Kitchen of the Week: A Sophisticated Take on 1920s Cottage Style
An Illinois designer embraces her 100-year-old home’s vintage look while incorporating modern features and finishes
Layout. Functionally, the layout is a long work triangle with the island in the center. That’s the refrigerator hiding behind panel fronts in the foreground on the right. The dishwasher is concealed by a panel to the right of the sink. Using panel fronts maintains continuity throughout the room.
Stairs that lead to the backyard are on the left just out of view. The sink area enjoys a nice big window that lets in lots of light and looks out on the backyard.
Storage. Loffredo recommends taking a complete inventory of everything you’ll need to store and designing the cabinets accordingly. In this room, a cabinet on one side of the range has slat dividers for sheet pans and cutting boards; the other side has a 12-inch pullout spice rack. The island has deep drawers for pots and pans, and behind the doors there are pullout shelves.
Cabinets: Trim Tech Designs
Stairs that lead to the backyard are on the left just out of view. The sink area enjoys a nice big window that lets in lots of light and looks out on the backyard.
Storage. Loffredo recommends taking a complete inventory of everything you’ll need to store and designing the cabinets accordingly. In this room, a cabinet on one side of the range has slat dividers for sheet pans and cutting boards; the other side has a 12-inch pullout spice rack. The island has deep drawers for pots and pans, and behind the doors there are pullout shelves.
Cabinets: Trim Tech Designs
Floating shelves. The couple used carefully designed custom cabinetry for their lower cabinets and decided to forgo upper cabinets. This left room for more windows, an expansive backsplash and open shelves. “I really wanted to bring in some wood to the room, and this was a great way to do it,” Loffredo says. They use the lower cabinets for everyday items and the top shelves for displaying favorite things.
The Pros and Cons of Upper Kitchen Cabinets and Open Shelves
The Pros and Cons of Upper Kitchen Cabinets and Open Shelves
Countertops and backsplash. Loffredo chose Calacatta Crema marble for the counters, and it continues up the walls as an extended backsplash. “This is very European. I wanted to bring a bit of Italy home,” she says. “And because it doesn’t have grout like most backsplashes do, it’s much easier to clean.” The windowsills that meet the backsplash are made of the same marble.
Carrara vs. Calacatta Marble: What Is the Difference?
Carrara vs. Calacatta Marble: What Is the Difference?
Lighting. While she stuck with classic hardware and other vintage-style details, the designer had some fun with these pendant lights. “This was a good chance to add something more modern and eye-catching,” she says. The shades are concrete and have wood accents. She chose a size that wouldn’t overwhelm the room.
Pendant lights: Dane concrete dome with wood cap, Four Hands Furniture
Pendant lights: Dane concrete dome with wood cap, Four Hands Furniture
Sink. Those standing at the sink enjoy views out over the backyard. The dishwasher is to the right of the sink. “This sink had a drainboard that reminded me of my grandmother’s kitchen in Italy, so I had to have it,” Loffredo says. “Not only do I love the look, but it’s very functional.”
Faucet. The polished nickel bridge faucet suits the era of the home.
Sink: Wetstyle; faucet: Perrin & Rowe; browse traditional nickel faucets
Faucet. The polished nickel bridge faucet suits the era of the home.
Sink: Wetstyle; faucet: Perrin & Rowe; browse traditional nickel faucets
Hardware. “I used unlacquered brass on the cabinet hardware and the sconces because it will change in patina over time. And while it happens to be very in style right now, it’s something that ties the room to the early 1900s,” Loffredo says. “I think mixing metals gives a home a timeless look.”
Cabinet knobs and pulls: Rejuvenation; see more brass hardware
Cabinet knobs and pulls: Rejuvenation; see more brass hardware
Walls. Loffredo used tongue-and-groove paneling on the walls to give them a cozy cottage look. The paneling continues down the stairwell, left.
Though these birch pantry doors are new, Loffredo and business partner Sarah Coscarelli designed them to look like the other beautiful original doors in the house. Loffredo also carried the millwork, such as the baseboards, from the original architecture into the kitchen.
Wall paint: Alabaster, Sherwin-Williams; doorknobs: Rejuvenation
Though these birch pantry doors are new, Loffredo and business partner Sarah Coscarelli designed them to look like the other beautiful original doors in the house. Loffredo also carried the millwork, such as the baseboards, from the original architecture into the kitchen.
Wall paint: Alabaster, Sherwin-Williams; doorknobs: Rejuvenation
Pantry. “We always try to work in a walk-in pantry for our clients whenever we can,” Loffredo says. In this case, they simply framed out a corner of the room to create the space and covered the interior in subway tile from floor to ceiling. The pantry has space for both food and small appliances (the coffee maker sits out on the kitchen counter). It gets natural light from a window.
Flooring. Some of the original red oak flooring in the home had to be replaced because of wall removal and because they needed to level the floors. The designer matched up the same species for the new flooring in the kitchen and then gave all the floors in the house the same dark stain. “A lot of people would go lighter on the floors when using black cabinetry, but the walls were so white that I wanted the contrast. The dark floors make it cozier,” she says.
She had the floors stained using a “water popping” technique. The floors are covered in water so that the wood will absorb it. “The water opens up the grains and penetrates them. This makes them all more uniform in color when you stain them,” she says. A few hours later, the stain is applied.
She had the floors stained using a “water popping” technique. The floors are covered in water so that the wood will absorb it. “The water opens up the grains and penetrates them. This makes them all more uniform in color when you stain them,” she says. A few hours later, the stain is applied.
Dining area. Loffredo and her family decided to create a casual dining space in the old kitchen space to use for most of their meals together. (They got rid of the formal dining room in the renovation.) New French doors on the left lead out to the deck.
Loffredo’s sister is trained in art and has a great eye for finding wonderful works and restoring them. She gave the family the lovely portrait, which she found at an estate sale in Michigan and restored herself.
Loffredo’s sister is trained in art and has a great eye for finding wonderful works and restoring them. She gave the family the lovely portrait, which she found at an estate sale in Michigan and restored herself.
Before. The kitchen was relocated to this former sunroom area. They got rid of the door along the back wall that led out to the deck. Now they access the deck from the newly remodeled casual dining room.
After. These are the conceptual sketches (the scale is slightly larger than the “before” plan’s). The new kitchen was part of a more extensive first-floor renovation. The family gave up its formal dining room to extend the open kitchen-family room space, left.
Loffredo and her family lived in the house during the renovations. Her best advice for getting through it is to anticipate all the meals you’ll be buying at restaurants and as takeout. “It adds up and you have to plan for it as part of the budget,” she says. “Luckily my kids are patient, and I promised them I’d make them lots of great meals in the new kitchen when it was ready.”
Takeaways
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Loffredo and her family lived in the house during the renovations. Her best advice for getting through it is to anticipate all the meals you’ll be buying at restaurants and as takeout. “It adds up and you have to plan for it as part of the budget,” she says. “Luckily my kids are patient, and I promised them I’d make them lots of great meals in the new kitchen when it was ready.”
Takeaways
- Panel-front appliances provide a continuous look.
- Taking inventory of everything you’ll need to fit in your cabinets is an important part of the planning process.
- With today’s smartly designed lower cabinets, you may be able to forgo some uppers, which makes a kitchen seem airier and brighter.
- Extending the countertop material up the wall as a backsplash makes the area easy to clean.
- Mixing metals keeps things timeless and classic.
- Don’t forget to include takeout food in your kitchen remodeling budget.
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See other Kitchens of the Week
Find a kitchen designer
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Alessia Loffredo of reDesign Home, who designed the kitchen; her husband; their three children; and their dog
Location: Glen Ellyn, Illinois
Size: 240 square feet (22 square meters); 16 by 15 feet
In this kitchen, 1920 cottage style meets 2018 modern conveniences. There’s a touch of Italy thrown in as well. When interior designer Alessia Loffredo and her family moved to a Chicago suburb from Detroit, they fell in love with the charms of their 1920 English cottage-style bungalow. But they weren’t so in love with its tiny, dark kitchen. To remedy the situation, they turned the sunroom at the back of the house (a 1980s addition) into a kitchen and converted the old kitchen into an everyday dining room.
Scope of work. The kitchen renovation was the most important part of a larger renovation of the first floor. Because the new kitchen had been a sunroom, they had to remove and replace a lot of windows. It required some work to the exterior, new paneling inside and new flooring. It also entailed new plumbing and electrical work.
Style. Loffredo wanted the home’s cottage style to continue into the kitchen, but with updated touches and modern conveniences. The nods to the home’s original architecture include tongue-and-groove paneling, Shaker-style cabinets with latches and simple knobs, period-inspired sconces, casement windows and classic millwork matching that found in elsewhere in the house. Loffredo also included features that remind her of growing up in Italy. These include marble countertops that continue up the walls to become the backsplash, and a farmhouse sink with a built-in drainboard.