"Polly! Put the kettle on! Polly?"

As the house was originally built was how we bought it. No structural changes had been made with the minor exceptions of enclosing of the porch and adding the pool some time in the 1970's.  We felt strongly that we needed to respect the house and make it the best it could be, not something it was not. The house needed its  staff kitchen back, 1930's style. Staff kitchens in big old houses are great, when you have staff.  If one has staff one can  Downton Abbey it and  send Daisy off to the scullery.  Rather I am the staff  which makes things a little different. So please dear architect create this hybrid beast. A staff kitchen that will not be used by staff,  form and function, resale potential, and do so without altering the basic foot print or loosing the period details.  

 I presented these images to our architect Kim Tone of  TLA Designs  as inspiration. Yes, I am serious and yes, Kim did get a chuckle.  Nick and Nora Charles (as played by William Powell and Myrna Loy) in their San Francisco kitchen whipping up a mid night snack. When you have finished binge watching "House of Cards" the "The Thin Man" movies will wash all the dirty DC politicking away on a sea of martinis and one liners.

"After the Thin Man" 1936.

So simple, so clean so everything I wanted. 

"After the Thin Man", 1936

People were really "nice" when they saw and smelled (the natural gas,
the pilot light on the stove had gone out) the kitchen in person. "No, no, no , you don't need to rip this out right away you can live with it for a while..." Really?!  The kitchen knew its days were numbered and it was not going to go quietly. It taunted  me with the potential for disaster. The dishwasher, that held about 3 glasses and 2 plates at a time , sounded like a 747 taking off  and got so hot during the drying cycle that you could cook a piece of chicken on the the counter.  The sink must have had a small family living in the drain it backed up so frequently  that the man who struggles to tell you the difference between a Phillips and a flat head screw driver bought a drain snake.  Someone else actually used it on the drain but, he did buy it. The linoleum made a deal with every bit of dirt to stick, stick, stick and re appear two seconds after it was mopped and remained in a  permanent grimy state. The outlets were neither grounded nor were they intended for wet spaces. This house would kill you if given the chance. The oven could maybe hold a small chicken we turned it on once then ordered out.  The range, we were advised to just leave it alone. The day the demo crew arrived was a very, very good day.

 

 The kitchen did have a good amount of space. Not New Jersey, space but, good space. Original details:  leaded glass windows,  Gothic arched doors and all the original functioning hardware including the milk glass knobs and chrome fittings. We kept all that was good and tossed all that was not down to the frame.  

Everything and the kitchen sink is gone. It's gotta get worse before it gets better. Was there a sale on the sea-foam paint?  Maybe it is better than the red? What was going on here?

Range, double ovens and cabinets gone. The exhaust  line had been hammered closed.

  The original framing remains with new framing attached to it. The space is now level, I would not roll a marble across the floor anywhere else in the house is but, the kitchen is level. The door way on the right was removed to create more useable space in the kitchen, make the Powder Room an actual room and address the gross factor of having a toilet practically in the Kitchen. 

View From the Mud Room into the Kitchen. The original call box could still be rung from every bedroom and at one point all the public rooms as well. However, the box itself despite best efforts crumbled when we took it down to start restoration.

View from the opposite side. Mud Room is straight ahead and Vestibule to Breakfast Room is through the door way on the right.

We wondered why the house was so hard to heat despite burning oil like we owned the wells.  Because it had NO insulation. None, not ever. 

The Mud Room floor after the sub flooring was removed.  A 5 foot straight  drop down to dirt.

The Mud Room looking up. Nothing behind the ceiling but a steep pitch and empty space. It was freezing.

The Vestibule off the Entry Hall. Thru the framing is the Powder Room window.

 The toilet had been leaking for quite some time and was falling thru the floor into the Laundry Room below. I figured this out while in the Laundry Room the first of two chicken little the sky is falling moments. 

My favorite item, the fuse box. Not a circuit breaker panel but glass knobs that when over taxed had to be unscrewed and replaced with a new glass knob. The house had the original 100 AMPS of power. What does that mean? It means you will never have a light  and a coffee maker on at the same time. Even if you did follow the low energy draw rule these went all the time. The positive was that I was able to watch many lovely sun rises with my morning coffee, freezing in the dark.  Imagine changing one of these without coffee, holding a flash light and balancing  whilst pregnant on the floor framing.  It was strongly suggested I stop.

The first dumpster hauled away the debris from the kitchen.  I watched from the second floor  and shed a little tear.  A tear of victory.  That kitchen had run off  many a perspective buyer, threatened flooding, fire, bodily harm.  Now, its ugly rein of terror was over.