Rethinking My Kitchen Plan? Yikes!
I have done a number of posts on my kitchen, and on kitchens in general. Just type in KITCHEN to the new search box!
In 2016, I unveiled my plan for the kitchen. In short:
.
- Island
- “UFO”
- Double Sinks
- Barstool(s)
- TV
- Counter for microwave, blender, toaster.
- Radiator
- Recreated laundry chute
- Recreated dumbwaiter
- Relocated butler’s pantry cabinet.
- New door
- “Infill” cabinet
- Rolling cabinets
Save idea #10, #11, and #12, my plans have not changed.
However…however…
…this image, which I posted in 2016, haunts me. Note the sink. It covers part of the window. Note also the drainboard to its right. I have now seen several more archival images with sinks partially covering windows. Weird.
From the physical evidence in my kitchen, it appears that I had a similar arrangement in 1894: A sink smack against one of the double south-facing windows, with a radiator to its left, and likely a drainboard above.
And…as time passes…I keep thinking…how cool this actually might be.
A sink smack against one of the double south-facing windows, with a radiator to its left, and likely a drainboard above.
Sigh.
This means that I would have to move the radiator which WAS under the south window but I moved it to the west wall. I would also have to find a period-correct 1890s sink. And, let me tell ya’, early 1890s sinks are:
- Not available.
- Look nothing like anything out there.
This has, I think, a porcelain sink with a stone backsplash.
This is stone slabs. Note the floor stone. LOVE IT!
All stone with metal trim.
This looks like enameled metal.
Note also how 1890s faucets are separate hot and cold. Could I live with that?
So, if I do change course, I would likely have to have a sink custom-made of stone (slate? soapstone?) and then find, somehow, period-correct metal legs.
If I do change course, I would still need an island (for a dishwasher, drawer refrigerator, etc) but it would be half the size of what is shown in the above plans.
All of this is “in pondering” mode. It may ponder out. It may become more powerfully ponderful.
Pray for me.
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The idea of a period sink is fantastic. Here’s a little story about waiting for what you want. When I bought my house, the first thing I did was rip out all the terrible modern cabinets. I was without a kitchen sink for 3 years while I searched high and low for the just right one for my 1916 house. (Designed by a woman named Joel Ninde) I found legs in NYC which I bought and brought back to IN with faith that I would get the perfect sink for them. A contractor who I asked to come in to bid out stainless counters understood the look I was going for. He just so happened to be taking out the perfect sink from a house not 1/2 mile away from me. Did I want that one? Absolutely! So, I got the sink of my dreams and rearranged everything in my kitchen so the sink is now in its originally designed place – under a window (water stains and pipes in the basement told me everything). I love the look of my kitchen with modern appliances, but no cabinets, NO can lights! I am still waiting for my stainless counters, but it seems no-one has the knowledge to produce them. (ridiculous, right?) The point is, exactly what you want is possible. And, as you have amply demonstrated, you have the patience and the wherewithal to make it come together. My sink has separate holes for hot and cold faucets. I have solved this issue with a wall mount bridge faucet.
One note: what is the view from that window where you want to put the sink? When the house was built, it was probably a lush, verdant garden. Now I believe it will be the carriage house, which no doubt one day will be fantastic. However, is that the view you’d like to have while standing at the sink looking out? Or, would you rather be looking out your backdoor past the porch?
Thanks for the wonderful story, Christine!
Your house did not likely have stainless steel counters originally, but Monel counters, a nickel-copper alloy. It’s “tone” is much softer looking than ss. So, your not having ss yet may be a blessing!
You are correct, the huge kitchen window looks directly to the carriage house which will, one day, one day, be gorgeous.
As Christine said, the view out the window is important. One reason sinks were under the window was so the woman washing the dishes could keep an eye on the children playing in the yard! I know when my children were little, it was a dire necessity to be able to wash dishes and supervise my three rowdy boys. I cannot tell you how many times I ran out the back door to intervene before someone got hurt, dish towel in hand. With a dishwasher, you won’t be spending as much time looking out the window, but when you do, it needs to be something worth seeing. The sunlight is also helpful for your mood, and south facing is the best!
Not weird at all, having the sink against a window is still common across the globe and makes a lot of sense if you use the sink for dishes and food prep. It gives the most natural light, and gives a view while doing boring chores
Mick, I agree that having a sink UNDER a window is common but having a sink partially COVERING a window is…unusual!
I have seen this many times also. Most often in houses that may have not had a sink when built, but I cn think of a good number I lived in back in the UK with this setup
I grew up with a bathroom sink from the early 1920’s with separate hot and cold taps. Drove me crazy. Either I washed with cold water, or ended up burning myself. If you do want to keep the look of two taps, have one be plumbed with only cold, and the other be hot/cold that is operated by how far you turn the tap to get a blend of temps.
seperate hot and cold is common in the UK – we grow up learning to use the sink plug, and to run a bowl of water to wash in. Here in the US people seem to always want to wash under running water and end up in the predicament you did
I’d say that’s true for most European countries too, not only for the US. Separate hot/cold taps disappeared in the 50s here (central Europe). Plumbing is quite different from what you’re used in the UK, no water tanks in the loft, all pressurised (I live on the second floor of a house up on a hill but we still get over 4 bar pressure straight from the cold water tap), including the hot water. Most place in the cities are either on central heat/hot water or have a combi boiler.
The only sensible option for retaining separate taps on a vintage sink is a concealed thermostatic mixer valve in line with the hot tap.
I installed separate hot and cold because it was period for our house. I have not enjoyed it.
Why not have both? I love your general plan of making the kitchen as authentic as possible, while containing
all the modern elements in an island. You could use the sink in the island strictly for easy access to the
dishwasher and the 1890’s sink to fill pots and other food prep. I know you would have to make the island
smaller and it might seem weird to have two sinks, but a lot of people have more than one.
I vote for having the sink you want that includes the backsplash ….. but moved next to the window.
I think a counter next to the sink for food prep, but under the window to look out the window. This would be so lovely while completing tasks.
I think the stone sink & backsplash with metal fittings would be 👍 gr8!
When cooking up a storm, the sink is for rinsing and cleaning fruits and vegetables.
Please don’t block those wonderful windows.
I find it odd that before air conditioning a window would be blocked.
Kansas summers were brutal in the 19th Century! The humidity and the hot 🥵 air can be cut like a knife it’s so stifling.
Please, please don’t block that big beautiful window.
Ross, was the original floor in the kitchen linoleum? What is down there now?
Michael, the original floor was discovered under three layers of linoleum. It’s thin pine boards and in poor condition.
I love this idea.
“Note also how 1890s faucets are separate hot and cold. Could I live with that?”
Perhaps you could use an in-line on-demand heater for the sink’s hot side. It would heat the water based upon the rate of water flow– the faster the flow, the less heat added. You could calculate the size based upon its maximum GPM heating capacity and the amount of water you use for hand-washing dishes.
Just curious, Ross, why you are wanting an island in my kitchen when most always there was a kitchen table with chairs to work on the tasks of food prep. Most likely Grandmother got to sit down only while she peeled potatoes, or other items such as vegetables, all day long. Many a cookie dough was rolled out on that kitchen table, to say nothing of the best pie dough in the whole county. You have chosen an island instead. My Grandmother also had no mounted to the wall cabinets. She had large “cuppards” that were free standing wooden furniture monsters. All other items were kept in the pantry, or in the “cellar” where all the canning jars were filled and placed neatly on the shelves. Think I made myself teary eyed as well as a little hungry. Please let me know about your kitchen island for your Cross House kitchen.
Nancy, in previous kitchen spots I detailed how my kitchen almost certainly only had a table in the middle, and with no built-in cabinets. This is an “island” style kitchen, and quite different than modern “fitted” kitchens which came about in the 1920s. A fitted kitchen is one where there a lot of cabinet fitted against the walls.
My idea of creating a large island in the middle to house the sink, dishwasher, drawer refrigerator, drawer freezer, ice maker, and pot storage was to honor the original island concept.
If I return to exactly what was there in 1894 where would I put the dishwasher, refrigerator, and freezer?
The dishwasher would be tricky but the fridge and freezer should go into the pantry if there’s enough space there. That’s how my gran had it, even in her 1960s update kitchen in an 1880s house.
Nancy Lyn says just what I was thinking. My grandmother had a kitchen table and free standing wood cabinets with flour part and enameled counter that pulled out becoming wide and a great big pantry. Grandmother also had three refrigerators placed side by side. All worked. Oldest had big coil on top with curved tall legs. I could crawl under it. Next one had big shining silver pull around handle to open. Very fancy. Last one more sleek modern. Some one came by to pick up the old wood ice box that the ice man would deliver a huge cube of ice for when we put the ice sign in the window. Wood box went to porch when sleek modern refrigerator arrived. Mrs. Patmore of Downton Abby sure worked her kitchen table full of food for us for five years or was it six years. ( I never wanted that show to end. Now watch reruns on Amazon).
I am glad you are rethinking your kitchen arrangements. My prior home was a very plain Queen Anne that had been chopped up by the owner we purchased it from. It had an apartment with a kitchen installed on the 2nd floor, a dance studio on the first floor where the parlor and half of the dining room had been made into one looooong front room, and finally, a small apartment with galley kitchen (installed in half of what had been the dining room) for the landlord/home owner. She had made a living room / bedroom for herself in what had been originally the kitchen at the back of the house. When we first moved in, I thought about opening up the dining room ( which had been cut in half for that galley kitchen) and putting a new kitchen in where the dining room had been – which would be open to the front parlor. Oh, so NOT 1900! Thankfully by the time we were able to afford an extensive restoration my ideas had changed! The kitchen went back to where it had been originally. Doors and windows were back where they started. The big dining room was opened up again with the galley kitchen removed. And the 2 front parlors once again were two individual rooms separated by fret work and pillars. Lots of money! But I am so glad I had to wait so that my first ideas never came to pass. It would have been too expensive to undo and I would have hated the “open concept” that originally sounded like a good idea. We loved our final plan! We kept the original harwood floors when we moved the kitchen back to it original location and kitchen cabinets were found in their original position but were covered up inside a walk in closet that we removed to expose them. The house loved returning to its original status! So Ross, keep pondering. Take your time and the right ideas will come to you. Nothing is set in stone yet.
I’m delighted, Linda, that you returned to the original layout!
I have an old sink with built in drain board, with holes for separate hot and cold faucets. I installed a faucet that mixes the water on the user side, and it looks just fine. I like it also because the spout where the water comes out is further out than the individual ones are.
Everyone has a story. Here’s mine:
1885 Victorian. Had been converted into 4 apartments with 4 kitchens. in the 1920s. Original 15×25 kitchen had been split into 2 rooms. We left it as 2 rooms (I REALLY wanted a library!) and kept the larger of the 2 as the kitchen. The entire house had heart pine floors, but the kitchen had original maple flooring, original beadboard wainscot and 2 original looong windows. We left the windows open and used a 6′ long antique work table in the center. I did install new base cabinets on one interior wall for the sink and dishwasher, but used old glass-front cabinets originally used on the floor as my upper cabinets. We had the advantage of a big walk-in pantry, so storage wasn’t a problem. (Side-note: I found an original tilt-out flour bin in the attic. The front matched the kitchen wainscot and obviously came out of the original. I don’t know why they stashed the bin and not the whole cabinet!) Not sure there’s a point in all of this, except to reinforce that there are ways to make a period kitchen have the same feel as the original while still being functional.
I love these kind of stories, David! Thank you for sharing!
My grandparents lived in a home built in the 1890’s and I believe the sink was original. (Large farmhouse style) I believe it too had a faucet that joined the hot and cold together with two separate knobs but a united spigot. It worked quite well. I wish I had access to a photo of it but alas it was improved out of existence by the next owners. (They put down laminate over the original heart pine floors 😳)
I’ve tried to use sinks with separate faucets and it a pain you don’t want to deal with on a regular basis!
This is the most similar I could spot on ebay, obviously not original and my grandparents had lever type handles and a shorter faucet length but I remember the soap holder 😁
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kohler-K-159-Antique-Two-Hole-Wall-Mount-Kitchen-Sink-Faucet-With-Soap-Dish/392745919925?hash=item5b717b25b5:g:rAwAAOSwiYleghE1
My grandparent’s house wasn’t as fancy as Cross house but it was a grand house for the area and I imagine the kitchen fittings would have been similar.
I love that you are still tweaking designs, when you put it all together it will be perfect 😁
I would murder for that kitchen. Just saying 🙂
As a designer of custom homes I can say that the most difficult part to design is the kitchen. Your kitchen is even more difficult in that you are dealing with an existing space. Best advice I could give you is not rush it and make sure you have put all options on the table and then decide what’s best for YOUR kitchen!
Ross darling,
There’s a very good reason that the sink is that high on the window. Heating. I appreciate that you’ve dealt with stainless steel/porcelain equipment for the most of your career, as have I as a home maker. BUT this sink as pictured…is cast iron. As wonderful as a cast iron tub is, it cools very quickly as you probably know. Cast iron gives wonderful even heat for cooking, is malleable in a variety of forms, and takes porcelain coating well. It doesn’t HOLD heat that well. When you have the plumbing on a brightly lit side, as yours is, it’s a sure bet that conservation of heat is also a factor. Cold dishwater is the housewife’s nightmare. That backsplash would have caught the sun’s rays through the window, heated the basin, and kept more heat in the dishwater. Actually more efficient when you think about it.
Ross, if you can’t find the sink you want, could you design a modern version instead? One that would remember the past, but clearly be “new”? With your design skills, you could come up with a beautiful compromise.
Me again. Did you see the post on Kelly’s Old House Dreams this week of the viewer who posted a site that sells the most Fabulous vintage sinks??? Mounds of them!!! Now….none were from the 1894 era but some might work ( a couple maybe from circa 1900/1910?), and I am totally for putting the sink under that great big, wonderful, south window. But yep, no room for a dishwasher there too. But that would still be my vote.
I feel that a great happy medium would be do a kitchen with a more modern lay out, without removing walls and massively changing the lay out, but do it in such a way that it respects the house. Have to cabinets and materials you use node back to the beginnings of theCross house, but put that little modern twist on it.
I have separate hot and cold coming out of a corner as I have a corner sink. they enclosed the corner and put a small triangular top on. It’s all tiled and the pipes come out of the tile. I put a Dishmaster in as it is a 1949 sink, plus for 20 years I had no dishwasher. The tile counters on both sides of the sink slope down to the sink. I am never replacing it.
I saw enamel on cast iron large sinks like that that with wall mounted fixtures and a drainboard when I was house hunting. None were on legs but in cabinets but I have no doubt they could be put on legs or perhaps cabinets were even stick built around them in place. There may even have been one in Bob’s house next door but I was only in the kitchen once passing through to the bathroom and I’m not even sure it’s still there. It’s been income property since Bob died and I have no idea what bastardization the property has undergone. None of the owners cared about anything but squeezing as much money out of the property as possible. But they could be there. I saw no major destruction and replacement as I doubt any of them wanting to put any money into the property, just suck it out. If I won the lottery I would buy it and restore it and remove all of the stuff built over the original garage.
Bob used to have a wringer washing machine in the garage that he still used. I watched him wring his laundry out once. Bob was 72 when I moved in in 1989 and he had been born in the house. He was a machinist by trade but retired. He told me a bit about the neighborhood and my house.
BTW I have two small double hung windows in that corner over the sink. This is the 1949 remodel. Mrs. Bishop was 6 feet tall according to my old neighbor and she had the counters built up a few inches for her. I’m 5’1″ so they are a little tall for me but still, not replacing them.