantly cheaper, so that I felt I could spend the money to expand it I could maybe consider it. But at this point it would be a financial mistake for my situation (not a forever home).

  • calliope
    14 years ago

    It's not unusual at all for old farmhouses to have a newer kitchen built in on the old back porch. I've lived in two such homes. The old kitchen in my last one would have been where our family room had been. When I was a teen, my folks had a home like that. A big one, too, and we knew that's what happened, because the kitchen had a slant to it......as did most old back porches, to allow water to drain off. Ther was no cellar under it, either even though the house had a 'full basement'.

    My husband was born in New Carlisle, might even be familiar with a home that age in that vicinity, but the link you gave doesn't take me to anywhere, just the realty page with no info.

  • mary
    14 years ago

    Here, try this MLS Link to see it.

    This would be the link to the county record.

    http://www.gis.co.clark.oh.us/Data.aspx?ParcelID=0100500016200002

    Here is a link that might be useful: House outside New Carlisle

  • eandhl
    14 years ago

    With the very large breakfast rm in addition to the dining rm I would be turned off by the small galley kit. Lot of room for other cupboards to house less used items. The galley kit may even be open to the breakfast room.

  • eandhl
    14 years ago

    I should have said I would not be turned off. Sorry.

  • mom2lilenj
    14 years ago

    I have a back porch kitchen with a 4 bedroom farmhouse. My kitchen is 7.5' x 11'. I talked with a man who grew up in my house, sadly he just passed away, but he said the kitchen used to be inside the house proper, but when indoor plumbing came in the kitchen moved to the back porch and the extra first floor rooms became bedrooms for boarders. The original house had 4 rooms on the first floor, front parlor, and back living room on the one side and dining room and kitchen on the other with one long porch along the back.

    That house looks like it had an "L" or "T" off the back. I would bet the original kitchen was in the "L" or "T". Looks like that could be where the breakfast room or study is now. Hard to tell from the picture. And the family room addition is where a back porch was.

    It looks like a very nice house with a beautiful view!

  • calliope
    14 years ago

    Exactly what I was saying about old farmhouses and the back porch kitchen, LOL! I am looking at this house and thinking to myself.......1915? It could be, but it looks way older than that. It's the same style my house is, and mine has the 'ell' and my original kitchen is still where the back of the ell is. My house dates to 1820something. In my county, they used to put all old houses at an arbitrary date. They seemed to have stopped doing that and now just say old.

    Thanks for the link generic123. Yes, I know pretty closely where this house is located. Nice area, we have relatives who have a home nearby......my husband's old family farmhouse, but the farm is still intact! Beautiful home too, really beautiful!!!!! and it looks like the present owners have been very kind to it.

    I suspect there may be more fireplace stacks in this house, with the fireboxes covered over with wall. We have eight in our house. One for every major room. If it was actually built in 1915, maybe there wouldn't be, but there would have been furnace runs for a coal furnace or evidence at one time of steam heat or gas or coal grates in fireplaces in each room.

    I wonder how well a heat pump works in a house this size in Ohio? Or what the electric bill looks like? If you are at all serious about a residence, always look at utility bill histories. We finally got main gas through our rural area, and the first thing we did was get off electric heat and on to gas.

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