Retro Accents
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Retro Renovation
Remodeling, decor and home improvement for old homes
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Hi. What a great place. I have a different view on the kitchen — I’m inclined to think that the wainscotting is from the 60s/70s, and was added at the same time as the floor and the stove. I don’t really know about the age of the cabinets, but I do really like them a lot, particularly the scalloped decoration and the shelves around the sink.
I am all for keeping material that is in good shape, but, as Trish points out, the floor is pretty dark. It’s a good thing the cabinets are white, or that would be a really dark kitchen. I think I would replace the ceiling fan with something not so “Victorian.” (I hate ceiling fans, but my husband loves them and we put plain white ones in our kitchen/dining room. Ugh. Oh well, you gotta compromise sometimes!)
The porcelain sink sitting on the counter — I don’t know what to guess about it, other than, I am really glad that I have seen it. We considered doing something like this in our kitchen, and I am really glad we didn’t! (No offense, Trish.) We found a sink just like that at a yard sale and we love it, but, we just could not get it to fit right in the cabinets we found. The only way we could have used them together would be to do something like what is pictured, putting the sink on top of a counter. Instead, we stuck the porcelain sink in the garage, and found a stainless steel sink that sits down in the counter, and that looks better with our cabinets. Who knows, maybe a previous owner had a similar situation in this kitchen — they found a sink and cabinets and were just trying to get them to work together. I think I would keep it as is, as a wonderful retro example of “making do.”
SS – I agree with you, that the paneling came later, too. And I agree with Stephan that the cabinets could well be original. Your thesis, that the homeowners popped the porcelain sink top on later is also quite plausible. And I love your idea of keeping the whole thing as is – in memory of the whole process. “Apocryphal” is the word that comes to mind…not sure I’m using (or spelling!) it correctly but a interesting word to throw around every once in a while.