My future country kitchen

[danemodsandy]

Should be Laminate

The usual countertop on American and Youngstown kitchens like that was flexible laminate, a product which is all but impossible to find today. Pionite was the last manufacturer to offer it for general use, so far as I know.

However, most any laminate can be heat-formed; a link is below that gives some basic insight into how it's done.

I know some folks have gone back to linoleum for countertop installations, but I am not a fan, since I had experience around the stuff way back when. There is a reason laminate quickly supplanted lino for counters. Lino is too soft and too prone to water damage.

DIY counter resurfacing systems are paint. Good paint, and if correctly applied and maintained, fairly durable paint - up to a point. But they're still paint and will not last like the surfaces they mimic. If you've ever seen a "reglazed" bathtub start to shed its epoxy surface, you know how corner-cutting with paint can cause more problems in the long run.

If you are going to rent, I would put in basic Home Depot cabs and counters until you're ready to begin using the house as your permanent home. Let those take the abuse of the average renter, not anything you even halfway care about. In the meantime, you can be doing things like restoring the American Kitchens cabinets so they're ready to install later.

How to Bend Laminate: 13 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Many modern kitchen counter designs, especially those utilizing granite, can have clean rounded edges that many find difficult to duplicate using laminate materials. However, bending laminate isn't impossible. Based on the size of the...

www.wikihow.com

 

[stan]

Hans

You mean like this!

 

[stan]

And or

This..

 

[foraloysius]

"American Kitchens" are very popular in the Netherlands. There is a company restoring them and selling them as new. They also sell unrestored ones for DIY.

Here's the website. Look at the "galerie":

http://www.americankitchen.nl/

 

[retromania]

Ms. Purdue

Can't wait to see it!

 

[sarahperdue]

American kitchens

Foraloysius thanks for the link! Way cool.

 

[foraloysius]

You're welcome! I love those kitchens.

Have you seen they use a material called mipolam for the countertops? It can be used for round corners. It's a floor material that can be used heavily.

 

[sarahperdue]

Haven't fallen off of the edge of the world...

Hi Y'all,

I cannot believe it's been so long since I've posted. I hope everyone is doing well.

Sandy, now that I've moved some of the cabinets, I see that the counter tops are some kind of very flexible, almost rubber like material. Is this the laminate you mentioned?

Right now, I'm at a standstill. I didn't go down much during the dead winter because it was too cold and then began working with my boys on a tree fort.

Last week, it was burglarized. I'll never understand burglars. They took the bottom chamber of a C30 Coffeemaster and a shotgun. They also moved a set of dining room table pads out of the house and leaned them up against porch columns. I think they may also have taken a chain with a cross and two medals that I usually wear everyday. I misplaced it, and think I may have left it down there...

So, I'm feeling really broke and anxious to get back to work. I think paint and cleaning are next. Both are virtually free

Sarah

 

[danemodsandy]

Sarah:

Yes, that is flexible laminate.

I'm sorry you got burglarized - that's always a bummer and a violation.

 

[sarahperdue]

Progress

Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I checked in. I hope you all are doing well.

Since I posted last, I've decided on a two phase process for the kitchen and the rest of the house--get it stable and functional then, after both of our boys are in college, go in for phase two and do stuff like refinishing and installing the American Kitchen...

So, without further ado, here's the latest.

Sarah

 

[mattl]

Glad to see work is progressing!  So, how old are the boys?  Old enough to lend a hand ?  The skills they learn working on the house will serve them well later in life.

 

[pulltostart]

Sarah

The kitchen is looking good - fresh and clean, too!  The red and white is a great improvement over the blue and white.  I wonder if the red and white has anything to do with your proximity to Tuscaloosa.  Hmmm.....

 

lawrence

 

[sarahperdue]

My allegiance...

Is to the loveliest village on the plains. I just could not bear an orange and blue kitchen.

Thanks for the compliments.

Sarah

 

[pulltostart]

Sarah

Too funny!  I'm glad to see that at least you're not opposed to the red-and-white combination.

 

Makes me happy to know I don't do college football.

 

lawrence

 

[mom11]

Stripping knotty pine.

Someone mentioned stripping knotty pine paneling . We just moved into a midcentury house and I am in the process of bringing it back from all of the remuddles and "improvements" that were done to the poor thing. One of the horrors perpetrated on this poor house is someone painted the beautiful original knotty pine living room a bright banana yellow. It's not even a nice yellow. I dream of refinishing it to its former amber shelac. But when I did a test patch on a corner using that citrus stripper it took all evening of applying, waiting, scraping, reapplying, waiting, etc. to uncover a 1 foot x 2 foot patch. It would take an enormous amount of stripping, scrapping to do 3 walls of this.

My question is: is there a better stripper? if so, which one. My other thought was that it may be less work, actually, to pull the paneling off the wall board by board, and then turn it around and renail it back on backwards. Has anyone ever done this? If so, how. I will have to sand and shelac the paneling either way as the stripper takes off the finish down to the wood.

 

[mom11]

also, vintage cabinets

I am also trying to find a set of 40's, 50's, early 60's cabinets for the kitchen. So far I have a '57 ge pink fridge, a '53 Frigedaire "thrifty thirty" range, a KA superba 16, dishwasher, and a Amana radarange (1st touchmatic).

 

[twintubdexter]

Sarah,

The kitchen photos are very nice, but I really like the pic showing what I assume is your yard. Look at all those beautiful green plants and trees! It's like having a national forest in your backyard. No wonder the dog looks happy. I sometimes think the photos members take showing their yards and gardens, intentionally or not, are often the best. Cactus, rocks and sand get old quick.

 

[vintagekitchen]

paint stripper

Skip the citrus stuff, its useless. Stripping paint really does require you bring out the big guns. Ace hardware sells a generic brand of strong chemical paint stripper that works very well.

 

[sarahperdue]

Paint stripper...

Bring out the lye. It's caustic but can be neutralized with vinegar.

Or, better yet, use an infrared paint stripper. There's a learning curve, but, if you have a good (carbide) scraper, you can move pretty quickly.

The best ever, in my opinion, is the original lye based peel away, but it's expensive. I'd buy it by the drum if I could afford it.

Just remember, never use lye on aluminum.

As for removing the paneling, it's usually hard and splits very easily. Hopefully someone here has had better experience than I because until I got the hang of it, my salvage losses were close to 50% pulling nails. I also tried cutting the nails from behind with a Multi tool. That's slow and blades are expensive. Also, the backside won't have the grooves or detail milling and will probably need a run through a planer. Folks who do salvage may have better ideas.

If you have a Habitat ReStore or can make friends with a remodeling contractor, that will be a good route for cabinets.

Best of luck!
Sarah

 

[sarahperdue]

some more pictures

I was going through my photos and found some more pictures of the kitchen--one from close to twenty years ago when my grandmother still hosted the family Christmas Eve dinner--and a luscious yard shot for you, twintubdexter.

The watering trough is for relaxing people, not watering cattle.

Sarah