This house flipper goes retro — with immediate success

We’re now — often painfully — accustomed to house flippers whose first step is to strip charming original features to create a ‘blank slate’ that they believe will appeal to today’s potential buyers. But reader Bill, who fixes up and resells old homes in Memphis, Tennessee, recently took the opposite strategy — with immediate success.

He recently completed the remodel of a vintage cottage style home, drawing his inspiration from the one remaining bit of character in the home’s empty kitchen — a model A Vent-A-Hood. After some research, Bill transformed the space into a fun 1950s style kitchen space using white thermofoil-door cabinets, red laminate countertops with chrome edging, a checkerboard VCT floor and vintage Tappan stove.

Bill writes:

I renovate old houses for a living in Midtown Memphis, primarily Victorian cottages and Craftsman bungalows circa 1910-1930. My latest project was a 3 bedroom, 1 bath (actually no bath at the time) frame cottage. I made the middle bedroom into a master closet and 1 1/2 “Jack and Jill” bathrooms. I added a ventless fireplace off Craigslist, new plumbing, etc.

But the star of this show is the kitchen. When I bought it it was a mess with no style whatsoever, but what it did have was a circa 1950 model “A” Vent-A-Hood — a 42″ white canopy with chrome trim and backsplash. The motor sounded like it wanted to work but the “squirrel cage” was clogged with decades of grease, food, lint, and who knows what. Just a few years ago, I would probably have pulled it out and set it on the curb for scrap, but I’ve begun to appreciate old appliances, sinks, etc. more, in part due to Retro Renovation. So I decided to design the kitchen around this great old hood. (Incidentally, Vent-A-Hood makes a modern version of this hood priced over $1,000!)

The next piece of the puzzle was, of course, a vintage range. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Chambers for several years, looked at a few, but never pulled the trigger. Of course, when I really needed one they were nowhere to be found. But on Craigslist, I did find a circa-1953 Tappan DeLuxe not three miles from the house that was in decent cosmetic and good working condition for $100. I bought it, took it home to my garage and cleaned it up, did some rewiring, freed up the frozen clock gears, and plugged it in. The clock works – and keeps good time! This is not the place for a range renovation story, but I would recommend to anyone with or contemplating a Tappan, to check out the blog called TappanTalk.

• See our story 28 places to buy restored vintage stoves

With the perfect appliances all set to go, I then set out to make sure they were in a good place, so to speak. I scoured Craigslist for metal cabinets but could not find enough in the right dimensions. What I ended up doing was getting white KraftMaid Thermofoil flush door, full overlay with 30″ wall cabinets. They look uncannily like metal. KraftMaid wanted $400 for wall and base curved bookshelves so I just made my own and had paint matched to the exact cabinet color. I also wanted authentic boomerang pulls but, as you may know, they are hard to find and expensive – about $25 each. Although there are reproductions out there, I found some readily available (not boomerang) curved chrome pulls from Amerock from Home Depot. Under $2 apiece. (footnote – a few months later I bought a large set of Youngstown cabinets for less that the 22 pulls alone are worth!)

For the countertops I went with red Formica “self edge” laminate and added 1 1/4″ stainless steel edging from New York Metals. [Pam notes, in looking at this story later, I think this edging is actually New York Metals’ Aluminum edging [not stainless steel] — the aluminum comes in this size, profile and with holes, with the stainless steel does not.] If you do this, make sure the fabricator makes the slabs 1 1/4″ thick, which is not the usual size. After installing the edging I think I now know why you see so many curves in these old kitchens — the edging is easily bent around curves but is a pain to miter for corners. I used a Dremel tool with 1″ cutoff wheels, but it is hard to keep it straight and get clean joints. I opened the wall into the dining room and installed a breakfast bar that looks more like an old time drug store counter.

I would have loved to have a cast iron sink with drainboards but could not find one at the right time, so I just went with a white porcelain over steel double sink. The faucet is a chrome “Classic Series” Delta. Rounding out the retro look are mint green walls, black and white checked VCT floor, “atomic age” ceiling fixtures, and a white GE Artistry Series dishwasher.

The house sold immediately — because of  the kitchen. I’ve done some nice kitchens in other houses but, other than one in Craftsman style, they have not been as stylistically coherent as this one. I’m not going to be doing 1910 kitchens and most of the ones I find in my houses are not worth saving, so I’m beginning to think that what’s appropriate for these old houses is to do the kitchen in any period of their lives. After all, the kitchen in a 100-year-old house may have already been redone several times.

Bill, you did a fantastic job on the kitchen. We’re so glad that you found someone who appreciated your hard work so quickly, too. And, we are so glad you found Retro Renovation helpful in your search for materials and that you chose to go against the ‘beige and granite’ trend. Kudos to you for a job well done, and thanks so much for sharing your story here with all of us!