Repurposed / Reclaimed / Nontraditional Kitchen Island.
Obviously I want a sink. And a stove. And for sure a dishwasher… But the rest of it?
I DO NOT WANT THAT.
And the thing I most do not want is cabinets… Paul is so excited.
We have been everywhere from the super high-end custom place to the maze of hope-turned-despair that is IKEA… and? They’re exactly the same: boxes.
Varying degrees of niceness and bankruptcy, but still just boxes… That look just like everyone else’s boxes. Which, invariably is what I will end up with, but is still bothersome.
It is strange that a total kitchen remodel is one of the most expensive projects you can do in your house… And after you spend all of that money, what you have is a kitchen that looks JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER kitchen.
I mean, maybe you project your specialness onto your cabinet doors and countertop… But I am not sure that I can limit my self-expression to knob-choice.
On the other hand – I hear that boxes have good resale value.
And that you may be burned at the stake for violating the box code.
I just read a comment thread on one of the shelter-magazine’s Facebook pages where random people said how DISGUSTING someone’s kitchen makeover was because they had replaced two upper cabinets with open shelving.
I cannot overstate the angry-mob-with-pitchforks-and-boiling-oil.
The commenters predicted doom and armageddon and ranted about how the shelving would soon be coated in a thick layer of grease, dog hair, and unimaginable filth.
It was hilarious. And completely insane– what is wrong with people? How can anyone possibly care that much about a total stranger’s kitchen choices?
I mean, as a blogger – I can only HOPE that people care so much about my kitchen.
I hope all of the haters arrive together, on a party bus… I will welcome them and hand out Mardi Gras beads and jell-o shots to fuel the shrieking outcry of criticism and loathing.
But what if Paul and I do not live here forever? What if at some point we need to move?
If total strangers can hate a minor deviation from traditional kitchen design THAT MUCH… How might they feel if they are actually considering buying our kitchen?
9 million more kitchens– my pinterest board
I will love you EVEN MORE… if you share me with your friends!
Jennifer
February 3, 2015 @ 7:21 pm
I could live my whole life without any upper cabinets. Hate them. Your kitchen should look just exactly the way you want. Especially if someone else does most of the cooking.
Tracy
February 3, 2015 @ 7:37 pm
Hi Victoria,
I just built something like this for our kitchen. It has old factory drawers, industrial machine legs and wood from an old chicken coop. The oven hood is suspended from a hay roller. They turned out fantastic. I wish I could figure out how to post a picture for you.
Felicia
February 3, 2015 @ 9:10 pm
Even if I someday sell my 1903 farmhouse, I don’t care…..I’m on a mad hunt for an old library card catalog to incorporate into my kitchen. You could use yours as an island or even part of a base cabinet. Don’t listen to the haters. Do what your heart tells you!
[email protected]
February 3, 2015 @ 11:24 pm
Pilar Guzman’s kitchen in Martha Stewart Living Magazine. The most perfect kitchen design ever. Nuff said 🙂
Lucy
February 4, 2015 @ 8:18 am
I so enjoyed reading this post! Agree with it whole heartedly. Why have the same as everyone else when you can create the room you want, something that works for you and is special to you. Bring on the haters! 🙂
Emily
February 4, 2015 @ 10:00 am
Sigh. I’ve never had the luxury of designing my own kitchen beyond repainting, never had an island. At the moment I have a child-sizzled table (and chairs) in the center of my kitchen. It’s an older house , probably intended as a vacation place or something. The kitchen is impossible. There’s a window or a door on every wall, plus the ever-so-necessary downstairs toilet for the newly potty-trained. Work space? Pretty much the floor, if you are doing something involved.
It will be very expensive to modernize this kitchen, and I leave it to the next owners. There will be owners; apart from the kitchen and the lack of closets
, it’s a beautiful house on beautiful property with a school nearby.
I read your blog and drool. I’m having all this fun while you work so hard to provide it!
Katie Howard
February 4, 2015 @ 10:31 am
YES YES YES!!! this IS me. I shared a piece of furniture on my blog a while back I absolutely think is worth building a house around. While this isn’t an island I certainly find it to be more appropriate than cabinets!!
http://numbersandnails.com/2012/12/23/think-outside-the-cabinets/
it’s STILL there! WHYYYY? it’s waiting for me obviously.
missfifi
February 4, 2015 @ 2:21 pm
I loathe the idea of having to design for some imaginary seller. Its your house, you are living in it, make it how you want.
I am of the group that does not like open shelving, but then that means I don’t need to have it. That simple. I also am tired of white kitchens, prefer no upper cabinets and we want an aqua/turquoise colored fridge and stove.
As my brother who works with an interior designer for high end homes has pointed out numerous times, a lot of their clients will have them rip out five year old kitchens because it’s not the look they want. Insane. You are talking $1000k plus kitchens. So you do exactly what you want to do to your house
Renov8or
February 4, 2015 @ 6:50 pm
Everything is so yesterday in 3 years time.
Do what you love if you are going to live in it for at least the next 3 years.
Screw the next owners. If they have any gumption at all they are going to rip out whatever you’ve done (so take things with you by all means!) and put in what THEY love.
Erica W.
February 4, 2015 @ 8:01 pm
But all of the ones with the wooden island in the middle look the same, too. Especially when they have the same statuette of the woman with the raised arm. Everything looks the same when you’ve seen four photos of it. Wouldn’t you like to just be done with it and have a place to eat and store things and wash dishes?
annel
February 4, 2015 @ 8:33 pm
You are a hoot Victoria, I`am in TOTAL AGREEMENT with you, I hate traditional Kitchens, my Husband ALMOST divorced me for painting brand new cherry stained kitchen cabinets,(bought the house that way) I also LOVE open shelving and or freestanding antique cabinets, I think my favorite picture was the kitchen with the old dresser as an island, although I LOVED all the islands! I was going to buy and old tool working table, just beautiful, but it was to long for my kitchen so I had one made out of old balusters, recycled doors and a stone slab top with locking wheels, came out perfect, just like I wanted and best part, for a mere $300! <3
annel
February 4, 2015 @ 9:01 pm
Oh yes, Victoria, I almost forgot, I went to home depot and bought Carved Wood Corbels for under all the cupboards to give them an old world feel, amazing what some paint and architectural features can do to a boring kitchen!! 😉
Laura
February 4, 2015 @ 10:15 pm
I am crying laughing! I read this out loud for my husband’s enjoyment. He realized afterwards what a gift I had shared. So good.
Jo @ Let's Face the Music
February 5, 2015 @ 7:10 am
We made our one-of-a-kind kitchen island from my mother’s old breakfront and we love it. Here’s the progression for Paul: https://charlieandjo.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/granite-island/ Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
February 5, 2015 @ 7:35 am
By now I’m sure you have eyestrain from reading all of the comments so I will make mine short! You dear girl, will NEVER do anything ordinary because somewhere along the line you’ll find a way to make it original!!
Taylor Adams
February 5, 2015 @ 10:36 am
In the off chance that you’d like to spend a lot of money on something new that looks old, I would highly recommend a woodworking company called Custom Wood Products. I think they have a showroom in Ohio but they’re based out of Kansas. I used to be a kitchen designer and they were by far the best company to work with. They build all their cabinets using “gang construction” meaning no individual boxes, just one long run of cabinetry. That, I don’t think will appeal to you. But they could absolutely build some of your inspiration islands you have above. Check out this bar they made
http://www.cwponline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=191&Itemid=279
The coolest thing I ever built with them was a tall pantry style cabinet that actually hid the dishwasher and included some cookie sheet divider drawers. Anywhoozle, my point (I think) is that you should absolutely do something cool and unique like you’ve posted above and that you could potentially pay somebody a couple thousand dollars to make something like that rather than searching Craigslist for it. Although, I’d probably search Craigslist for it 🙂
Janice @Curtains in My Tree
February 5, 2015 @ 11:45 am
Hello
Oh my seeing all those kitchens makes me want to get home and just clean my little white kitchen up and declutter it . LOL
my favorite is the architectural digest kitchen island with all those yummy statues and black and white BUTTER thingie on it
This was fun seeing them all and thinking what I can do in my little white kitchen
aneke
February 6, 2015 @ 3:11 am
On the off chance that you’re going to get through all the comments: I saw this blog http://www.chateaudegudanes.org/captains-log and thought you would enjoy it. Which is weird because I’m a complete stranger, but its practically a CASTLE (albeit rundown) in the Pyrenees that an Australian lady is taking on. They keep finding surprises, like mystery holes / tunnels in the floor and original painted beams.. anyway, it is filled with giant fancy things!
Janet
February 6, 2015 @ 5:27 pm
I thought I had it bad when redoing our kitchen, but I see being more pragmatic actually made decisions a little easier for me. Earthquake country, dog hair, dirt roads, woodstove, and mis-matched dishes = cupboard doors, and simplified doors at that, rather than the original ones with multiple layers of framing which were stylish, but held way too much dust and dog hair. I put glass in a couple of the boxes to add depth to a small kitchen. Modern drawers in the lower boxes have amazing self-closing engineering. Something to consider over older pieces with sticky drawers. I liked what another commenter said, too, that after three photos, even the bureaus-as-kitchen-islands start to look the same. Do what you like, and what will work for you, and enjoy it! Do as much research as you can stand, especially if you’re leaning on how it looks, since others have found the functionality of style to be a disappointment, like the gardenweb lady who regretted having the countertop on top of the sink divider (because when you move the faucet from side to side the water runs down the counter to the floor), and a friend who paid a custom cabinet maker to build a beautiful corner coffee bar in her new kitchen. Unfortunately the fancy coffee maker stuck out too far from the cabinet and blocked the window, so they thought to turn it into a wine bar, but the setting sun through the window would ruin the wine, so now it’s just a very expensive, custom, very pretty storage cabinet. Moral of the story, be flexible and make list of must-haves, before you even start to design or shop.
linda spiker
February 6, 2015 @ 7:12 pm
Funny, I adore open floating shelves in kitchens. Guess I’ll be burned at the stake.