Kitchen Cabinets
Kitchens are tricky, aren’t they? And especially in a period home. You want the look and feel of the room to be consistent with the rest of the house, but you probably aren’t willing to cool your food on blocks of ice.
My house is from 1899, with dark woodwork and Victorian details. So the 50s
yellow pine cabinetry in my kitchen stood out like Pinky Tuscadero at Wuthering Heights. The cabinets were still in good shape, and I didn’t want the cost of installing new ones. I also had done enough furniture stripping projects that I felt changing the existing cabinets would be doable. But in order to match the cabinets to the rest of the woodwork in the house, that meant I’d have dark 4-foot-tall upper cabinets hovering over me. I don’t know about you, but I typically don’t cook with a dash of claustrophobia.
yellow pine cabinetry in my kitchen stood out like Pinky Tuscadero at Wuthering Heights. The cabinets were still in good shape, and I didn’t want the cost of installing new ones. I also had done enough furniture stripping projects that I felt changing the existing cabinets would be doable. But in order to match the cabinets to the rest of the woodwork in the house, that meant I’d have dark 4-foot-tall upper cabinets hovering over me. I don’t know about you, but I typically don’t cook with a dash of claustrophobia.So I did something a little unusual. Since Victor
ians primarily used free-standing furniture in their cooking areas anyway, I decided the top and bottom sets of my own cabinets didn’t have to be the same color as each other.
ians primarily used free-standing furniture in their cooking areas anyway, I decided the top and bottom sets of my own cabinets didn’t have to be the same color as each other. I removed the doors and stripped the cabinets using StripEase and a power-sander. Then I embellished the plain wooden doors with some icanthus leaf moulding. I stained the bottom cabinets with Miniwax stain in “Provincial,” and painted the upper cabinets in white kitchen enamel. I put several coats of Deft paint-on top-coat on
everything. And lastly, I changed all of the plain chrome handles to Victorian clear glass pulls.
everything. And lastly, I changed all of the plain chrome handles to Victorian clear glass pulls.In order to continue the sense of free-standing furniture, I purposefully left two cabinet doors off-- one upper-right of the sink and one upper-left-- to provide balance and to showcase any color-coordinated china. I also bought an unstained garbage bin cabinet (Ebay) and stained it in Provincial, hanging a matching set of shelves over it that my cousin had made.
As a result, I have upper cabinets that help my white stove and fridge blend in. But I also have lower cabinets that ground the room with dark woodwork that matches the rest of the house.
My next goal is to change the countertops from gray melamine to something less, er, melaminey. But for that, I do believe I need someone who is Not Me.
Copyright 2006-2007 Jenn Thorson. All rights reserved.