if you’ve spent any amount of time on pinterest, then you’ve probably found yourself drooling over impossible pictures of dream kitchens. i’ve been spending countless hours doing just that, because one of the larger projects that i knew i wanted to tackle in my new house was the kitchen. the house was built in 1926, but the whole kitchen was gutted and redone in 1970. at some point, i promise to share some really good “before” photos, but you can see some glimpses here: dark stained cabinets, sickly sea green tiles, and an avocado green oven! i can only assume that at one point, there was also a matching avocado refrigerator.
since i’m looking at my house as more of a restoration rather than a renovation, you might think that i’d be looking to go with a historically accurate 1920s-style kitchen. but if you really start to do research on kitchens of that era, you’ll see that they really don’t lend themselves to modern practicality. i think many people still had wood burning stoves and ice boxes! so instead, i’m going to be mixing and matching vintage elements for a space that will be modern and vintage all at once. think white painted wood cabinets with crystal door pulls, a butcher block countertop, subway tiles, a farm sink, perhaps a fancy chef’s range. i know, it might all sound way too cliche, but it’s the space i dream about creating… complete with a smeg refrigerator!
i’m sure you’ve seen it. it’s a total mid century style (but this many years later, i think we can just call it a classic). and despite a few giggles after seeing the name of the brand (did you know that it’s an acronym for smalterie metallurgiche emiliane guastalla?), i have to say, i’ve got my heart set on smeg.
image above: stadshem
14 comments
I love the look of these fridges, but the wording across the front drives me NUTS. The word SMEG is gross!
bahaha omg i still remember giggling quite a bit when i saw the name of the brand. ;)
I can’t believe the brand has stuck with this name.
To be honest, I totally love your old kitchen cabinets including the tiles and the avocado-green oven! I don’t like the (linoleum?) floor though and the old curtains.
I’d prefer a cool colour (white, maybe) for the floor and, for example, a 50s design cloth (fruit print or sth.) for a curtain.
Maybe, a new kitchen top would give the whole room the perfect makeover. A dark anthrazit might do, or even black?
http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2014/09/kitchen-renovation-reveal.html (for the colour combination of warm wooden brown and shiny black)
http://i2.wp.com/www.heimatbaum.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Skandinavische-Ku%CC%88che-wei%C3%9F-Holz-schwarz-14.jpg (for the granite countertops)
http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8358081ff69e2019aff7608ee970d-popup (stainless steel countertops…)
Also, I love the idea of Elsie: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/11/home-tour-elsies-kitchen-.html (brightly painting the cabinets’ interior)
PS: I love that whole renovation story: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2014/09/kitchen-renovation-reveal.html
ugh, they are so good!
lovely inspiration pictures! and don’t get me wrong, i don’t hate it, but i do want to make changes! the oven is barely operable, so it has to go. i’ve already painted the cabinets a very pale cream (and might replace just the doors at some point because my uncle is a cabinet maker) and we’re going to put in a butcher block countertop. there is actually hardwood flooring beneath the vinyl! it isn’t what i had envisioned, but we’re going to have it refinished and just go with it!
Sounds great! There’s nothing better than a good craftsman within the family! To me as a European, all your ovens look like vintage objects as ours have a totally different look. Also, we tend not to have kitchens like that. Me myself, I had to go for a 2nd-hand kitchen friends made me fit into mine by rearranging the cabinets and getting me another countertop.
I’m sure yours will look fabulous; so get going and let us have more of these awesome pictures, please! :P
I love hardwood flooring, and probably, it won’t take much more to provide that very special comfy atmosphere a family home kitchen needs.
Best regards and thanks a lot for that fantastic blog of yours!
My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home and sadly we were just let down today that we didn’t get the house we wanted and were outbid. I am hoping the sale falls through and we get lucky like you guys did!! My dream refrigerator is a Smeg also. I should probably focus on getting a house before the fridge though, eh?
sales definitely do fall through. you can’t count on it, but you really never know! i hope that if it’s not this one, that the next one will be even better and you’ll get it! such a roller coaster, isn’t it?
and it’s never too soon to start dreaming about appliances, haha! ;)
Unless you have an extra $50K hanging around I think cleaning the old kitchen up, changing the appliances and refreshing the floor is the way to go. Old houses always have some complication you didn’t know was coming.
I love to bake so an oven that hits the right temperatures is a must for me.
Having just put $300 into a fancy fridge that’s only 4 years old my advice is to keep your old fridge if possible. If not, buy a plain one. You fridge doesn’t need to talk to the Internet or be sending you emails and all those bells and whistles just make it have more things that will need repair.
oh man, i know what you mean. i am terrified of opening up walls or doing anything big for fear of what terrible things might be lurking inside, ready to cost me a fortune! i don’t actually want a kitchen like the pictures in this post, pretty as they are. i’m keeping most of my kitchen intact with mostly cosmetic changes. but it is really hard to resist the lure of such pretty appliances!
Hi Erin!
We bought a Big Chill when we moved into our current home and, I swear, it was the best money spent. I also fell in love with Smeg, but they are a little small. Anyway! I just wanted to throw in a good word for Big Chill. I probably sound like they’re paying me. (nah- I’m just real passionate about my fridge)
ok- have a good weekend!! excited about your home restorations!
xx. Elsie
yes! i’ve seen the big chill refrigerators and they look amazing! my kitchen isn’t huge, so i’m torn about how big i want my appliances to be. ahh, so many decisions, but i’m super excited to start work on renovations! it’s been really fun so far, and i’m excited to have something new to blog about, too! :) :) :)