I LOVE KNOTTY PINE KITCHENS. They were very popular in the postwar era — they fit with our interest in both western ranch and early American interiors… they were were affordable… and the material was available.
In fact, in researching this post I read a 2001 story from the New York Times that said knotty pine has its fans again today – and also appeals to fans of the Scandinavian tradition.
And of course — Betty Draper’s kitchen on Mad Men is knotty pine!
As far as I can find, there are not too many mainstream cabinet companies making knotty pine cabinets today. Luckily, one company that does is: Cabico. They are a large Canadian company, and I had a positive experience with their product when I retro renovated by bathrooms a few years ago.
Their knotty pine – honey finish – is shown in the first door.. This honey colored finish looks pretty good, I believe, for a retro renovation knotty pine kitchen. But something even more amber/orange could be even better. Note the image above — a 1952 Formica ad — for one reference for door styles.
I’d also recommend a planked door like this traditional (3/4) overlay design from Dynasty/Omega. Reference only, I do not believe that Dynasty/Omega offers knotty pine. Cabico also says that they can make a full-overlay plank door.
My concern about a slab style like the third door (also a reference from Dynasty/Omega), is that pine might split from expansion/contraction as it is a pretty soft wood.
Best, if you are truly interested in pursuing this look, to consult with a cabinetry professional.
Final note: I recently saw “knotty cherry” cabinets at the Eugene Home Show. They were really nice looking — definitely had the knotty-pine groove going on — and cherry is a harder wood, an even better material for cabinets.
This post has been updated from the original, which ran Dec. 26, 2007.
Love the knotty pine! It reminds me of my aunt’s kitchen. She had wrought iron hardware on the cabinets, and a RED range that matched the countertops.
I love the look of those knotty pine cabinets, but I would want more colonial style. The recessed cubby and that chair by the sink are about the only colonial touches in this kitchen. Wait, I see some shutters too. (These pictures are so fun to examine.) Look at those mod chairs that fit under the bar, made to look like cabinet doors! This is that blend of modern and colonial that 50sPam has talked about before.
Such blends don’t always work so well. My husband got sick of knotty pine as a kid, when his dad modernized their 1910-era house by paneling several rooms in knotty pine, and putting in dropped acoustical ceilings. But he left the Victorian-style woodwork, painted bright white. Quite a combination.
–>Sarakay, thanks for your comment! Your aunt’s kitchen sounds fabulous! There’s not a family photo somewhere, is there? I adore the idea of the matching range and yes, in a colonial knotty pine kitchen, the hardware most certainly would have been wrought iron. So cool!
–>Sumac Sue aka Judi: Yes, I agree that the colonial style knotty pine kitchens are really nice, too. Certainly, they are more typical — in a way, that’s why I liked this photo, it is opposite of what you’d expect. Knotty pine imitating steel. I will do more posts on the more classic design in the future. For sure, you would need the planked door style, and I recall that a knotty pine valance, carved/curved, is really essential, too. I also agree with your regarding the photos, they are SO MUCH FUN to analyze. People were so much into the details – I’d say even more so than today!
A little technical information about knotty pine cabinet doors:
No cabinet maker or manufacturer would accede to your request for knotty pine slab doors.
Pine “grows” and “shrinks” a lot, depending upon the amount of moisture in the environment. So slab doors in pine would crack and break themselves apart in a few years in a kitchen. That would happen even with sturdy bracing across the backs of the doors.
What you are seeing, in that illustration of the knotty pine kitchen at the top of this post, is knotty pine veneer doors. The only way to make solid wood pine doors that will last is to make what they call a “five part door” (a frame around a floating center panel). Even those tend to dry out and crack over time, but they’ll hold up far better than a slab door would. The knots also tend to fall out as they shrink.
Some woods are just not all that conducive to being made into cabinets. Pine is on the borderline.
Enjoy your blog.
Peggy
Thanks, Peggy, for that info. I hear what you’re saying about slab doors. What do you think about planked doors in pine (ala my post about Omega’s)?
I’m afraid that I’ve been scarred as a child of the 50s and 60s and cannot fully embrace the love of knotty pine. I must have been overexposed.
I understand completely.
We live in a house built in the 1950′s and we have the knotty pine kitchen and dining room walls. While I would love to change it and update my kitchen my husband refuses and keeps saying it’s worth a lot of money, etc. etc. We also have the matching brown appliances, the double wall oven, stovetop and dishwasher. We did update the flooring because of Hurricane Katrina and the water damage from the refrigerator after we left. I have to say I’m torn between keeping it the “old” way or updating because it’s so dark in there.
I’ll have to send you some pictures. We have a knotty pine upstairs master bedroom and a knotty pine basement. The upstairs has built-in drawers with the black wrought iron draw pulls and the closet has black wrought iron hinges. I need to clean before I can photograph. lol
We had fabulous knotty pine built in dressers in each room in our last house and the I cringed when the new owner (as we were selling it) commented about tearing them out. Gasp.
People have absolutely NO taste. I wish we had knotty pine in our current 50′s house!
Pine? I personally don’t like it, but my mothers old house had heaps! Also Australia is getting Mad Men.
I don’t think I’ve ever come across these kind of cabinets in our retro neighborhood, but they are classy! And the turquoise counter tops are to die for!
We have birch cabinets with the reddish stain that are original and we lightened the kitchen by painting it a robins egg blue that is a really good match; I also bought some vintage-y cafe curtains at Urban Outfitters that are white with a black/turquoise/green print that also lighten things up. The original golden brown Kitchen Aid stove and dishwasher were broken before we moved in so we had those replaced with new Kenmore stuff, but what can you do? The fixtures are the hammered black metal ones you see everywhere. I love them!
The best knotty pine house I ever lived in had the cabinets, a red formica countertop edged in silver metal and COWBOY themed fixtures!!!! The address plate out front was even an original with a cowboy reclining against a cactus…ah rentals!
Hi Kristin-your kitchen sounds magnificent! Any chance there are photos anywhere? i have knotty pine cabinets that I would like to save but think I need to refinish them, cahnge out the coutertops (white formica) and relacie teh floor-a poorly done 12″x12″ job…
This is my favorite!!! Love the color combination of red and turquoise with the warm wood.
Hey I think it would be fun to do a “knotty pine” group of photos like you’ve done with the pink kitchens and pink bathrooms.
Sara, look within the post – I already have a group going on flickr. But, I can also start my own and readers’ collection on the site. Send ‘em in to: retrorenovation at gmail dot com. Glad you like.
I can testify that knotty pine can last and, in the right setting, look beautiful. We have it in our kitchen and it has held up very well for 54 years. Yes, there is some slight warping on a few doors, and one drawer has badly cracked, but given the generally high humidity of summers in Kansas it surprises me that that most of the panels have remained so straight all these years. I think the quality of the pine is the determining factor here, in addition to solid bracing in back. The overall effect is inviting warmth and utility. It’s a great combination.
Naughty Pug’s + Knotty Pine…..hold up, I’m going for the camera!!!
OK, I have retro stove sickness right now, but still…when you click on the picture, dig that ol’ Western Holly with the single porthole! Love at first sight! The double porthole-double oven is dreamy, but at 43″, who has the width? Sigh…
We bought some old knotty pine cabinetry from a salvage warehouse. My husband turned the large cabinet doors into a desk and credenza for me. We left the old iron hardware in place. The pieces turned out beautiful and are just right for my office in our “Ranch Style” home. Love the look but not for a kitchen anymore.
You fans (and foes) of knotty pine…any thoughts on flooring other than carpet that could co-exist with the pine? Our bedroom has that amber tongue and groove and the carpet’s days are numbered. I long to discover some float-type flooring that won’t clash with the walls.
Kris, years ago we owned a 1939 squarish, hipped-roof brick Georgian with a knotty pine paneled recreation room in the basement. The floors were oak hardwood, stained the same amber color as the knotty pine walls. I believe the hardwood floors were original (the floors had a bit of a bounce- I suspect the furring strips beneath the floors had probably rotted a bit from the moisture- again, this was a basement). All that amber-colored wood on the walls and floor gave things a lodge-like look, but we used light rugs to lighten things up.
Hi everyone-
Back in August I bought a great 1957 ranch that only had one owner before me. It’s like a wonderful little time capsule. The WHOLE interior of the house except the bathroom and the formal living room is the real-deal wood paneling… pecky cypress in the dining room, hall and bedrooms, knotty pine in the kitchen and den. Most of the room have the original hardwoods (That I’ll eventually refinish… they need love), but in the den there was carpet and in the kitchen a very unexciting linoleum. I thought of putting down wood in the den but I think the place has plenty of that. Then I thought of ceramic tile…. but UNDER the carpet and a second subfloor is the original asbetos tile. I don’t want to revert to that but what I do want to know… does anyone know how well those faux asbestos tiles hold up? Do they look as good in the long run?
I’ll post pictures as soon as I’m able (and the house is clean…).
Hi Katy, congrats on your time capsule. I think you mean today’s “VCT” or vinyl composite tiles. I have them in my kitchen — I think they hold up fine. I think, in fact, that they will last longer than you want them to — they are specified for commercial applications, and we are only “residential” with much less wear and tear. One thing I do believe you may want to look at is tile thickness – some are thicker (and therefore, I think, hardier) than others. I am not a contractor or anything but one thing I am pretty sure of is that you need a super duper smooth surface to install new VCT – I think that folks usually lay an all-new plywood subfloor… this is something to consult a professional about. Also, be sure to consult with pro’s regarding environmental and safety issues regarding those old asbestos tiles and how to deal with them properly. You can find all my posts about Flooring including these tiles in two places up on the navigation bar — in Product Guides (top pics summarized) and in By Room/Kitchen/Flooring. Good luck. And yes – be sure to send pics, it sounds like your house is really a gem. Pecky cypress? I am jealous! you can send photos to retrorenovation [at] gmail [dot] com.
Our daylight basement has knotty pine paneling and brick fireplace and — get this — myrtle wood bar. It’s a classic rumpus room but it was done in the early ’40s. They were ahead of their time.
My problem: It’s depressingly dark.
How do you get around that?
Also, the basement has the early likely asbestos tile in a depressing color. We had professionals put in new VCT in the kitchen in creamy yellow and pale blue check pattern but they have cracked in several places and ALWAYS look dirty. It looks right with the vintage kitchen but, seriously, the floor drives me batty.
Check out this stunner from 1955…
http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?p=17031
Wow – yes, a fantastic kitchen and living room! Thanks for the tip!
Hello…
I don’t have knotty pine, but I do have original wood cabinets in my kitchen (with ACME drawers!!), and I am looking for that little decorative piece of wood that might have gone between the cabinets next to the window. In case my description makes no sense, there’s an example of it above the window in the picture above called “Formica Kitchen.” It joins the two cabinets. Does anyone know if that has a name? (I didn’t know there was a word for soffits until I came to this site, so I imagine there must be a name for this little decorative touch.) Sorry if it’s somewhere here and I’ve missed it. There’s a lot to read…
Thanks for any info anyone has.
Ericka, can you provide the link to the photo you are talking about?
This is the photo being asked about:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65437870@N00/4506472230
It looks like a lighting valence. Lighting valences are trim pieces used to hide a light source from the eye.
Google Images can find you other examples by searching for ‘kitchen valence’:
http://www.google.com/search?q=kitchen+valence&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch
Our house built in 1953 has Knotty Pine. We opted to update to Stainless and keep the Pine. We also replaced the old red formica with a newer stone like pattern. We also installed recessed lights removing a old Box florescent. The Stainless looks great with the Pine but most importantly my wife is happy with the compliments from our friends.
My only problem is I am trying to find a few pieces of knotty pine for additional cabinet doors. Watching for remodels and checking Habitat’s…
Our kitchen is knotty pine (walls & cabinets) but it’s a horrible dark orange. Any suggestions on how to lighten it up?