Jennifer wrote me about how she gave her small kitchen a makeover.
She says, “Whoever lived in my house during the past 110 years clearly didn’t like to cook! The kitchen had no storage for pots and pans, no counter space, hideous linoleum floors, and ancient appliances.”
She adds that her husband is a trained chef who really needed new appliances and an island to work on.
They couldn’t afford to knock down walls or replace everything, so they had to get a little creative.
Here’s how it looks now:
“After interviewing nearly half a dozen contractors, we found the brilliant Jei Flores from Final Touch here in New Jersey. Jei was respectful of our budget and came up with unique and interesting ways to maximize the space without breaking the bank by using a lot of what we already had.”
“The too-tall-to-reach cabinets were ripped out and Jei built open shelving that matched the moldings and design of the 1912 craftsman style house. He repainted the cabinets that we already had and built an arc-shaped pantry along the entire empty wall to hold dry goods, spices, cups, plates, and glasses.”
“The new hardware was found at Home Depot for a song. We kept the farm sink and found a new faucet online. White subway tile and a honed black granite counter top completed the look.”
“The breakfast area was created by building a window seat with built-in storage.”
“It’s finally the room we hang out in it all the time. Ian cooks, the kids do homework and Eliza crawls around. We have a glass of wine and talk about the day at the dinner table. And no matter how late he gets home, Ian always makes a home cooked meal. A man who cooks AND a new kitchen… Aren’t I lucky?”
Thanks to Jennifer for sharing her cottage kitchen makeover with us!
I always think the kitchens with the lowest budgets turn out the best. I love how they kept as much as they could. It is charming and comfortable and I would LOVE to cook there.
Very nice! Great job, Jennifer. Kudos to you and hubby, for this smart and gorgeous kitchen make-over! Love the sink….so glad you kept it.
Great reno – still looks like a vintage kitchen; updated but not totally stripped of character! The farm sink is adorable – good on you for keeping it!
Excellent job!
What a charming and functional kitchen now. Great job!
Hello Julia.
This is so great! I love her kitchen and I feel inspired by it.
Have a great day!!!
xo
Luciane at HomeBunch.com
That is super cute. I like that glimpse of a stairway in the corner…makes me want to go explore!
Darling and so sweet to see they kept the sink (or got a new one very similar to the original). Great job!
Love it all but especially the new window seat!
What a gorgeous makeover! I have to ask, though – is anyone else sad to see those incredible (what appear to be inset) cabinets with the brass latches over the stove go away? That’s the only thing I don’t love about this makeover. I’m sure open shelving must be more practical for this family, but wow – those cabinets were beautiful!
I love the colors you used and that arched pantry is so cool. What a fantastic use of space! This is absolutely one of my favorite kitchens you’ve shown.
I’m with you, loved the cabinets. Brand new appliances, then fresh paint always makes a kitchen look so much better. A great job, well done, keeping the character of this style house.
What a “mess” of a floor design to have to work around! I can tell that is a small space, plus the windows and doors and steps – ugh! She did a great job! What a pleasant kitchen!
-Trish
I love how they still maintained the charming character of the kitchen! Nicely done!
It’s quite lovely! I love the sweet cottage charm that was left intact. I still don’t see where pots and pans would go….. 😉
And did anyone else spot that phone with the cord on the wall near the dining room? Haven’t seen one of those in years! 😉
I have one in my kitchen, which survived my kitchen remodel. The contractors thought I was nuts to keep it, but it works in a power outage!
Julia, Thank you SO MUCH for featuring my kitchen. I’m incredibly flattered. I love your site and am always inspired by it. Have a great day!
Wow, that packed a lot of charm into that space with a small budget! I adore the crisp quaintness! Great before and after share!!
That looks amazing and very charming. Love it!
Love it!!! Love it!!!
I love, love, love that they kept that beautiful farmhouse sink. This is such a fantastic transformation of just the space they have.
Love, LOVE this reno! A perfect blend of old and new, and it looks like it’s a part of the original house (so glad that big beautiful sink made the cut! 🙂 Thanks for sharing — such great, inspiring ideas for an old home kitchen reno.
Just lovely! The countertops make the space 🙂
I like the layout, overall balance and cabinet work, but stainless steel appliances and black granite countertops scream “housing bust 2007!”. It’s like seeing the almond mauve of the 1908s and the avocado gold of the 70’s making a return. I would have liked to see a retro style fridge in sage and wood countertops. Just my 2 cents.
Those retro appliances are really cool but they cost a fortune. I was so disappointed when we were shopping for a fridge and I realized I couldn’t afford one.
When I saw the before picture, I thought it was kind of cute. I dreaded seeing it all ripped out. But they didn’t – yea!! It’s still cute and they pretty much kept everything that was nice about it. Good cooks do fine in small kitchens. Look at Julia Child’s kitchen in Paris – it was tiny! I think most of these gigantic kitchens with multiple burners, ovens, sinks, and acres of granite are just for show anyway. Well done! (Although Dina’s suggestion above of a retro sage refrigerator and wood countertops really would have sent me over the moon. :))
I love it except for those chairs – they look really uncomfortable. But perfect otherwise!
I love! I really prefer a small kitchen. I grew up in Brooklyn, and looking back, I am amazed at the meals my Mom and Gram created out of a tiny kitchen! I think you have just what you need and make it work. Jennifer must do the same. The chandelier really adds the finishing touch..
What a differant I love that
As a CKD, my only complaint is the shelf over the range…should be at least 30″ between the cooking surface of a gas range and a combustible surface above it… looks like less than 30″ to me, so you might want to use low heat on those back burners…safety first!
So cute. But I liked the original too (except for the truly awful appliances). I hope not, but I fear they will regret swapping closed cabinets above the range for open shelving. (And I agree that those old cabinets were beautiful) Given how often I have to clean the disgusting goop off our exhaust extractor–which is the only thing over our stove–I can only imagine how often they’ll have to clean those glass jars and other items, and all the shelves. Don’t they need a fan over that stove too? I think its code here in California now. Our Viking range would definitely put out enough BTUs to be dangerous with those wooden shelves, so do please be careful!
So NICE!
While the ‘after’ is simply wonderful, even the ‘before’ was charming! And a beautiful white kitchen? Gotta love that! I love white kitchens 🙂
Too bad the glass-front cabinets over the stove were removed, so charming!
I agree that the “before” pictures are cute too, but they did a good job of retaining the charm in this kitchen. I hope the beautiful glass front cabinets went to a good home. I’ll be pinning some of these pictures for inspiration for my own old house kitchen. 🙂
Geez – I’m always the one person that preferred the old kitchen . . . . I’d be THRILLED to have a kitchen like that! Honestly – I felt there was not a thing ‘wrong’ with it . . . .
I liked it too. You should have seen the kitchen that I had to work with….Really put the SWEAT in the equity.
will like to know if you can make or order the cabinet below for me.
Details
Type of Cabinet: Base Cabinet
Size:33″ W x 34 1/2″ H
Wood: Maple
Finish:Unfinished
Door: Slab Panel Door
Drawers: Two Drawers above the doors
Quantity Needed:10 Alike Cabinets
If you can make or order the above cabinet with the specifications,
please email me with the total cost for order above and also advice me
what forms of payments do you accept.
Ummm…Not sure who you think will be able to make this for you, but it sure isn’t me. Ha.
I used to have “hideous linoleum floors” and to tell the truth her before pictures sure looks better than the floor that I had to live with. The arc-shaped pantry is really nice and a clever storage solution. I’m unsure about open shelving. I like the looks of it, but I wonder about safety and also cleanliness. I’ve lived in apartments where I had to get creative and use open shelving and I found that it tended to attract dust and wasn’t much fun to clean. I did like the cabinets, even if they were hard to reach and I hope that they found a good home.
The window seat is a nice touch too, although the chairs don’t look too comfy. I appreciate that the cottage charm was left intact. Don’t know if they got rid of the old phone, but I liked that too. I’ve kept my land-line, because I just hate talking on the cell as the reception just doesn’t cut it and especially on long distance calls. Don’t know if anyone else feels the same.