Sarah Perdue’s Mid Century Kitchen

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Progress report

I'm getting my friend John, mixrman's, white Americana for my second fridge. The fridge in the picture is not the one I'm getting, but mine is also in very good shape. I keep thinking that the Americana would have been perfect for my grandfather's midnight pie raids. He was a cattleman, and always put his hat on the marble top credenza to the left of the refrigerator. I walked in on him many times during my childhood. He'd be stark naked in front of the fridge eating pie straight out of the dish. He would put down his fork, pick up his hat and cover himself until I got my water or whatever it was and left. Presumably, once I left the scene, he recommenced eating pie.

My sink arrived on the Greyhound from New York today. I will post pictures when I unpack it. Although it won't be vintage, I'm planning to use a commercial spray faucet. Their functionality just cannot be beat.

I'm really leaning towards a turquoise and red theme. My question of the moment is, would it be a sin to paint a white Americana red? In another departure from authentic vintage, I'm considering using mirrors as a backsplash. I never, ever would have thought of it except that our current house has them. They brighten up the kitchen and make it look bigger. I can also see and chat with who ever is hanging out in the kitchen with me while I cook.

I've been looking at vintage kitchens online, and this one is my favorite so far. The cabinets upper cabinets seem unusually low. I will probably want to incorporate more white in the plan because my kitchen is very, very small and only has one window.

And yes, I'm having fun yet,

Sarah

https://retrorenovation.com/2012/11/27/nancys-metal-kitchen-cabinets-get-a-fresh-coat-of-paint/
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It's your kitchen, have some fun and add the red - but it needs to be the right red.

 

Just curious, have you ever posted a floor plan of the kitchen?  Curious to see the layout and window/ door placement as well as dimensions.
 
floor plan

Not yet.

Will do cursory measurements today. My craftsman and I will be working on cabinet, appliance layout and where to put the doors from the kitchen to the breakfast room and from the breakfast room into the hall on Saturday.

I'm attaching pictures of the house floor plan that I did on the Home Design 3D app. The first floor plan is the original footprint with the '6os addition removed. The second includes the addition which I plan to demolish and use for donor parts to repair the rest of the house.

Sarah

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Elkay Lustertone!

My sink arrived, and it is beautiful.

It's going to need considerable sanding and polishing, but I'm confident that it is going to turn out beautifully. It's a very heavy stainless and well worth the effort. Starting with a high quality product makes it worth all of the work.

70 years later, Elkay still makes the Lustertone sink. A new one costs about $1,900. So far, I've spent about 16 minutes with 400 grit sandpaper on a small portion of it, and it is going very well. So, I've paid $150 for the sink, $100 to the seller for his trouble and $134 to Greyhound for the shipping. I can do a lot of sanding for $1,500!

Sarah

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More Geneva cabinets seem meant to be

I started playing around with kitchen cabinet and appliance placement and realized I have an extreme shortage of base cabinets--like only seven. Most of y'all have seen the pictures of the cabinets in their original kitchen. There seemed to be tons of them, but when I went back to the pictures, sure enough, only seven.

Enter a set of Geneva cabinets in St. Louis as if on cue. It's not much further to make the round trip for the refrigerator and cabinets as it is to just get the fridge. St. Louis and Ft. Knox are reasonably close to each other so it makes perfect sense to pick both the cabinets and the turquoise GE wall fridge in the same trip.

I'm attaching a link to the cabinets in St. Louis, pictures of the cabinets, my new Americana--which I think I'm going to paint turquoise instead of red, a floor plan of the kitchen and that gorgeous turquoise Frigidaire Custom Imperial double oven that I'm leaving in the morning to pick up in North Carolina. For one pained minute, I thought the Americana did not have a butter conditioner...then I found the switch, yes? The Americana didn't work when plugged in, but John Gillum tells me that the main switch is in the freezer compartment. I'm expecting her to start right up when I get to the country this weekend.

Thanks for all of your encouragement and enthusiasm!

Sarah

https://stlouis.craigslist.org/hsh/d/saint-louis-retro-white-geneva-cabinets/6963640232.html
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Sarah

Is their anything going in the space to the left of the door into the dining room? If you like to bake it might be worth putting the Americana there and extending the counter round from the bar to the Geneva pantry with cupboards under which would give a really good space for a "baking centre" - lots of room to spread out and yet it's fairly close to the oven. The small sink there would also mean if you had someone working with you they could use that area for preparing veggies and the like without getting in each other's way. You may also be able to fit in some more wall cabinets there too
 
Ideas, please!

Alistair,

Thank you very much for the idea of putting the Americana to the left of the dining room door. I had planned to put a comfy chair or loveseat there, but now I'm going to have to make some major changes. I realized there isn't enough room between the kitchen windows for the wall fridge.

Please, y'all, bring on the ideas! I'm struggling with the new plan.

Sarah
 
Still struggling...

Here are a couple of alternate plans I've worked up. I'm still not satisfied. The kitchen is so blasted small! I can't steal space from the hall because a bedroom opens directly into the hall behind the kitchen. And I can't steal from the dining room because the dining room extends further than the breakfast room. There are windows and such that can't be changed--or that I'm unwilling to change. I'm not a fan of monster kitchen or open kitchen/dining room areas. .

As I often do, I went about the whole process backwards--collecting the things I liked without thoroughly planning the space I had.

I'm thinking grey floor with the turquoise border. The border pictured is 6" wide. I think it needs to be smaller. With the ice maker on the wall with the window, I have a bit of space for my chair by the window.

John, I really, really want the combo, but I may need the cabinet space more. I'm picking up a donor fridge for the wall unit in Fort Knox, Kentucky and more cabinets in St. Louis this weekend. I'm rather wishing I hadn't bought all of the cabinets...and paid more than I should have, but it seemed a long way to go to get just a few... And I've gone from not having enough cabinets to having too many! But I need some from each set. Sigh

Paul, how wide is the path between your sink and island? (In the house with the turquoise GE kitchen)

Wanting too many appliances. I'm sure I'm the only one here with that problem.

I'm feeling a bit weary but know my enthusiasm isn't gone forever. Friends, I know you will inspire me, and, now, I must sleep.

Sarah

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Sarah,

You've amassed a large collection of MCM kitchen equipment!  You are to me commended for your perseverance and drive - and for that you have been rewarded.

 

However, if you're having problems being happy with the layout so far, here's a suggestion.  Stop.  Take a deep breath and relax for a bit.  Think about what you are really wanting to achieve in this kitchen.  If your goal is to assemble a collection of equipment and display working models, then how the space works isn't maybe so important to the outcome.  However, if what you really want is a great, working kitchen, does that kitchen need everything you've collected?  Think about how you want the kitchen to work and what you want to happen there, place the equipment essential to that process, and if an appliance (or two) doesn't make the cut, so be it.  Store the leftover and/or sell it.

 

Think about what you want to achieve, then "make it so".

 

lawrence
 
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