Aaron Hom kitchen from HB via deliciously determined

The closest photo I have ever been able to find of what my kitchen may have looked like originally is something like stylist Aaron Hom‘s at left. It’s a simple small white space, with a layout not too different from mine, not fancy – note the inexpensive old fashioned white refrigerator – but it has something I absolutely love – original kitchen cabinets with old glass doors. The counter is just wood and there is not a drop of stainless steel in sight. It just looks right in terms of time and place and if you scrolled yesterday’s photos I think you’d agree. Had the base color of my appliances and kitchen been white, I think I could have turned it into something approaching this, but the almond and the knowledge of the hidden wood floor and original beadboard under the sheet rock on the back wall (which I forgot to mention in the previous post) leaves me hungry for something more.

I still can’t help fantasizing about original cupboards – I just love them – in particular as so many of today’s fancy kitchens look all the same and just don’t suit my humble cottage space.

original cabinets HB

It’s an obsession I’ve had for years and it crushes me when I watch people rip out lovely old butlers pantries to make modern giant kitchens.

antique wooden kitchen cabinets

Even cobbling together old doors looks great.

Sean Scherer vintage school locker cabinets CL1111 pc Dana Gallagher

If the house couldn’t come with any original cabinets, why couldn’t it have had an old cast iron sink with an integral drainboard? Here one is set into some original cabinetry…

original sink and drainboard

…and here done in a more-for-looks-than-function newly installed old style. I just don’t think I can cook for 20 – and often we are that many – with a room that looks like this, however pretty!

Andy Newcom antique porcelain kitchen sink

I also love original wooden counter tops and drainboards and they are authentically found in houses here along the shore.

kitchen wooden drainboard martha stewart

Look past the cute girl playing dress up (which is hard to do cause she’s so cute!) and you can see one in my friend’s house nearby.

Screen shot 2013-07-15 at 11.33.50 PM

But other than that aforementioned wall of beadboard and the pair of pretty windows, there is not much else old or original in my kitchen. The truth is I have been looking for four years, since we bought the house, hoping that some nearby late 19th or early 20th century house with original fittings will decide to remodel and somehow I will find out and be able to buy their stuff and magically make it fit.  A bit of a pipe dream I know! My local contractor laughs every time I remind him to be on the lookout. For a while, I was tracking antique kitchen cupboards like this one on eBay, hoping to adapt them to my space. The problem with this idea is that I can wait forever and as I have so little space, it might not be possible to make something logical and efficient.

butler pantry glass doors

So I know I haven’t really moved forward in my kitchen story by delivering a whole post on the fantasy of what the house doesn’t have, but it certainly gives you a sense of my mindset.

Related Posts:
Beach House Kitchen Diary Part 1…Before and Currently

Photo links can be found on my Beach House Kitchen Inspiration Pinterest page.