Not So Wordless Wednesday This Old House

Another of my "This Old House" series, this time a trip around our remodeled kitchen. For those of you who missed last week's post, each Wednesday I will share photos of our historic home which was built in 1891. We bought it in December 2006 and spent 8 months renovating.

Today is a trip around the kitchen.

Although it's small, this kitchen is functional with every square inch being used as efficiently as possible.  I love the layout and how easily I can get my hands on anything I need when cooking.

Now the photos:

Here is the view from the dining room.  This kitchen is not original to the home but was added on around 1935 or 1940. There used to be a small opening over the peninsula which was only about 1/3 as long as it is now with the rest of the opening walled off with two separate doorways on the left. (Note the fancy hot water radiator on the left that was photographed for last week's post)

This open arch is what you get when you can convince your husband to back off and let you do what you want. He wanted to open it up with a straight beam across the top, I wouldn't back down on the arch and got my way.

The peninsula was originally only about 1/3 as long as it is now and used to have a cooktop stove on it. Hardly any countertop space at all before but now it houses pot drawers, dishwasher, and 4 separate recycling bins with a ton of counter space on top with an overhang on the dining room side suitable for stools.

This antique tin ceiling and Art Deco light fixture is what you get when you shut your mouth and let you husband buy what he wants at antique shops. When we bought the house, there was a dropped ceiling in the kitchen which made it feel like a cave. We had that torn out and restored the curve and had this old tin ceiling installed.

This random hardwood floor is what you get when you move away two weeks before the renovation is completed because your rental lease is up and this house isn't ready to move in to. I pleaded with my husband on the phone to just buy more hardwood floor and replace it all but he and the contractor cooked up this mess instead. I still hate it and used every design trick I knew to pull the eye up away from this damn kitchen floor.

When we bought the house, what is now the kitchen was two rooms, a porch and tiny kitchen. We tore down the wall in between where the floors meet to extend the kitchen and there was green tile where the new wood floor is now. I guess that green tile is the only thing I can think of that would have looked worse than this random mess of old and new hardwoods.

This granite is what you get when you send your husband on his own to pick out anything as long as its black. It's called Emerald Pearl although in our kitchen it looks black. Once it was paid for I renamed it Black Opal, I like that much better! The backsplash was replaced, used to be beige with flowers but I had that replaced with nice and glossy white subway tiles. (note my coffee in the microwave nicely warmed up)

The kitchen cabinets are what you get when you reuse the dark oak bases that were already there, shuffle them around, add new cabinets to extend your kitchen into where the porch was and paint everything white. The custom cupboard doors, drawer fronts and fabulous cutlery organizer are what you get when you have a dad with his own workshop who can build anything!

Hope you've enjoyed this little trip around my kitchen!  Coffee anyone?