In case you were worried about our lack of a kitchen sink or oven for the past several months, I have great news to share! Our big Christmas gift was a functioning kitchen! I should have told you about it earlier but I escaped for a few days to Florida. I admit that it was lovely to forget about the house. But now it’s back to reality.

I left you with a gutted kitchen back in October and told you about how we needed to add new beams and trusses. Now let me share everything that happened next. There’s a lot to tell, so grab a cup of coffee, sit down, relax and be glad you aren’t remodeling your kitchen.

Framing

Once we gutted the kitchen, we needed to put some walls back in. The kitchen was very difficult to plan because of the unusual layout. We combined the butler’s pantry, kitchen, closet and bathroom into a kitchen and a new powder room placed at the back of the house. We opened up the kitchen to the family room and put the range top in the island because we want a “social” kitchen where people can chat while food is being prepared. In the photos you will see that we chose to build the exhaust fan for the range top into the ceiling rather than having a big hood over the island.

Walls are going up in the kitchen.

Framing of the walls and ceiling begin.

Framing of the walls and ceiling is nearly complete.

The exhaust fan for the range top is put in place.

Insulation and Walls

Once the frame was in place, the walls went up quickly. Not only was it nice to see the plan take shape but it was also nice to start keeping the cold air out. At this point, it was mid-November and we were starting to get some very cold weather! And, as I shared  earlier, we didn’t even have heat in our house until the beginning of November.

Adding insulation. Some walls are quite thin.

Adding insulation. We are leaving some brick exposed.

Wall boards are added and taping begins.

Flooring

In a previous blog, I told you about our reasons for choosing linoleum for the kitchen floor. It was so exciting to cover up all of those holes in the existing floor with plywood! Now, the dust and debris would no longer fall onto the top of my washer and dryer in the basement. Once the subfloor was in place, the linoleum was laid in just a day. Unfortunately, we immediately had to cover up my beautiful floor for the next steps in the remodel.

Plywood floor base being put down

Linoleum installation starts with glue.

Then the linoleum is cut, rolled out and flattened.

The new linoleum floor is finished!

Trim

One of the great aspects of this old house is the beautiful trim throughout. We didn’t want to lose that charm, so we reused as much as possible. That’s why you’ll see old, battered trim going back on the doors and windows. We were fascinated to discover that the trim in the kitchen was different from the rest of the house. It made it much more difficult to piece things back together since we could only reuse pieces from the kitchen. Many of the original pieces had been cut up to put in the steam pipes and mid-century cabinets.

Cabinets

Everything in the kitchen seems to revolve around the cabinets–the planning, the design, the wait. Because there are so many windows and we wanted the kitchen to open up into the family room, it was difficult to get enough cabinets and countertop space. This is not a small kitchen in square footage but it has less storage space than I have had in my other houses. (Although it is far larger than any of the apartments that we lived in over the years!)

We also lost some space because I was adamant that I wanted inset cabinets with external hinges. This cuts down on space but it looks appropriate for the age of the house. I haven’t put everything away yet, but I’m sure that I will be using some space in the basement for the extras. We chose Mouser cabinets with a custom color to match our trim.

It was so exciting to see the cabinets come into our empty space.

Now the fun begins! After a long wait, the cabinets arrive.

Kitchen cabinets need to be leveled and attached to the walls or floor.

Most of the cabinets are in!

Ready for some appliances.

Countertops

Once the cabinets were in, we could measure for the countertops. I cannot tell you how exciting it is to have countertops and a sink again! I originally planned to have white marble countertops. I love that look (as you can see on my Pinterest board) and I wanted to use materials that were available in 1910. When the kitchen designer suggested soapstone, I didn’t even know what it was. But I love it! It definitely changed the look since soapstone only comes in different shades of gray. It can have a hint of green or blue but over time the colors will darken as the soapstone is exposed to oxygen. Unlike marble, it doesn’t stain easily and requires little maintenance. It is naturally antibacterial and if you get any scratches, you can sand them out if you choose.

Soapstone has been used for thousands of years for things like carvings and cook pots. In fact, the outer layers of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro are made of soapstone. In the 18th and 19th centuries in America, soapstone was a popular choice for sinks, stoves and fireplaces so it could have been used in a 1910 home.

We also got a farmhouse sink made out of soapstone. This sink is huge! I love that we can fit anything in it—even the dog. The sink and countertops were made and installed by Garden State Soapstone. If you want to learn more about soapstone, check out their website.

Soapstone countertop being put in place.

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Appliances

Getting appliances felt like a little bit of heaven. We were without an oven and cooktop for seven months. We used the grill and a microwave but it definitely limited what we were willing to make. I tried boiling water for hardboiled eggs on the grill’s burner but it took forever and my eggs all turned out green. I gave up on that and found a cute little egg maker. It really makes perfect hard-boiled eggs! The poached eggs were pretty rubbery though.

Here come the appliances!

Here comes the refrigerator.

Putting the appliances in place.

We purchased a Blue Star electric wall oven in mint turquoise. (Yes, really!) Then David decided that he needed the Blue Star gas range top. This thing is a beast and very manly. However, if this is what it takes to encourage him to do more cooking, I was all for it! It led to lots of other issues though including the need for a massive venting fan. You can get extra burners but we chose four burners and a built-in griddle.

The appliances are in!

The dishwasher is Miele. After seven months without a dishwasher, I would have been happy with anything. We had been using paper plates with plastic forks, knives and spoons for the past four months. Using real dinnerware is glorious! And my glasses are finally clean again.

I wanted an integrated refrigerator so that I didn’t have a giant stainless steel blob in my 1910 kitchen. After lots of searching, I chose a Sub-Zero. I was actually surprised at how much space this counter depth fridge has. (As an aside, I have always found it ironic that you pay much more for smaller, counter depth refrigerators than for full size.)

Lastly, we added a Sharp microwave drawer so that it can be below the oven. I debated not having a microwave at all, but we do use it fairly often to warm things up. If I had space in a cabinet, I would have just kept the $100 Panasonic that we bought after we moved in.

Our grand celebration of the functioning kitchen included pancakes made on the Blue Star griddle on Christmas morning. What a wonderful gift!

There is still much to share. As you can see, the kitchen needs paint and the cabinets could use some knobs and pulls. The blue tape lets us open the cabinets, refrigerator and dishwasher but isn’t very aesthetically pleasing.

Stay tuned for a full kitchen reveal!