Very few old houses these days have kitchens that could be considered original. When House Crazy Sarah comes across an old house with an original kitchen, she gets very excited because over the decades and centuries, kitchens are almost always the first thing to get unceremoniously ripped out for the flavor of the decade and, of course, new appliances.
Since there are so few untouched old house kitchens, House Crazy Sarah enjoys the next best thing: kitchens designed to be as period accurate as possible without all the modern bells and whistles.
But before we look at some of those, let’s browse some historic photos of kitchens to get a sense of what they actually looked like a century or so ago…
Above is a typical kitchen addition, usually built to the rear of Victorian homes, often as an afterthought because most original kitchens were actually housed in separate buildings from the main house like this summer kitchen below:
When kitchens became more integrated into homes, they were primarily a work space and not meant to be seen by visitors to the home.
Nonetheless, the craftsmanship of those bygone eras is evident in the intricate details of the kitchen hardware and appliances.
House Crazy Sarah love, loves, LOVES old vintage cabinetry!
Please peoples, if you have old kitchen cabinets (pre-mid-century) DO NOT rip them out! These cabinets are worth their weight in gold these days because there are so few of them left.
And the old stoves…. a lot of work but soooo gorgeous!
Ugh, House Crazy Sarah knows that look!
Let’s now look at some modern reproductions of old kitchens…
Amazing!
Look at this lovely one below with the green bead-board…
It makes House Crazy Sarah’s old-fashioned heart go pitter-patter!
The period detail in some of these kitchens is impressive – hats off to these home owners!
House Crazy Sarah doesn’t care that old kitchens were a lot more work (before dishwashers, microwave ovens, food processors, juicers, blenders, toasters, crock pots, and The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine).
They were so much more lovely and cozy!
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