This week I thought I would write about something that I really love–kitchens! They are often the bane of people’s lives. Not only are they expensive to redo, but, especially for people in older homes, there is nothing worse than a kitchen remodel that is all shiny and new, while the rest of the home is period feeling. This kitchen redo, from an old 1930’s home in Los Angeles, manages to look new without losing character and has always been one of my personal favorites.

Here is one of the before pictures. The home had seen several remodels before I came on board, so one of my original goals was to strip away all the old stuff and try and make a kitchen that felt as though it would have been at home in the original setting. On one side is a wall of glass block that totally inhibits the view. Naturally I was going to remove this, but I figured since that wall was gone; I might as well push it out a few feet too. This would allow me to create a kitchen wide enough for a center island. This one small thing transformed the kitchen from not much more than a hall way to a fully functioning kitchen.

One of the keys to making an old world feel, is to really look at some of the details, like the shaped valance over the window. It really creates an old world sense of detail. Using terrazzo on the floor also makes for an old world touch, as does the quilted stainless steel back splash behind the range.

Curiously, one of the things that can really help is to add one or two modern touches. They give the room some context and stop it from feeling like a case study. In this case, the orange leather chairs do that for me, especially around the oval banquette and laminate top table.

Anyway, I hope that this inspires you when you start on your next renovation project.

Mark Cutler
Interior Designer,
MarkCutlerDesign.com