Beautiful!!!!! I'd love a kitchen like that.

The new flows so well with the old. Your cabinetry details go with the original door trim, without being identical. No blind corners or tricky details, just straight runs of cabinetry with a built-in style. The table, hardwood floors, and chandelier give this kitchen an unhurried feel. I think you did a very sensitive remodel. The butler's pantry shows that low windowsills don't have to foreclose counters.

Calm, functional, respectful to the house, and overall spiffy. I love how you handled the bulk of the refrigerator. Also, I think any house with back stairs and a large enough kitchen deserves to maintain its vibe with a nice big table, in lieu of a more trendy island.

If you post more photos of the kitchen, would you mind having some of them with most of the installed lighting off? The butler's pantry glows in the daylight, and I would love to see your kitchen bathed in the light of your handsome windows.

Well planned and beautifully executed.

You should be *very* proud! What a transformation. So very functional, and so beautiful...comfortable, clean, inviting, bright, simple yet elegant all at once.

The floors alone kill me -- they are something else! What a treasure to find under that linoleum!

So you've got that sweet kitchen, plus the butler's pantry, plus a mudroom. Congratulations on a job well done!

Very lovely transformation!

Beautifully designed to work perfectly in your 1905 house. Both comfortable and elegant. Like the way you solved the challenge of what to do with the refrigerator -- nice enclosure. Gorgeous floors! Congratulations!

WOW! My jaw dropped. A real treat for my eyes this morning. LOVE your BS!!

Thanks everyone for your supportive comments! It's especially nice to hear you think the old flows well with the new. That was important to us.

johnliu: We have come to love our windows. Crazy as it sounds, it wasn't always that way. The windows are 21" from the floor and we actually considered for a brief moment modifying them so we could create an L layout. Luckily we came to our senses and embraced them like we embraced the other challenges of living in an old house. I like your description of an unhurried feel. The kitchen is tucked in the back of the house, completely separated from the family room. So we spend a lot of time hanging out at our kitchen table- a realization sparked by a post here on GW on the pros/cons of kitchen tables (which I think was started by lavendarlass). We're actually looking for a longer table and will likely get leather stools to make it even more comfortable. I turned on all the lights because I'm so used to taking pictures with my iPhone. I clearly didn't need all the illumination with the digital camera!

lisa_a: DH and I consider our December layout post the "GW Intervention" because it was clear from everyone's input that the pantry had to go to get much needed countertop space. Once we decided to close the pantry, we updated the plumbing running through it and decided to install a second floor laundry (what we call strategic scope creep!). We decided not to take out the chimney stack and simply built out the wall to make the electrical run easier. We could also slide the fridge to the right to ease the pinch point to the butler's pantry.

Beautifully done! We ordered the tuilieres tile back in April and are still waiting...I'm happy to see it installed--looks gorgeous! Thanks for posting :)

That is a gorgeous kitchen. You've got all of the modern amenities, but were extremely sensitive to the design of your home. And I love that you were able to keep a lot of the original butler's pantry. You must think you've died and gone to heaven each time you walk through!

Wow! What a lovely kitchen! Thank you for sharing.

Bravo!!!

Thanks for the great photos and all the details. I'm sure there will be many wonderful memories created in that room!

congratulations.

Bee

Oh my, that is absolutely WONDERFUL! A butler's pantry? A mudroom AND a gorgeous kitchen? Am I just a wee bit jealous? ;^)

Beautiful transformation!

I love the kitchen's new look so much! I wish it was my kitchen. I love the color of the kitchen cabinets, the style of the cabinets, the warm pretty granite, the floors, the new appliances especially your refrigerator, range and range hood and dishwasher (I guess I love them all!), the window treatments, all the window light since my kitchen has no windows except for the sliding door to the outside patio,and the hardware chosen. Enjoy your gorgeous and very functional kitchen! Thanks for sharing.

A beautiful and harmonious renovation! Nobody would believe your kitchen wasn't always in this configuration. It fits your home perfectly! You obviously thought through every detail to make the present blend with the past. Your floors are stunningly beautiful--how lucky for you to find such a treasure lurking just beneath the surface. Your kitchen looks like a very happy place--enjoy!

Just love everything about this kitchen! I scrolled up and down so many times, comparing the old with the new, I'm dizzy.

The not-quite-gut-it retains so much more charm than when people completely demo their old-house kitchens. I love what you saved--the cabinetry above the sink and butler's cabs are so beautiful and irreplaceable. Those brackets!! Even your window sashes have a sassy curve detail--so glad you kept those windows intact.

Oh, and of course the floors...the joinery point in the corner by the back door. Wowza.

It is so inviting with the table in the middle, instead of the usual "must-have" island.

Your transformation will be such an inspiration to the many people with very similar "before" kitchens in old homes. You guys really nailed it!

Love, love, love.

LOVE the kitchen! It's so warm and inviting, and the finishes are beautiful :)

The table is perfect (much better than an island) and I love the warm golds and wood tones with the white cabinets. Did you mention the paint color, because it's beautiful with the granite and backsplash. You've done an amazing job and I'm so happy for you...it's a lovely kitchen...and I wish I was close enough to visit! LOL

WOW it's gorgeous! I love that you kept some of the original cabinets. What an amazing transformation. Everything flows so smoothly...the granite with the BS, the table, just so beautiful!

So glad I decided to take a minute to open your thread. As everyone has said, you did a wonderful job on the spaces. I love the charming details you kept, and certainly don't miss the dysfunctional layout you ditched.

What a great space to hang out in! Enjoy! And thanks for sharing,

H.O.L.Y. SMOKES! Congratulations on a job well done!
Monica

This is such a lovely, warm, charming, unpretentious, functional, smart, personal, very special, real life kitchen for real people! No trouble seeing why you love it. I certainly do and I'm only looking at photos on my monitor! :-) Big time thumbs up to you!

What a great solution to the fridge wall! You lost about 4" of floor space but being able to move the fridge farther over is worth it. It all came about so well.

Amazing and beautiful! I love it!

This is one of my all-time favorites. Absolutely! It's so luxurious, so authentic, so truly in the spirit of the house.

Luxurious in the gobs of space, separated areas for different functions, and many visually interesting things to see. So pretty. Feels so right.

I understand why you remodeled the rooms, but I liked the old kitchen, too!

Thank you for posting; I'm inspired by your fantastic transformation! I have almost identical upper cabinets that I'm trying to preserve in my much smaller remodel, so I know what a challenge it is to make it all look seamless. Love your cabinets - need your cabinets! - but just found out Mouser doesn't cover the western U.S. Did you find any similar (beaded inset) cabinets that were in the running? I need to start looking, now that I've seen what a completely cohesive blending of cabinets can look like.

I'm glad everyone "gets" our kitchen. For those considering a similar layout, we have found two key factors make it functional- the prep sink near range so we don't have to make it to the clean up sink for anything really and the counter height table which doubles as fridge and grocery landing.

I misread johnliu's previous post. When referring to our windows being 21" from the floor, that refers to our kitchen windows. The butler's pantry windows weren't that low, but they were lower than cabinet height. To maximize countertop space, the POs ran counters across the windows so we did the same. We made sure we ordered a finished panel so it at least looks nice from the backyard. When we build our deck, we'll likely put planter boxes at the bottom of the window to cover this anyway.

lavenderlass: The kitchen wall color is Porter's Applesauce Cake (how appropriate for a kitchen) and because we don't get a ton of light in the butler's pantry we went one shade lighter with Golden Ecru.

westsider40: There are a few things I miss about the old kitchen: the openness (no uppers at all), our cast iron sinks (those things were SOLID) and our pot rack. But after we weighed the pros/cons of each, we decided to keep it simple and easy (I would obsess over the open shelves and after living with so few cabinets, we really wanted to improve our storage). The cast iron sinks were donated so we know they have found wonderful homes. Our pots are now in the drawers flanking the range so they are still handy. We actually posted a layout that included fewer uppers and a pot rack, but once we did an inventory we realized while that layout would open things up, we really needed more storage.

kmcg: Unfortunately we didn't consider any other cabinet line, but I know there are a few threads on beaded inset cabinetry. We went with Mouser because our goods friends have had them for 5 years and they still look new. The original built-ins are in amazing shape. A good paint job, new hardware and voila!

Its beautiful! Thank you for sharing. The kitchen elements blend so nicely together. It is lovely.

Thanks for the paint colors :)

Absolutely gorgeous with a capital G!! Wow! A fully functioning, beautiful kitchen AND a separate beautiful butler's pantry with original built ins lovingly restored! You are one lucky ducky

Where do you enter the kitchen from the butler's pantry. I don't see the door in any of your main kitchen photos. Do you carry all of your dirty dishes into the pantry? Just curious as to how you use the sinks?

Beautiful space. It is so much more than just a kitchen with all the adjoining space. You can feel a family just hanging out here and what I really like is that you didn't try to stuff things into the kitchen - like more counters, an island etc.

You left the kitchen table and it feels great. Well done.

Calm is right, but also bright, too. Lovely, serene, cheerful, homey, functional...A great space now made into a FANTASTIC kitchen + much more.

I, too, would love to know how these rooms relate/connect to one another.

How about that old wallpaper? How can you miss it after such a stunning transformation? I love what you have achieved! What delightful dream come true.

judydel, rhome410: We use the butler's pantry mostly for parties and entertaining so the large single bowl sink, wine fridge, DW and second oven come in handy. The dining room is on the opposite end of the butler's pantry so it's great for post dinner party clean up. We also have our coffee station in the butler's pantry to spare countertop space in the kitchen so we're in here every morning before work. As far as how we use the other sinks-we use the double bowl in the kitchen for day-to-day clean up and the prep sink for washing veggies, dumping hot pasta, etc.

Here's a pr-reno sketch of the first floor (I drew this during lunch at a GW's request. It's not to scale and a little rough but good enough to show how the spaces are connected.)

From the butler's pantry into kitchen (swing door propped open, looking at the side of the fridge)

From the kitchen into the the mudroom (looking at Ikea cabs):

Hope this helps.

I am so happy for you!!! You had quite the space and layout to work with and it came out like it was originally designed that way. What a great tribute to your house! I love your moulding, especially the crown. I wanted that style but living out in the sticks where I do I had to settle for what I could get my hands on without breaking the bank.

What a gem you have in those floors, I'm jealous! :) Did you have many layers of subfloors to pull up or was it just hidden by the linoleum? I found my kitchen has the original fir floors under the old linoleum too but under 2 layers of subfloor that have nails every 2 inches. I would have had to pull them up myself in order to stay on schedule and as much as I wanted to, I passed...for now thinking maybe later. The joys and discoveries of older homes!

Oh what a fabulous flow. Of course! The butler's pantry is between the kitchen and the dining room, as it should be : )

love, Love, LOVE!!! I have been waiting to see this one and it's one of my all time favorites, I am so happy for you. I'd love to visit here, cook here, heck, I'm jealous I don't live here - I'd just like to have the butler's pantry. You have made a wonderful, thoughtful space. Great work, great kitchen, enjoy. I've crossed the line to gushing, but thank you!

Lovely! perfect! serene!

Your kitchen is one of the prettiest that I have seen! Everything looks wonderful together. I know that you will enjoy it for years to come. May I ask you what your wall color is? It is such a warm happy color. Thank you.

I love how you kept what worked and coordinated the new to it to be seamless. This kitchen is totally classic now and seems so pretty while gaining more function. You did a marvelous job!

Reading all of your comments has put a smile on our faces. Again, thanks for posting.

neverending: I can't take any credit for the crown molding. DH did this and he did a great job. The larger molding was in stock at a small, neighborhood lumber yard so we were really lucky.

The floor demo was also a DIY project. We pulled up a top layer of linoleum and found a layer of tiles. The tiles had a lot of nails that DH pulled up one by one. Under the tiles was a layer of black adhesive that we used a wallpaper steamer to soften and scrape up. We then had to wipe up the adhesive. We were on our hands and knees pulling up nails, removing adhesive and wiping for a little over a week. A close up of the floors is in the link below. It was a messy process but worth it. I say go for it when you have time. You won't be disappointed.

sis2two: The wall color in the kitchen is Applesauce Cake from Porter Paints. The butler's pantry is a little lighter and it's called Golden Ecru.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hardwood Floor Post

well, I have to say God bless you for living with that wallpaper. Your new kitchen is beautiful. Love the coordination between the BS and granite. Very nice

Adore your backsplash! Gorgeous cabinetry! In love with your shiny hardware! Fabulous color on the walls. Love that you didn't let that window interfere with your cabinet run. Enjoy that wonderful kitchen!

This is one of my favorite kitchens on GW. I love the way you've mixed the new cabinetry with the originals, and I like the flow that you've achieved with kitchen/pantry/mudroom. The hardware, trim and colors--all gorgeous!

I would definitely feel at home in this kitchen. Very nice, everything else has been said.

Absolutely stunning!!! You really did a fabulous job of mixing the old and new. Your kitchen is beautiful! Love that you still kept the old cabinets in the bulters pantry and mixed in new ones too. Love how you kept your kitchen table in the center of the space, that space deserves to be enjoyed from right in the middle of it! You wonderful job! Lovely!
PS Where did you get your window fabric? It is beautiful!

I'm drooling. Yours will be one of my inspiration kitchens.

Thanks everyone for your comments. We get to enjoy our kitchen every day, but this kitchen is really the result of the inspiration, feedback and expertise we gained from the GW community. We now know how aliris19 felt with the "we all want the best possible kitchen for you" post. Well we think we got the best possible kitchen for our lifestyle, our house and how we use our kitchen, so thank you GW.

ejbrymom: The WTs are from Calico Corners. We brought home lots of samples before picking this one. I tried to find the fabric name online but couldn't find it. Let me know if you want a close up pic of it.

Very tasteful, very attractive. The toasted red color makes the room. Nice job.