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Ann recreates the look of vintage steel kitchen cabinets — in wood

pam kueber - Updated: July 18, 2021

Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.

Do you love the sleek look of vintage steel kitchen cabinets — but don’t want to undertake the rocky journey to find a set to fit your kitchen, then restore the cabinets, etc.? That was reader Ann’s dilemma. She recently purchased a 1965 condo apartment, and the original kitchen was failing. She loved the look of vintage, but did not want her kitchen to be an epic. So, instead of hunting down the vintage, she found a clever and patient cabinet maker who recreated the look of vintage steel to a tee using wood, and then finished them with special high gloss paint.

turquoise kitchen cabinets in a retro kitchen

Ann did use a New Old Stock vintage tile — both the floor and backsplash tiles are from World of Tile, of course. And there’s even another twist — Ann used a *famous* historic kitchen featured here as inspiration for her redesign. What a spectacular story — and kitchen. Read on for the complete story, more photos, and all of Ann’s resources.

before kitchen
Ann’s 1965 kitchen “before”
retro-kitchen-2
… an all-new vintage style “after”

Ann and I had several email exchanges. I edited her responses, for flow. She writes:

I didn’t have the time/resources to find a vintage steel kitchen, but wanted the look. So I found a custom cabinet maker here in Bucks County PA to create one in wood — Millworks LLC. Boy, did they come through!

A view of the Koravos family kitchen. Courtesy of Historic New England. Used on this site with permission.
Ann’s design inspiration: The Koravos family kitchen — a “time capsule” kitchen salvaged for museum use. Photo courtesy of Historic New England. Used on this site with permission.

My kitchen design is a replica of one I found through you — (the time capsule Koravos kitchen rescued by Preservation Massachusetts for historic purposes[shown above]. Millworks LLC researched every minute detail and with impeccable, high end, old world craftsmanship, delivered precisely what was requested. It occurred to me that a portion of your readership might be interested in doing this as well, especially with the resurgence of mid century architectural plans.

world of tile imageBoth the floor and backsplash tile came from World of Tile. I was dazzled by World of Tile, as I know you were too. It’s an amazing place. Can I offer some advice? I will anyway heehee. If you go with vintage tile, do yourself a HUGE favor and glue the sheets to new fiberglass mesh before you begin. The old mesh/paper/whatever-they-used will disintegrate when it hits the wet adhesive and you’ll be crying for the entire installation.  It took us three weeks to lay the kitchen floor. If we had replaced the mesh it would’ve taken but a few days.

It’s taken eight months to get to this point! My boyfriend Ron and I did most of the work ourselves. But it’s finally coming together.

ann
Ann

I was born with the retro in my DNA, and in my attic! My dad was a bomber pilot in WWII, and my Mom was a glamour girl. ALL Dad’s war gear and many of Mom’s best dresses, skirts, seamed stockings, hair rats etc were up in our attic. As a teen, I wore them to school. I also combed thrift shops back in the 70s and acquired an impressive collection of bubble dresses, swing jackets, clam diggers, you name it! I loved anything and everything 40s, but 50s mid mod — hated it! It was a slow seduction that began with my sister sharing links to your photos of Time Capsule houses. Within those photos I began seeing styles that went far beyond kitschy diner. I began to collect pieces here and there, and found it went beautifully with my (then) obsession with Middle Eastern/West Indian decor. Finally, when I bought a 1965 Condo last year, my appreciation of mid-mod blossomed into love!

aqua kitchenThe condo had its original kitchen and bath. I was prepared to love the kitchen, but it had a long, hard, sad life, and was unsalvageable. The kitchen had the much desired gold-flecked laminate counter tops, and I did my very best to save them. ( Alas, black mold infiltrating the substrate defeated me. Badly neglected, cheap-to-begin-with cabinets also needed replacing. The bathroom, however, with its cast iron tub, console sink, and mud-set mosaic tile floor were saved. Yay! Now there’s a retro kitchen to match!

Thanks so much for creating your website. Without it, I would never have found my dream kitchen!!

Ann shares the products she used for her Retro Renovation kitchen remodel:

  • Kitchen cabinets: Millwork LLC, Trubauersville, PA. The cabinets faces and doors are solid maple, and the boxes are lumber core veneer plywood, she says.
  • Paint for the kitchen cabinets: Benjamin Moore Tropicana Cabana in a special catalyzed paint with a high gloss finish coat.
  • Cabinet pulls: Top Knobs M390 Nouveau Pierced Pull Chrome (*affiliate link)
  • Counter tops: Pionite, Primary Yellow
  • Faucet: Chicago Faucet, same as Pam’s. “I was reading your archives,” Ann said, “saw you had that Chicago Faucet and asked you about it in comments. We absolutely love it. Talk about quality and worth every red cent!”
  • Refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave: Frigidaire Gallery from H H Gregg.
  • Oven: Brand new Kenmore Pro snagged on ebay for 1/4 the price. A closeout — picked up at a Sears in NJ.
  • Stovetop: GE, gently used from Craigslist for 1/3 the price of new.
  • Kitchen light: “… My crown jewel — a group effort!,” Ann explains. “I found it on ebay. It’s a Lightolier, and had been salvaged from a movie theater demolition. It was white enameled metal. Ron, my boyfriend, suggested we have Millwork LLC paint it Tropicana Cabana. Then they suggested we add the yellow to the trim parts.”

Ann, there is not much more for me to say than: This is a really ingenious kitchen — you did an amazing job — and yes, when Ron gets his second wind and the back splash is finished, you know we’d love to see the finished kitchen. Thank you so much sharing!

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63 comments

Comments

  1. Ann WesleyHardin says

    Oh wow you all are so generous and wonderful!! Thank you so much for all the lovely compliments. We’re absolultely thrilled and honored to be featured here and you’ve made it 10x more thrilling. Thanks to all, and especially to Pam!

    • pam kueber says

      oh, you are so sweet, thank YOU. and you are now officially a semifinalist for Retro Renovator of the Year. 🙂

  2. Lauryn says

    Oh wow, kudos to you, Ann! What a vibrant, lovely space … and such a complete turn around from the before kitchen. Your cabinets are simply gorgeous. (And while this has nothing to do with the kitchen, I hope you don’t mind me saying that I love your hair! I get so excited seeing beautiful women who are not afraid to let their grey be grey. You look as lovely and vibrant as your kitchen!)

  3. Wayne says

    Ann-Love your kitchen! I did the same thing as you when remodeling-I opted to pull out the range and install a wall oven with a cooktop. Looks much cleaner and truer to the period! I have the same dishwasher as you. Great minds think alike!

  4. Caroline says

    looks so great – we’re moving into a 1964 midcentury tomorrow with original kitchen and I will incorporate some of these ideas as we restore….but one big question. How did it end up costing?

    • Ann WesleyHardin says

      Hi Caroline, From what I’ve read here, this kitchen was about 5K more than what it would have cost us to hunt, transport and refinish steel cabinets. Not including labor or aspirin 😉

      Vintage tile can be pricey @ $13-17/sq foot. That was my splurge. To save money, we laid the tile ourselves, and did the tear down of the old kitchen as well as the prepping of the walls for the new kitchen. Laminate countertops are also budget friendly.

      Good luck with your renovation! It’s a ton of work, but so satisfying in the end.

  5. Robin, NV says

    Wow, great job matching the inspiration kitchen. I love the floor tile you picked. It’d be nice if we could see a close up of it next to the cupboards.

    I love the bold color choices too! The yellow counters and turquoise cupboards look fantastic together.

    • Ann WesleyHardin says

      Hi Robin, I’ve snapped scores of pictures of that floor–trying to capture its lusciousness in different lights–to no avail. Sadly, it’s not photogenic. Otherwise I’d be thrilled to email you a pic.

  6. Annie B. says

    Ann, your “now” kitchen far outshines the Koravos kitchen, to me. I like your choice of vivid colors and dramatic, interesting tile patterns. I, too, thought Pam’s kitchen was your source of inspiration.

    You have inspired me to consider painting my dark and room-shrinking kitchen cabinets in that eye-popping aqua. Thanks to you and Pam for sharing all the great details. Congrats on an amazing renovation.

    • Ann WesleyHardin says

      Annie B, Do it! Do it! You won’t be sorry. Tropicana Cabana is the happiest color I’ve ever chosen, and it matches things way more than you would ever think! Historically, kitchens have repelled me. But this one draws me in and even makes me want to *faint* cook! 😉

      • Annie B. says

        Thank you so much for your encouragement! Blue, of any shade, is my husband’s favorite color. He’s red-green color blind, so aqua with yellow accents would be a perfect combination for our kitchen. Who knows, I too, might want to cook with that lovely color surrounding me.

  7. Aurora says

    This kitchen is phenomenal! The aqua/turquoise color on the cabinets is to die for. Dream kitchen for sure! Enjoy, enjoy!!