Old houses come with intrinsic beauty. They have woodwork, architectural details, and room designs that you don’t see in more modern designs. However, a lot of older homes do not have functional kitchen designs. Luckily, you have options for renovating your kitchen while keeping the charming details of the home’s original design.
If your old house needs a new kitchen, here are some design considerations to keep in mind as you make your renovation plans.
Cabinets to Match the Space
The first hurdle of your design plan comes from measuring and taking stock of the space you have for your new kitchen. You might decide to put the kitchen into a different part of the home in order to create a more functional floor plan, or you might like the idea of using the original kitchen space (if your house had one). Either way, you need to get cabinets that match the room you’re outfitting.
For example, if the room has high ceilings but few stretches of uninterrupted walls (old houses sometimes have a lot of doorways, windows, and cased openings), then you could design cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling in order to make the kitchen seem larger and to add needed storage.
You also want your cabinets to fit in with the design of the rest of your home.
For example, Craftsman homes have beautiful unpainted woodwork, built-in shelves and cupboards, and pillars. Ultra-modern flat cabinet fronts won’t fit in with this design. Instead, you might choose Shaker-style natural wood cabinets with brushed nickel hardware to stay true to the original design of your house.
Countertops for Authenticity and Function
Natural stone countertops are the most popular choice for modern kitchens, and they are also the most authentic if you wish to reflect the original style of your house. However, you also can’t go wrong with butcher block countertops, which are less expensive and can be just a serviceable and beautiful as a stone counter.
You might choose to do stone such as soapstone or marble for side counters and feature a beautiful reclaimed wood top island in the middle of the kitchen. Soapstone is one of the most authentic countertop choices for an old house.
Windows to Fit the Walls
Old houses have beautiful windows, but they are not the standard sizes that are more common in today’s homes.
When these windows interfere with installing basic lower cabinets in a straight line or other renovations in your kitchen, you have a few options:
- Raise the bottom window height. Take out the old window, make the opening smaller, and put a new window in. This way, you can keep your lower cabinets the same height and have more unbroken counter space. However, raising the windows affects the exterior look of your house.
- Build custom lower cabinets to fit under the windows. These cabinets can still be used as storage, and you can include them in your design carefully. For example, you might put a window seat or a bench seating area around a breakfast nook situated where the window is.
- Remove the window. For some homes, it makes sense to take out a window in order to get a solid wall of cabinets. Just keep in mind that covering over a window will take work on the exterior as well as the interior of the home.
- Float cabinets or sinks ahead of the window. You could install a large basin sink in front of the window. As a bonus, these sinks look authentic in an old house.
Talk to your cabinet supplier about different cabinet options that might help your work around old windows.
For more information on kitchen renovation ideas for older homes, contact us at Cabinet Factories Outlet.
