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Nice kitchen. Cabinets look good. Compliments from me are hard to come by with the crap I see out there with people painting old cabinets and such.
Nice cabinets, nice wood/color, nice granite. Looks like Karmen cabinets?
Nice job !!!!
Wow you are going to hate my kitchen when I am done with it. My house is 52 years old and I will be stripping the paint from the cabinets and refinishing them. The cabinets and built-ins are original, from 1957. And when I replace the counter I will not be putting in granite.
Wow you are going to hate my kitchen when I am done with it. My house is 52 years old and I will be stripping the paint from the cabinets and refinishing them. The cabinets and built-ins are original, from 1957. And when I replace the counter I will not be putting in granite.
Why would you do such a thing? 1957 anything is unsalvageable. No amount of paint can change that fact or my mind.
Old old old is vintage. Real quality hand carved wood was used. 1950s was just junky ol cheap 3/8th plywood. Even if you succeed in stripping them the raw wood you will revel will be more ugly then um.... then umm.... real ugly.
I would not bother. Most kitchen islands I have seen do not add anything to the kitchen, all they do is break up the flowof the room and obstruct appliances like dishwashers and fridges. At the size you are proposing it would be silly. You can buy movable pieces of furniture for less than that if you feel you must have something resembling an island. Personally I never have seen the point of them!
That's funny My island offers storage space, work space and a place to sit down...are you serious?
Why would you do such a thing? 1957 anything is unsalvageable. No amount of paint can change that fact or my mind.
Old old old is vintage. Real quality hand carved wood was used. 1950s was just junky ol cheap 3/8th plywood. Even if you succeed in stripping them the raw wood you will revel will be more ugly then um.... then umm.... real ugly.
We will see about that. The only plywood in this house is in the attic. Other homeowners in the same neighborhood have stripped the paint off their cabinets to reveal solid ash or birch. Tearing out the original cabinets and built-ins actually lowers the value of the homes in that neighborhood. Also, some people actually appreciate the quality of 1950s construction and would rather have it than the cheap MDF veneered/foil garbage that passes for "quality materials" these days. New builds around here go for about $90 a square foot, in the same zip code my "unsalvageable" 1957 house is about $108 a square foot in its current condition. The one 2 doors down with original kitchen cabinets recently sold for $138 a square foot. I think you don't know what you are talking about when it comes to this. And you make your living by telling people their kitchens are crud and need to be torn out and redone. So I take your opinion with a grain of salt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gold*dust1
That's funny My island offers storage space, work space and a place to sit down...are you serious?
Yes, I am serious. My kitchen is large enough to have a breakfast nook; who wants to sit on a teetering bar stool at an island that your legs do not fit under when you could sit at a proper table? I stand by my point about islands. The ones I have seen are worthless, I would rather have air than the "extra storage" they offer. The ones with the stove on the island are the worst I have seen. I really do hate them. It seems that most of them are built because buyers seem to expect them, not because they add anything to the kitchen. I have known a few people who, upon living in their kitchen island-having homes for a few months, have torn them out and redone the floors and have loved the result. The others, like me, saw a kitchen island as a deal breaker in the first place. The kitchens they are in are simply too small for an island to begin with.
Yes, I am serious. My kitchen is large enough to have a breakfast nook; who wants to sit on a teetering bar stool at an island that your legs do not fit under when you could sit at a proper table? I stand by my point about islands. The ones I have seen are worthless, I would rather have air than the "extra storage" they offer. The ones with the stove on the island are the worst I have seen. I really do hate them. It seems that most of them are built because buyers seem to expect them, not because they add anything to the kitchen. I have known a few people who, upon living in their kitchen island-having homes for a few months, have torn them out and redone the floors and have loved the result. The others, like me, saw a kitchen island as a deal breaker in the first place. The kitchens they are in are simply too small for an island to begin with.
I don't need a breakfast nook in my kitchen, I have a breakfast room off the kitchen for that
I think your blunder in trying to make a case against islands is when you state the ones you've seen are worthless as it doesn't seem you've "seen" anything functional or very useful. If you haven't seen it then you can't really make broad generalizations about all islands since the only ones you've seen were apparently not well done.
Plenty of room under my island to sit comfortably and my counter height chairs don't teeter, nor does my island interfere with opening the fridge, dishwasher or oven I would beg to differ with you as I believe houses without an island are not as sought after as those with, and will consequently fetch a lower price.
I've been there in that 1956 house so I know both sides. I don't miss that kitchen or the eat in dining one can call a nook.
Last edited by gold*dust1; 06-21-2009 at 10:56 PM..
I don't need a breakfast nook in my kitchen, I have a breakfast room off the kitchen for that
I think your blunder in trying to make a case against islands is when you state the ones you've seen are worthless as it doesn't seem you've "seen" anything functional or very useful. If you haven't seen it then you can't really make broad generalizations about all islands since the only ones you've seen were apparently not well done.
Plenty of room under my island to sit comfortably and my counter height chairs don't teeter, nor does my island interfere with opening the fridge, dishwasher or oven I would beg to differ with you as I believe houses without an island are not as sought after as those with, and will consequently fetch a lower price.
I've been there in that 1956 house so I know both sides. I don't miss that kitchen or the eat in dining one can call a nook.
I do not think it's a blunder, it is just one opinion. I do not like kitchen islands and do not know anyone who does. Most kitchens are too small to pull them off, and they, like granite countertops, are one of those things that people "expect" to see in a certain type of house even though they may be of poor quality or they may not add any value.
You do not have to like 1950s houses, I don't care if you do or don't. There are plenty of others who do. My house's kitchen is enormous, bigger than most of the islanded kitchens I have seen in the further out suburbs. And in addition to the breakfast nook, I have a formal dining room. I ought to post pictures of it here when I am done redecorating it, I think some people may have to eat their words.
Additionally, as I stated before, houses in my neighborhood fetch more per square foot than the samey new builds with islanded kitchens in exurbia. Nobody in that neighborhood that I know of has put an island in the kitchen even though many of them (including mine) have the floor space for them. All being equal a kitchen with no island in Treeless Suburb A may get less per square foot than the house next door in Treeless Suburb A, but in Mature Inner Ring Suburb (where my house is), people do not expect to see them at all and they can reduce the value of the house.
My current, pre-remodel kitchen has a butcher block island. We decided to remove it, even though I feel the kitchen isn't particularly small, because it does mess up the flow of the room. We cook, and the idea of carrying a huge pot of boiling water to the sink while dodging the island is enough for me to envision disaster. The island is not huge, just in the way for us because it blocks the way from the stove to the sink.
My mother was renting a McMansion with a HUGE island. Same deal, except the walk around the sink was longer, lol. It also has a tendency to become a catch-all for things.
That said, if I had a huge kitchen, the only way I would have an island that I would enjoy would be if I put the cooktop and a utility sink there - THAT would be useful and convenient. Since ours would not be comfortably big enough to accomodate those, we are going with a peninsula instead, which can also have stools, and function as a workspace, but doesn't become an area for us to dodge while cooking.
Most kitchen islands I have seen do not add anything to the kitchen, all they do is break up the flow of the room and obstruct appliances like dishwashers and fridges.
They break my toe when I try to get around them, too. I'm not much for islands as well -- give me space to walk around in, not space I have to sidle along in, trying not to spill heavy pots of spaghetti sauce while trying not to trip over the island.
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertsun41
1957 anything is unsalvageable.
So much for most of my furniture, LOL, and more than a few of my friends!
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertsun41
Oh dont bother. You come along and revive several threads including this one that are so old they are growing grey fur just to stir up trouble.
Just for the record, BigDGeekdidn't revive the thread. And I agree with his/her opinions on islands.
I will say it again...you people tripping over islands with pots of boiling water are obviously referring to poorly designed kitchens C'mon guys do you know how silly it sounds to say an island can become a "catch all" when describing them as a negative? If you let your island become a cluttered mess I'm sure your counter space would be as well. Organization and clean-up duties are the key to a beautiful clutter free island.
I think sometimes people don't like something because they don't have it It may be sour grapes. An island wouldn't have worked in the space of my 1956 kitchen even if it was gutted. It would have needed an addition to pull it off.
Last edited by gold*dust1; 06-22-2009 at 10:23 AM..
I will say it again...you people tripping over islands with pots of boiling water are obviously referring to poorly designed kitchens C'mon guys do you know how silly it sounds to say an island can become a "catch all" when describing them as a negative? If you let your island become a cluttered mess I'm sure your counter space would be as well. Organization and clean-up duties are the key to a beautiful clutter free island.
I think sometimes people don't like something because they don't have it It may be sour grapes. An island wouldn't have worked in the space of my 1956 kitchen even if it was gutted. It would have needed an addition to pull it off.
Or it could just be that islands aren't the best option for kitchens, and can possibly make the kitchen become poorly designed. It all depends on the layout and flow through of the kitchen. Someone apparently lived in our kitchen for 30 years, all the while having an island in the middle. I feel that these people didn't actually cook, because the island is too narrow to be used for a cooktop/sink, and there definitely wasn't enough room IMO to put stools there and have people move around you comfortably.
Sour grapes? No. We had it, and we're removing it for better design and functionality.
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My island offers storage space, work space and a place to sit down...are you serious?
I would beg to differ with you as I believe houses without an island are not as sought after as those with, and will consequently fetch a lower price.
My house's kitchen is enormous, bigger than most of the islanded kitchens I have seen in the further out suburbs. And in addition to the breakfast nook, I have a formal dining room. I ought to post pictures of it here when I am done redecorating it, I think some people may have to eat their words.
And I agree with his/her opinions on islands.
It may be sour grapes. An island wouldn't have worked in the space of my 1956 kitchen even if it was gutted. It would have needed an addition to pull it off.
