Kitchen. Cucina. Cuisine. Cocina.

My favorite room in any building is the kitchen. My favorite word in any language is “kitchen”. My favorite place to eat is the kitchen. My favorite place to hangout is the kitchen. Are you getting the picture? I love kitchens.

No doubt the reason for this is the fact that I grew up in a family where the kitchen was the beating heart of our home. Everything happened in the kitchen. Of course, we cooked there. We ate there. We kept our dogs there. We had grand arguments there. We talked on the phone there. (It hung on the wall and had a long cord). We put the world to rights there. And so for me, a home is not a home, until the kitchen is just so.

Updating a Victorian Kitchen

If you’re lucky enough to have lived in a Victorian property, you’ll know that when the house was originally built the idea was to hide the kitchen away so the cook and her assistants could keep out of sight while they fed their Master and Mistress. Of course, today’s lifestyles are rather different and integrating our cooking, eating and living spaces into one open floor plan is what is desired. That means re-thinking the internal layout of a period home.

One of the things that Europeans have really mastered is updating period buildings to make them work better for modern-day life, all without losing the soul and beauty of the original design. My last home was a 1908 Victorian and when we moved in, the kitchen left a lot to be desired (see below). It was tucked away at the back of the house and had been partially updated, but wasn’t very functional.

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With a little bit of imagination we kept what was great about the space, and hugely improved the flow and efficiency of the kitchen by giving it an open-plan feel and connecting it to the dining room by widening the opening. We eliminated a coat closet in the hallway so we could walk into the kitchen from the hallway, vs. always have to walk through the dining room. We added a ton of storage and work space with the new walnut island, and upgraded the lighting with recessed spots and eye-catching pendants.

Remodeling a kitchen is never easy, it seems like there are a million details to consider, let alone ensuring you have a spot for all your gadgets, tools, pots, pans, plates and glasses. If you need help, reach out! [email protected].