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?
Carol Bumbacco says
Well, my first thought is, what does the rest of the house look like? Have granite counter tops been installed in the bathrooms? Will they also have to be removed/replaced to achieve the esthetic? What type of cabinetry is in the bathrooms? What style are the bedroom/bathroom/closet doors? What is on the floors? The continuity has to be consistent …. unless this a custom design, many builder subdivisions used the same materials in the kitchens and the bathrooms and, replicated other areas. Just my thoughts…
Kate S. says
I honestly think this is a kitchen that will age very well. Rather than screaming “nineties” to me, it looks much like the original kitchen in my grandparents’ modernist style cedar DeckHouse, which was built in the late 70s from a mid century kit. The appliances are a bit 2000s, but look like they are in good condition. The cabinets are beautiful, and will blend with a range of styles. In general, but especially if you’re planning on moving within 5 to 10 years, I’d recommend Pam’s “love the home you’re in” approach. Have fun with the inexpensive surface changes like textiles and paint. (That wood is too gorgeous for me to imagine painting, though!)
mrspetunia says
Oops, my first link didn’t really get you to the right picture. Here it is:
https://bigchill.com/gallery/original-size/
Lisa in seattle says
If it were my kitchen and I had a little funds to work with, I’d replace just the countertop/backsplash and the door handles and leave the rest alone. With a neutral counter (like that hard surface one they have at Ikea or a simple quartzstone) and a simple tile backsplash you can tread the line between era-appropriate and “modernized.” Your paint color and accessories will take it as much more retro as you like, and are easily replaced with blander choices if you need to put the house on the market.
Brooke says
If you’re willing to paint the cabinets – This kitchen is super cute and could easily be pulled off with the shaker cabinets and white quartz countertop and white or light blue tile backsplash. Plus bright colours accessories and new knobs
http://cdn.homedit.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/retro-kitchen-design-ideas-1.jpg
or keep your cabinets wood with the white quartz counter and add a great coloured mosaic and retro accessories https://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/5c3131660fcfacb3_4-5592/contemporary-kitchen.jpg
Mandrake says
Agree with most of what’s been said. We went through our own backdated remodel recently so here’s what our experience was.
Since you are not opening up or moving walls I would suggest keeping the cabinets and just replacing the shaker doors with slab style doors and painting the whole thing a high gloss color so you don’t have to worry about an exact wood grain match. When we put in new cabinets we were able to find vintage chrome pulls for our cabinet doors and drawers so they help with keeping a vintage feel.
We got plain white quartz countertops but that was a compromise. My first choice was laminate with chrome trim, much cheaper than most alternatives but my wife wouldn’t go for that and we agreed on a plain white quartz. Add a drop-in kitchen sink and new faucet. Plenty of great items can be found on this site.
Our first choice for flooring was vinyl Armstrong tile (be sure to look through the commercial products not the home products http://bit.ly/2pbLLxh) In the end we ended up going with sheet vinyl though since my wife was unhappy with the non-uniform gaps between the vinyl tiles. We ended up going with this http://bit.ly/2nXaXYa which was large enough to fit our whole kitchen floor. I would advise keeping the appliances.
Here is how our kitchen came out, before and after (we still have a few more things to do but its 95% done.) http://imgur.com/a/TYeuF
Barbara says
Great job!
ineffablespace says
If you do image searches through Google, you will definitely find stained cabinets in this wood tone. You will also see panel door styles although they are less common–but you will see square panel and French Provincial applied moulding styles in particular.
You will find stainless appliances with a stainless refrigerator being the rarest, although there were split finish refrigerators and refrigerators tricked out with chrome and stainless accents.
The one appliance you would not see is an OTR microwave hood.
Like I said before though, I don’t think it is uncommon to see newer appliances in otherwise vintage kitchens. But for a more vintage feel maybe a range hood and a microwave somewhere else would be better.
You will occasionally see a wood floor in a vintage kitchen although this one is a bit light. (You see a lot of “Brick” patterned vinyl with stained cabinets and unfortunately that is something that is not available)
The one thing that you will never see (never say never but…) is a granite countertop before the 1970s sometime. And then not in a typical house. Never. You would see laminate, ceramic tile, stainless, wood, and even occasionally marble or slate in a very fancy kitchen, but a speckled granite, less than one in several thousand anyway.
The first people who started putting granite in kitchens, architects in the Late Modernist/Post Modernist period had to go to yards which supplied the commercial building trade with sheathing for commercial buildings or to a company that fabricated cemetery monuments. Granite-look laminates post-date natural granite as a counter material. Stone look laminates in the 30s to 60s tended to mimic marble or onyx.
So I think that is probably the one element that would make the biggest change.
I am not sure that granite is an absolute for resale in all markets, particularly for a midcentury fan, but even in the market where durable materials are required. man-made quartz or other natural stones have started to supplant granite anyway. In my location some species of granite are actually considered down market and show up only in rentals and builder town houses and such, and are not something people would pick as an upgrade. They are actually cheaper than laminate. In this kitchen engineered quartz could give a laminate look but meet the durability requirements (and possibly exceed expecations) for resale.
Dan says
An especially popular look for MCM kitchens was the “farmhouse/Ponderosa” style. With those cabinets and hardware, you’re halfway there. If this look appeals to you, play it up – how about a funky wallpaper border, some appropriate accessories, a wagon wheel ceiling light, and a checkerboard pattern floor? I’d work as much as possible with what you have for now. If resale value is a real concern, it would be foolish to spend a lot of money now unnecessarily that could go toward your future long term home.
Barb says
The two things that stand out to me as reasonably priced fixes are cabinet hardware replacement and flooring. We replaced the flooring in our kitchen with commercial sheet IVC Flexitec@Work Planet Modus, which is a pebble all over pattern and is available in several colors. Additionally I would replace the appliances with white as they need replacement.
Carrol says
Keep the scallop! Keep the countertop but take off the short “backsplash” pieces so a true backsplash will go all the way down to the actual counter. Change hardware on cabinets and see how they look before you decide whether to paint them. I agree that a change in floor and appliances would make a huge difference in the feel.