Parlor Kitchen #2: Contractor's Own Kitchen
The second submission we received in response to our call for parlor floor kitchen examples was from a contractor who designed and built his own. Here’s a condensed version of what he had to say about it: I feel that the kitchen is the most important part of the house for daily living & entertaining….
The second submission we received in response to our call for parlor floor kitchen examples was from a contractor who designed and built his own. Here’s a condensed version of what he had to say about it:
I feel that the kitchen is the most important part of the house for daily living & entertaining. I am a contractor and did most everything myself. Designing the space to look nice and work really well got much more complicated because I like vintage appliances. What can I say? I’m just not the Viking, Sub-Zero kind of guy…I removed the wall between the back two rooms and put in a header, making a room the full 20′ wide. Took out a dumbwaiter too so I would have enough room for the farm sink (I’m making a special base cabinet for it ), Hidden dishwasher, 1935 Chambers stove, and a new Northstar refrigerator. I took out a window and made a door with transom that walks out on an iron deck overlooking the garden. I kept the bathroom off the hall and extended the original tin ceiling, Stripped all the cherry molding & doors and re-installed the old pocket doors. It became the best room in the house and we spend most all of our time there.
What can we say…another beauty. More pics on the jump.
Ideas for the Parlor Floor Kitchen? [Brownstoner]
Parlor Kitchen #1: Architect-Designed in The Slope [Brownstoner]
Looks nice, compact & well done. I love the vintage appliances, especially that cool Chambers. I have a high back model B from the late 40’s myself & I find they are much better than any modern thing you could find & pay big bucks for. Please come by the website I manage & have a look: http://www.vintagechambers.com for lots of free scans of the old Chambers literature & related materials. All are welcome & everything is free to download as the old materials are all in the public domain.
Sure……. Here’s my contact info. You can reach me at bottlecap@mindspring.com or 718-506-7621
Thanks!
Rick
I am inspired by this kitchen and have saved pics of it (I think one was posted sometime earlier this year) to use for my kitchen reno. Mr. Contractor/ Rick, maybe you can post your info and you might get some business out of this. You seem to have great taste!
simple. beautiful. very nicely done- I’m jealous.
I tried 3 times to post a reply, I hope this one takes!
Thanks to all that had constructive things to say about my kitchen. I know the retro thing isn’t for everyone and I’m fine with that. I know it’s far from a “perfect” design but I do have space restrictions. Thank you to ” an architect in Brooklyn “, your comment rings true. To answer a few questions, yes I plan to add a vent, I waited until the deck went in. For now, I do all my messy, BBQ cooking outside on the deck. The countertops are stone, a mix of cement and glass, very green. The stove works great and is very well insulated, it has a fold down top too giving extra work space and pot storage is in the stove, to the right of the oven door. To the right of the sink is a full bath that I didn’t want to take any space from. The single cabinet next to the stove is a dishwasher. I installed the door & transom myself, the iron work was done by Lapopano & sons, in Brooklyn. If you have any additional questions or would like to see more photos you can reach me at bottlecap@mindspring.com Thanks, Rick
Love the appliances and the overall vibe. Fantastic to see something so friendly and unslick. I might have sacrified the lovely old sink for more counterspace against the wall, separating the fridge and stove. Then placed a conventional sink in the island (course the plumbing would be a bit more complicated aka expensive). Think I would also have chosen either all solid or all windowed doors for the cabinets. But this is just imho.
I like it. The shaker? mission-style? cabinets are beautiful and complement the kitchen in a fun, casual way. Great hardware pulls, and I’m liking the tall radiator too!
I once had a stove next to a fridge and it was a real drag for two reasons. One, because it’s nice to have open space on either side of your cooktop, and two: our fridge, which was old, would actually get quite hot, and it would “sweat” when we used the oven, which meant it had to work harder to keep cool, which meant it used more AC. But there was nothing we could do. And the paint did bubble up a little. If I had owned I might have redone it and created a buffer space on either side. That wouldn’t be hard for this guy, as he’s a pro contractor.
Maybe he can create two narrower cabinets to replace the total width of the single cab to the right of the stove. Then a tall matching cabinet panel could be installed between the refrigerator and cabinet, thereby encasing the fridge, that also functions as the vertical stop for the countertop on new small cabinet. That also keeps crumbs and spills from running down the side of fridge where they are irretrievable.
Agree about the vent fan, too. I so badly want one again that vents to the outside, like I had a few years ago. I love to grill chicken and stirfry indoors, and the grease really gets around. (Even if you’re a vegetarian, olive oil really gets in the air when heated up…)
Anyway, great job, and you probably saved yourself $40k, so who’s really laughing here anyway? Kudos…
I like this kitchen a lot, too–beautiful cabinetry, lots of light, cool use of vintage appliances (indeed: stop the Sub-Zero tyranny!). Congrats, OP, and please ignore posters who are being rude, here; we have an unfortunate gang of trolls who do that just to pick fights. FYI the only reason not to put the stove next to the fridge is that you ideally want to have counter space on either side of the stove. It doesn’t have anything to do with heat emanating from the stove (unless you have a faulty stove). But it is a bee-atch to configure a kitchen in a brownstone–we all have to make compromises.
Regarding the poster who mentioned ventilation, I agree with you that a range hood that vents to the outside is a verrrrrrry desirable thing. But surely you realize that an enormous number of NYC homes can’t have such a thing, particularly in large buildings. Most of the hoods people have here are just recirculating ones with filters (which helps a little, but not a lot). So you save blackened chicken for the summer months, and do it on the grill out back…
Amen, 3:05.
I really love this kitchen. It has a lot of personality but is really elegant at the same time.