The seller sent me additional photographs and gave me permission to feature them on the blog, after I explained that I had never seen this door style design before and love to archive the vintage examples that we find. Thank you!

Seriously, these vintage St. Charles kitchens were amazing — so many features. I am soooo tempted to get in the Ranger and drive down and get these myself, for my office remodel. Seriously.

Click here to see the listing, the seller tells me the cabinets have been taken out of the kitchen and are looking for a new home. 

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When Brian and Keri moved into this Nashville house two years ago, they embraced their home’s heritage — and instead of gutting to granitize, they planned modest updates to the existing galley style kitchen to make the working and eating space even more fun to spend time in.
They did a lot of work themselves, spending just $7,000 to create a super-happy, pretty much “all new” kitchen — that looks like it’s been there 60 years. What’s old was repainted or otherwise freshened… what’s new is authentically suitable to the kitchen’s original era and design. Lots of great ideas, resources — and 17 great photos – all credited Brian McHugh — here. Brian writes:

Hi Pam,

We moved to Nashville two years ago from Los Angeles, looking for a better quality of life and a little house to love.

We fell in love with our 1953 cottage-style ranch at first sight, in part because of the mint green and black bathroom, but also because of the super cool red amazon logo on the front of the vintage Youngstown sink cabinet.

[Pam says: Brian calls the badge an "amazon," but in fact, that's the logo for Youngstown Diana kitchen cabinets, as in the Roman goddess Diana the Archer. That's a Diana sink base above and here --

You can also identify Diana sink bases from the unique rounded apron (which holds the logo) and the stepped-back door design just below. Pretty. - Pam]

The kitchen "before"

We even have a knotty pine den, complete with patterned wall paper ceiling. The house was somewhat neglected, badly painted, and decorated in a very utilitarian way.  We decided we wanted to bring this neglected little house back with loving appreciation and a modern midcentury aesthetic.

Notice the original countertop and the old style, heavy duty, integrated edging -- that's pretty hard to find. Way cool. - Pam

The kitchen was our last big project. We wanted to double the size of what we already had, moving the washer and dryer, adding a dishwasher and microwave, and moving the old girl into the twenty first century. The original kitchen had a small set of original Youngstown steel cabinets with only two uppers and two lowers.  It took almost a year to find another set of Youngstown cabinets to add to our existing set, in part because we were looking for a set with the chrome countertop bumpers and trim. We found a set in Knoxville, drove four hours one way to check them out and rented a trailer to bring them home.

We gutted the kitchen, removing the existing cabinets, and had them painted with the electrostatic paint process.

To save money, we prepped (the cabinets) ourselves, sanding eleven cabinets down to the bare metal. [Precautionary Pam reminds everyone: Consult with a licensed professional regarding lead in old paint so you can take the right steps to Renovate Safe.]

The original countertops were formica cracked ice. We replaced them with formica aqua boomerang laminate. We saved the original sink, got it refinished instead of replacing. It goes beautifully with logo on the front of the sink cabinet. The whole house needed the electrical updated, and the kitchen need plumbing moved to support our changes to the appliances. The washer and dryer (had originally) lived in the kitchen, which was the first thing to go…. We gave up our pantry and had water lines and power run to the pantry so we could install stackable units.

I wanted to save the original chrome “Fleur O Ray” flourescent fixture in the kitchen, so I found 4 replacement ballasts and installed them, making the fixture useable again.We had to ditch all the original brass door hardware with polished chrome, which complements the kitchen chrome well. Finally, We replaced the flooring with AZROCK laminate, which we found out about on your site. It’s Azrock VL-130 Classic Blue Gray vinyl tile. Tons of work, but totally worth it.

Max and Mitzi are nonchalant
about The Retro

Suggestions for refinishing the cabinets, Formica boomerang counter top laminate, and flooring came from the Retro Renovation website. We managed to keep the entire kitchen remodel, including new appliances, plumbing, electrical, and flooring for under $7,000.

We both work in the visual arts, and collect art avidly. The walls of the kitchen are hung with some of our favorite artists: the typography under the clock is a collection of little “ass-ham” painting characters by Arizona artist Lesli Englert, the large print on the back wall and two small prints are by San Diego artist Scott Saw. There are also vintage valentines framed and hanging near the 1950s dinette.

Thanks again for the website! It was a wonderful resource while we were renovating the kitchen, and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Best,

Keri and Brian

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I’ve fussed with the photos on my photo program to try and adjust for the light; the  the green in actuality reads like Sherwin-Williams Ryegrass, the seller says. Interestingly, this color looks like it might be similar to the lovely Benjamin Moore Rosemary Sprig I showed earlier this week. As you can see, I’m into my greens these days.

St. Charles is the best vintage kitchen around — these guys are HEAVY. In this design, I also love the kitchen table and how it swoops out from the compact and super-efficient u-shaped kitchen… The hanging wall cabinets are terrific… I love the simple off-white laminate countertops with oak (?) trim… and the wallpaper is delicious.

Note how the washer and dryer are right there in the kitchen — this was something that kitchen designers in the 1950s and early 1960s really pushed as a labor-saving design for mom.

And, it’s nice to see hard-to-find cabinets — like the pantries. In emails, the seller provided this additional information:

The house was built in 1949. The kitchen was remodeled in 1964 according to the sellers.  There are two refrigerators and a laundry chute. Today the architect told me the stove hood and vent system are equally “vintage” and were custom designed to fit with the cabinets. He said the vent casing is great and would be a great part of any vintage kitchen design. He also said the color is a custom color and the pulls are not standard St. Charles pulls.

He noted the feet on the table legs are clear plastic – custom. The island upper cabinets have electrical built in for under counter lighting.  The wiring travels through the ceiling mount posts.

The home is in Chicago’s northern suburbs near the lakefront. The architect was a former president of the Illinois chapter of the American institute of architects.

The kitchen is not “cheap”– it’s listed for $5,000. In recent discussions over on the Forum, we heard that a reader had been quoted about $800 for a NEW St. Charles base cabinet. Buying vintage can be a real hassle — you need to fit someone else’s kitchen into yours… you need to go pick it up, pack it up, store it… if the original finish is not in good shape, or the color not to your liking, it will likely be expensive to repaint and golly gee, those original finishes are hard to beat. But if you can find a set that works for you — I think they are a tremendous value.

Interested? The cabinets are for sale in Chicago — see the link to our Forum listing here.

Thanks to the seller for providing me with these additional photos to feature. Good luck finding a new home for this luscious kitchen.

All material as published on Retro Renovation is copyrighted.
Please contact me if you would like to use any images. 

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