The Kitchen and the Island

I love my little kitchen

The kitchen in my 1920's home

It's small

10 x 10

But it has two windows

One over the stove

(which I think was where the sink was located when the house was built)

And one over the sink

(which I think is where perhaps a breakfast table may have been placed --

when the house was built)

Both windows are original to the house

So their "footprint" was not changed over the years

And both sport white Battenburg lace curtains

Fitting, I think for a 20s house

The original unfitted cabinetry was replaced in the 40s --

after World War II

Plain wooden cabinets -- painted pink!

(They're still here in basement and garage -- wooden, painted but plain door fronts)

And then the 40s cabinetry was replaced once again in 1983

with 1980s oak cabinets

(Just like the cabinets which were put into any new build in the 80s)

We're grateful that when they did the backsplash they put in white tile,

not subway but 4 x 4's, and the countertop was the same.

But we wanted to "age" the kitchen . . . 

We took the panels out of the uppers and put in glass

And we painted them white!

Ten years later at Husband Jim's suggestion,

we painted the lower's green and the uppers a beige

20s green!

And 10 years ago, we changed the countertop from white 4 x 4 tile to marble

I think we did a good job of "aging" the kitchen because when we were

on a homes tour, we had many comments about "oh, they have the original kitchen"!

One of my favorite parts of the kitchen

Is this piece of marble

Grey

On top of an island

WHO would put an island in a 10 x 10 kitchen?

Put in an island way before islands were all that popular in kitchens?

Why, we would!

The marble has history

I worked for 30 years for the State of Missouri

At an institution for developmentally disabled

It was built in 1885 and originally was a wonderful example of Victorian architecture

But in 1991 it downsized from a whole campus of buildings to just 2.

Closed it's kitchen so it could  outsource it.

One positive from the downsizing and closing of the kitchen

was the kitchen was dismantled

Their pastry marble came to Linderhof's kitchen!

The perfect countertop for an island!

I even had a base built to fit

With shelves on two sides and a place for Jim's wine refrigerator in one end.

And because I thought it would be neat,

I stained the outside of the island and painted the inside shelves the cabinet color

Because islands should be a contrast

And this January, I decided that perhaps contrast was not a good thing

That contrast would not have been in the 20s

So last month I painted it to match the other cabinets

Looks so much better!

Makes the kitchen feel lighter!

(Can't believe that little bit of dark wood made the kitchen seem so dark)

And makes it feel cleaner

(which I don't understand!)

Now, of course, I'm mad at myself that I waited so long.

Mad at myself that I didn't do it in the first place!

I do love my little kitchen.

It's a great place to cook.

And although it's not original

I think it has a great 20s vibe!