When we last checked in with our intrepid renovators, the discussion was centered around restoring the butler’s pantry. We had already done quite an overhaul of the kitchen soon after we moved into the house.
The kitchen had been remodeled probably sometime in the 1950s. The family that moved in about 2000, had put new flooring down (icky, inexpensive sheet vinyl), but hadn’t tackled anything else…well, except for the paint. The paint!
Here’s the picture – a typical 1920s American Four Square. The kitchen? Really, a good size for it’s time – 13 x 12. Biggest problem? One huge window and five doors. Five doors! One to the dining room, one to the stairwell/family room, another to the basement, the door to the pantry (now bathroom) and the outside door. Kinda limits your options.
Here are a few photos of what the kitchen looked like on our second visit to the house with the realtor.
The original kitchen has the birch doors, a gray starburst Formica countertop. Not to mention the curlique over the sink and corner shelves straddling the window.
A view of the kitchen window. A massive 47″ x 49″. Cupboards had been cut out (left) to make room for the refrigerator. Unfortunately, the placement of the fridge meant the beautiful oak dining room door had been taken off and stored in the attic.
West side of the kitchen; to the right is the door leading to the basement. To the right is the door to the stairwell & family room. While the ‘to the ceiling’ cupboards was nice, I got nosebleeds from teetering on a chair trying to get to that pressure cooker or slow cooker. You can see the vinyl flooring. That stuff was soooooo slippery when it got wet, it was dangerous.
The North side of the kitchen. Dennis is standing in the doorway which leads to the basement. Mike, our realtor, is in the pantry (now bathroom) door. The door to the far right is the outside/backyard entry.
We both knew the kitchen was going to get an overhaul – it needed it badly. We set out making our plan shortly after we moved in, but didn’t start until 18 months later. It takes us a long time to make a plan. No, that’s not true. We make plans quickly, and then we postpone starting a project. All that really does is give me a chance to change my mind. And I did…many times. We looked at counters and cupboards. The stuff we really wanted was way expensive and the stuff we could afford we hated. Finally, I decided on a freestanding kitchen. So we started scouring antique stores and flea markets.
We found three pieces that set us on our path:
A china cupboard in an antique store.
A baker’s cabinet…complete with pull-out bin.
A sad, half complete Napanee cabinet.
Next up: The paint! The appliances! The scary demo man.
Love the baker’s cabinet!