Here’s a timeless question: Readers Kate and Tom ask how to approach a Retro Renovation of their 1960s kitchen — which was updated by previous owners in another decade’s style — but, with an eye toward being thrifty and toward resale some day. What is your advice? Note: I’ll let readers comment for a while, then, I will follow up with my thoughts and what I learn from you!
Update: My followup story with my ideas is here.
Kate and Tom write (edited from two emails for flow):
Hiya,
This truly is a great resource! I’m pondering ways to re-vintage our 1960s house, which we bought a couple years ago from a couple who had done painstaking renovations of their own (not the original owners) in the 1990s. The house has their flesh-toned fingerprints all over it, and he was a master woodworker, so it’s a very professional 1990s vibe that we have to contend.
We have both lived in older homes that looked more true to their era, and we long for that midcentury look which seems to match the house’s soul. Here is a photo of the kitchen. We just added paint color but dislike hardware, granite, backsplash.
I’m still just in the visioning stages of trying to picture some remodeling, and need some input about our granite countertops/stainless steel/wood cabinets (cherry? oak) with their wrought iron pulls….Worried about resale value, and expenses just to create an aesthetic when what we’ve got functions well and is “up to date.”
What are your thoughts? How can we accentuate more of that 1960s vibe in a way that won’t detract from potential resale value?
–Kate and Tom in Minneapolis
Readers, what do you think?
How should Kate and Tom approach a Retro Renovation — also with an eye toward resale and unnecessary expenditures?
Lee says
I actually find the cabinets to be the one thing in this kitchen (excluding the new paint color) that looks suitably 1960s to me almost as it is. I might remove the handle from the panel just under the sink and above the cabinet doors and cut some horizontal ventilation slots (or whatever they were for) which was a common feature of sink cabinets in the ’50s up to the mid ’60s. If there’s a pull-out tray behind the panel you still want to access, use handles/pulls at the left and right.
I think the current appliances are too obviously recent to work in a mid-century kitchen, although they are quite good ones (GE Profile stove and microwave, think that’s a Bosch dishwasher, and all three are definitely from 2000 or later as I recognise those styles; the GE items were in production until a few years ago). If you’re really serious about capturing a ’60s look I would try to find a matching or complementry cabinet face so you could replace the stove with a separate wall oven and cooktop; I would place the wall oven at the far right and put the cooktop either to the left of it or to the right of the sink at the right side of that bank of cabinets. Then you could use something like that retro Smeg oven (FU67-5) and cooktop (PU64ES or PU75ES), there are several other brands with ’60s-ish cooking appliances too. That obviously would require a new countertop as well; fortunately a retro-patterned laminate countertop framed with ribbed steel or aluminum is inexpensive. I personally would take that opportunity to switch to a large single-bowl sink which I find much more usable, though some people still prefer two small bowls. Top it with a faucet that’s less trendy than what’s there now. The fridge is obviously recent; the only retro fridges seem to ape styles from the 1950s or earlier which are distinct from the squared-off ’60s styles. I occasionally see awesome-looking ’60s refrigerators sold on Craiglist or elsewhere for not much money, but they can be hard to find and/or take time to find, and they might not be efficient, in good shape, or large enough for your needs. Also some of them still have the old not-frost-free freezers. I don’t have a good solution here – I’ve thought about removing handles from old refrigerators and trying to attach them to otherwise plain-looking new ones lol.
The laminate floor (or wood which I doubt it is) also wasn’t common in ’60s kitchens. Here at least you can throw a nice vinyl or linoleum pattern right on top of it; if potential buyers don’t like it they can remove it and revert to the existing floor.
Some retro light fixture would complete the look. For the recessed lights, use Soraa Vivid 9°/2700 LED PAR30 bulbs with the 60° wide-beam snap-on filter, which have a nice retro look to them (kind of like a fresnel lens), not to mention very long life, low power consumption, and spectacular better-than-incandescent light quality (I have these in my living room and bedroom). Those are for 5″ cans; if those are 6″ their larger PAR38 size doesn’t work as well appearancewise. There are replacement retro trim kits for the recessed lights you may want to try as well as or in instead of new bulbs.
Pam Kueber says
Note, Big Chill’s “Retropolitan” refrigerator has the 60s/70s squared-off look: https://bigchill.com/shop/refrigerators/retropolitan-big-chill-refrigerator/
Pat says
I do whatever I want with my kitchen because I love the retro look and I don’t care about resale value. The buyers can do what they want after they buy it, and I hope I never know what they do to ruin it.
Rick G says
Right on !! – the brilliant realtor that sold us this place kept rambling on, what not to do & what to do – & keep resale in mind – I told her we’ll do it our way – I couldn’t care less about resale. ( I more or less told her to get lost ) 🙂
Charles Lynn, Jr. D.D.S. says
Having an original midmod kichen from 1956, I can agree with Bill. Stainless appliances were available at the time, as well as a wall mounted refrigerator, two of which I still have. Brushed nickel pulls to tie in the appliances, and either a speckled beige or grey vinyl tile(or similar offerings from vendors previously featured on this website) would be the easiest way to get the feel you are looking for. Getting either retro or period small appliances from kitchen aid or yard/estate sales should economically complete what you are looking for.
Kristin says
Cabinets are well done and last owner being a master woodworker, would be a crime to take them out (plus, they would be OK for sixties!) do floor, countertops- and- WALLPAPER. Don’t forget 1960s style WALL PAPER. That is key. Wallpaper is what separates the modern from the vintage. Find one that is period correct (and it may not be pretty! Not too many were back then!) you may have to spend a few dollars for a pleasant design and color.
Check out some 1960s design mags from that period, and don’t limit yourself to ads and catalogs, try to find actual footage from the 1960s of kitchen interiors from people’s homes. News. interviews on archive.org may have some for you. By the way, archive.org has TONSsssss of home and interior catalogs and advertisements from any decade you want practically. A great resource for researchers.
Throw an oval rug in there, some wicker, and you’re gold.
Douglas Camin @ House on Rynkus Hill says
Our split-level had a kitchen that was updated in the late 1980s (but good updates – all WoodMode cabinets, for instance), and had been incrementally kept up by my grandparents since. Some things made sense while others were out of place. I follow the philosophy of being “mid century compatible” – I do not seek to make everything vintage for the sake of being vintage, but instead find items that are harmonious with MCM style and, when in place, make people say “I can’t tell what is original and what is new.”
One key element that makes our kitchen feel retro is the backsplash – all original 4 inch ceramic tile. I also replaced the linoleum floor with Armstrong Striations tile (installs like VCT, but is better), replaced the 80s-style pulls with simple modern chrome ones, made the paint a neutral color to allow the kitchen elements (particularly the wood cabinets) stand on their own (kitchen is same wall color as living\dining), and put in all white appliances (you’d be surprised how much putting in white appliances retros them out, even if they are brand new.)
You can see before\after pictures here: http://www.houseonrynkushill.com/2015/11/22/before-and-after-kitchen/
Pam Kueber says
Very nice!
Bill says
I’ve worked on many original high-end 50’s & 60’s homes and what you currently have looks period except for the wood flooring. Most had quality VA tile that was held down with black mastic. You can install peel & stick vinyl tile over the laminate flooring (or wood) then take it off later if needed by heating the tile with a hair dryer to release the adhesive so they can be peeled off. Any adhesive residue on the floor will come off with mineral spirits or denatured alcohol.
If you want to change the pulls then take a few off to see if the wood’s finish has yellowed. If it did then you’ll want the new pulls to cover the lighter wood.
wendy watson says
I would leave the cabinets, floors and appliances alone. Those would be expensive to replace. My house is in the same situation as yours and I’m glad I didn’t redo everything now I worked with what I had and I’m very happy with it now. Things you can do to get a retro vibe would be to repaint, add a rug, change the drawer pulls, add some retro light fixtures and curtains, and just accessorize the heck out of it. Luckily most of what is there is pretty neutral and you can work with it. You’ll be glad you didn’t redo everything later on and then you can spend your money on other things. Plus you sound like you’re not going to be staying there for good.
Lisa says
ive been incrementally updating (backdating) my 1980s kitchen into a thrifty MCM style. If that granite had been in mine I would’ve kept it and worked around it. People love it, and you can aim for a mod vibe with that counter color. The cabinets bother me more than the floor. If that’s real wood, keep it. It’s timeless. Could even be stained. If it isn’t, A throw rug (or FLOR tile area rug) could make a huge diff for a lot less $$. For cabinets: There are lots of companies out there, but I’ve used reface Depot.com and replaced my doors myself with flat panel. That could be an option-save the shaker doors in the attic for next buyer. OR have your existing doors painted in a fun color professionally-it’s not as expensive as you might think. I used contact paper on the wooden frames of my cabinets because less messy than painting I can change out colors/styles for fun. look at panyl.com if you’d like more covering ideas. Tempaper has great wall coverings. Their Trippy-same style as the Americans kitchen. If it’s possible to remove the granite backsplash without harming countertop, tile down to counter might’ve cool. If not, paint is always your friend. a retro light fixture makes a world of diff. Agree on cabinet hardware swap out!
Melody T. says
Find a Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper for the backsplash — something that will pick up the paint color you chose while tying in the gray tones of your granite counters. For a ’60’s aesthetic, I gotta say Reverb in Tambourine Green would be my pick. Your paint color works well with the warm tones of your cabinetry, and I’d switch out those handles for chrome boomerangs. Use a flat tailored valance over the window (no gathers), and if you do anything with flooring, I’d say go with a beige VCT with apple green and blue randomly placed tiles. Finally, accessorize — maybe chalkware on the aqua soffit, or at the very least, some canisters and accessories on the counters in turquoise with maybe pops of orange to contrast and wake things up.
Alison says
I live in a neighborhood of houses built mostly before 1965 and I have seen vintage stainless steel range inserts, wall ovens and rotesseries. Not refrigerators or dishwashers, but I think there were some higher end stainless steel cooking appliances by the 1950’s.
liz omps says
There were also stainless steel countertops which were original sixties installations borrowed from industrial kitchen designs. They were marketed as a means to avoid scorched countertops, touted as more sanitary and relatively ‘worry free’. In 1966 we lived in a house which, though built in the 20s, had undergone a kitchen reno in the very early 60s and sported these stainless countertops. However, they DID get a fair amount of dings from normal family wear and tear.