Your house seems more bungalow than mid century. I would go with the white cabinet look.

I think that your house reads very mid-century. The slab interior doors, simple wood trim, and squared-off untrimmed room openings all lean MCM. I also think that your decor style is more in keeping with an MCM aesthetic. The more modern kitchens would look fantastic in the overall scheme. The white kitchens you show are more appropriate for a 1920's - 1930's craftsman with beefier millwork and paneled interior doors.

Another vote for MCM. We took the wall out between kitchen and LR, and are putting in a modern kitchen. But then my house was built in 1959, and originally had a flat roof. Can't do anything about the roof now, but we are trying to find its MCM bones and enhance the modern feeling. I think this strategy might fit with your house as well.

Oh great, one vote MCM, one vote white cabs :-)
This house is neither one or the other, I guess, but I feel like I should do a kitchen that tilts in one direction or the other.

alerievay - Yes, I've checked out retro renovation. They have some great kitchens. Very inspiring. But most of the ones features have an eat-in area and have modern conveniences such as a built-in dishwasher. I have neither of these things in this kitchen. By taking down a wall, I get both.

ah, I didn't see your replies cstr and juno_barks!
The interior doors are mahogany veneer. Quite a nice, thick veneer, and yes, the baseboards are very plain.

The house was built in the early 1950's and is largely intact. I don't want to mess it up with weird renos!

Your house is what I would consider soft modern. That looks like the original kitchen, so something that looks sort of like it already does would be most appropriate.

Of course this means that you could update to a slab door that was full overlay or close to it, a fairly plain quartz countertop that has the look of some of the earlier materials, and a layout that is more in line with current ideas in ergonomics.

Of the two examples you posted, I think the older style is too old-fashioned for your house, but the MCM examples are maybe too contemporary for your house. Your house although "modern" has some fairly traditional elements--it's not a glass box with an exposed wood ceiling, for example.

But the kitchen you choose should probably skew more toward the MCM kitchens than the traditional kitchens you've posted.

Our house was built in 1939. I really wanted a midcentury home but the view, location and privacy of our home totally sold us and we gave up the 1950s MC for a truly wonderful 1939 home. We do have some elements of early MC detailing so when we bought it I thought MCM kitchen all the way. At the end of the day, quality cabinets were prohibitively expensive and I actually liked the quirky blend MC details in the kitchen so we kept the cabinetry (painted them inside and out) and blew a bundle on kick-a appliances (Lacanche range, Gagg steam oven). Our kitchen looks a lot like yours. I'll post when the renovation is done, but I think it'll look pretty similar since I repainted the exteriors the same color and we kept the cabinets and countertops. We added a hood, changed the backsplash and put in undercabinet lighting and a huge single basin sink. Gagg, sink and hood are in...range goes in next week...nearing the finish line...I should shut up now.

Anyway, I'd decide based on budget and only once you've lived and worked in the kitchen for several months. Congrats on your house!!!

Christy- Interesting, we are reversed: I decided to keep the old range and chuck the cabs :-) It would be great to see your kitchen with the new appliances. Yours looks really nice, and I like the formica and rounded corner on the peninsula.

Pal - So you're saying my modern example is too modern. What about this:

[Eclectic Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2104) by Austin General Contractors Davenport Building Solutions

Or this:

So use off-white coverpanels in between the slab cabinets to de-modernize it. Would that work?

I like the flooring in the one with the yellow kitchen, but is that too old-fashioned? I really like marmoleum. I had it in my last kitchen.

...to be honest, I'm not so sure I like the bits and pieces between the doors in the later examples I posted...It just seems like extra stuff to paint that will get shabby-looking that I don't want to deal with.

Maybe just do Modern slab cabinets + those black and white mosaic floors in the picture to de-modernize it? I'll also be using a 1960's white stove. Another retro element that's not so MCM.

Your house said "mid-century" to me, although the bath tile is something you might have seen in the previous decades (I had something similar in a 1929 house, and the original baths in my 1942-1950 neighborhood did too, although some of them were pink & black). It has the angles and edges that you would not find in an earlier house.

The current cabinets are what I pulled out of my house. Hated them! They were standard issue no matter the style of the house -- colonial (mine), cape cod, cottage, modern, cracker box ranch -- from the 40s through the late 50s, it seems.

I say go with the moderately modern stuff from Ikea that best matches your other doors/trim and any built ins in the house. Especially since that is your preferred design style anyway. Avoid rounded edges and curves -- that is not what this house is about I think.

You know I'm a sucker for MCM and your style and preferences seem to lean toward the modern aesthetic, too. That said, don't you DARE get rid of that black and white tile - its GORGEOUS!!!

IMO the bathroom is already perfect and only the kitchen needs anything. Far less of a fixer than you may have thought!

My vote goes to MCM because though it is more ranch-y it's not a 1930s house.

You can't get more mid-century than the '50's. I can't wait till I find a house and can redo a kitchen in one of these styles.

I still shed a little tear when I think of the house that got away. It had original steel cabinets with more conveniences than modern cabinets - and it had the original red formica countertops edged in steel. The homeowner had ripped out what was likely similar to your floor and put in tile.

Take a look here. I can't imagine that one of these won't ring your bell!

Here is a link that might be useful: 1950's kitchens

I love the 1920s/1930s kitchens...but I think the MCM/1950s would be lovely in your home. Especially if you're taking the wall down.

Those narrow wood floors will be perfect...and I really like your inspiration pictures :)

Of course, Pal is right. Regardless of what you're going to call it, you should replace your original cabs with similar cabs if you want to stay true to the home. In your case that means un-embellished slab doors. You can go for full overlay instead of partial to update the look a bit, and definitely consider a painted cabinet look (you can choose an opaque, colored stain for durability). Good luck!

ok, thanks everyone!
yes, the bathroom stays as-is.
As someone mentioned, it's really only the kitchen that needs updating.

Would it be possible to do a slab door in wood that's the same colour as the closets, as opposed to a painted cab?
So I'd be using the original materials in the *house*, but not those used in the original *kitchen*?

Perhaps put a retro pull on it, like:

Our 1949 house had the exact same bathroom tile (wall and floor) as yours, and we also have narrow plank HW floors. None of our original fixtures were even remotely MCM; they looked more 1930's, actually. What I have found is that anything that is reasonably clean-lined and appropriately scaled works well. So -- no giant wide-armed sofas (I think they were designed for suburban houses with big rooms and vaulted ceilings). From that point of view, 1950's and '60's furnishings sometimes suit the house better than contemporary ones.

When we redid our kitchen, we used the same oak flooring that's in the rest of the house (they still make it, and it's not that expensive compared to some HW's). I was aiming for a somewhat traditional look, since that's what fits our house best, but I didn't want ANY frou frou; no corbels or scrolling or furniture feet etc, because that would not fit the house at all. So our "style" isn't specific to any particular era -- well, other than 2010s IKEA. These postwar modest houses are a fairly blank slate, architecturally speaking, so if you like MCM style, go for it!

FYI, our kitchen cabs are off-white pseudo-shaker (IKEA Adel), countertops are oak butcherblock, backsplash is white 4x4 tile laid in a running bond, and hardware is Amerock Westerly in graphite. Inoffensive, nothing too obtrusive, and I do feel that it suits the house. It definitely suits me.

And also FYI, that black tile in our bathroom tested positive for lead (not on the home test -- by the pros), so be aware of that if you ever have to do anything to it. They do still make floor tile in that pattern, but it's not quite the same (you'll see if you go look; it's at Lowe's). If you can leave it as it is, that's definitely best! There are places that make tile just like our old bathroom floor tile too but it costs more and you have to hunt for it online (rectified tile, pinwheel pattern).

I really like the hardware you posted!

Hydragea - I just bought a bunch of those pulls for our kitchen. Pulls on the drawers, and the peg knobs from Rejuvenation for the cabinet doors. They're even cooler in person - we're installing this weekend I'll send pics.

*also, as far as trying to match the cabinets to the closets, you really only need to stay in the color family. We had the same issue in our house except we've got yellow maple/birch built-ins everywhere. As you've seen we kept it in the family but didn't try to match it exactly. They go together beautifully.

**also also, lead in tile?! I've never heard of that! Good to know - guess I'd better stop licking things...

This post was edited by Swentastic on Fri, Sep 19, 14 at 12:46

Swen - I had these pulls in my last kitchen. It's funny how such a simple pull---not particularly jazzy--can really make a kitchen look retro.

the peg knobs look nice; but I wonder about their grip-ability. Maybe they're best for wall cabs?

Good to know that the cabinets don't have to match exactly.

And I agree with you, NorthCarolina, that these modest houses don't have *that* much character to work around, so you might as well do what you like, as long as it's modest. It's nice to have guidelines though--without them, I would be lost in all the options!

I'd heard of lead in paint, but not lead in tile! Good to know! The tiles in the bath do look a bit different from the home depot variety. If I ever do the bath, I'll keep it in mind.

Northcarolina - when you say "So -- no giant wide-armed sofas (I think they were designed for suburban houses with big rooms and vaulted ceilings). From that point of view, 1950's and '60's furnishings sometimes suit the house better than contemporary ones."

....I can see what you mean. Medium scale furnishings seem appropriate.

I like white cabs+butcherblock+square 4 X 4s! There is definitely a lack of frou-frou in this combo, yet it's still warm. Seems like it goes with everything.

duplicate

This post was edited by Hydragea on Fri, Sep 19, 14 at 15:43

You know, I mentioned that I pulled out the identical cabinets -- except, when I first moved in, they were not painted. I think they were Lauan (sp?) but not sure. Anyway, I was the one that painted them.

I don't see any reason why you need to have painted cabs to be true to the house.

Particularly in combination with the bathroom, your house seems more what people call "retro" than MCM or 1930's.

Like this would fit right in:
{{!gwi}}

Or some of these:
http://furniture.trendzona.com/kitchen-design/retro-kitchen-design-part-1.html

Or this:

Or this:

However, I just ran across this quote:

"I had a friend tell me once not to stick with just one period. That a true home from say the 60's would have a 50's coffee table, a 40's dinette set mom and dad bought them when they got married."

If you like MCM and art deco and whatever else, no reason why you can't have it all.

This house blends the styles you are interested in well:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chelsea-alexs-mixed-styles-homehouse-tour-175330#_

jllius - the two first pics you show is what I had in mind when I said '1930's'. I don't think I posted the right pic, though.

I tried to find cabinets that are slab with partial overlay, but I can't find them. Any ideas where to obtain something like this? As an alternative, I was thinking the slab-inset cabs topped with formica and using classic 1950's pulls.

I know people mentioned a full overlay slab cabinet in white but it seems a bit too plastic-looking...dunno. I would prefer wood if I were doing full overlay.

Here are a couple that are a bit closer to what I was thinking for '1930's'. It's hard to visualize it, but remove all the latches and bin pulls and replace them with the curved handles I posted above.

or this (remove all the curvy bits and cubbies):

What I really want is a nice round a corner on an Ikea cabinet. Has anyone done such a thing?

I like the second pic. I actually almost posted that one too, except I also wasn't such a fan of the various cubbies.

I think you should do that.

Many 1950s homes still had an aesthetic similar to the 1930s, so I don't see why you shouldn't combine the elements you like. I agree with the quote about a true homes combining styles from different eras, it's natural for homes to evolve that way.
Here is a picture of a 1950s kitchen:

The only thing that boldly states 1950s rather than 30s or 40s are the table and chairs. Real linoleum was still in use in the 50s, as was Formica with a metal edge, as in that picture.
Many 1930s cabinets had slab doors, although many tended to be large, tall doors, like these:

So you are not limited to Shaker style cabinets, to be true to the era.
Your bathroom tiling could have been done anytime from the 30s to the 60s, so I say combine the elements you like in the kitchen and go for an "evolved" look.

Furniture may predate or postdate the house but it would be very unusual for a house to have a kitchen or bathroom style that predated the house by decades. A kitchen or bathroom is either going to be of the period the house was built or later, as in a remodel, but not earlier.

Our cabinets, though old, were in pretty good shape and now look lovely with our new paint job. I think with older homes it is wise, as you are doing, to consider the period of the home and work with it rather than do what is currently popular. And I think each home has different needs so I'm sure you'll love your new cabinets! I have to admit I was a little sad to see our 1950's GE Stratoliner range be sold but that electric cooktop was so hard to do anything but boil water on and not much could be on simultaneously, and I fell in love with the Lacanche.

Anyway, I also agree per above posters that style wise it doesn't have to all be one era. Our vintage artwork is from the 30s, our red formica table and chairs (not in the pic) are from the 50s and our cabinet pulls are newer but probably 50s inspired. I love the pulls you picked and I like the 30s-50s updated kitchen in the last several posts, which seems like it would work with your bathroom staying as is.

One thing we considered is that if we tore out the kitchen and put in a true MCM kitchen it would look wierd with our 1950s extensively pink tiled bathroom and then that would need to be updated. By keeping the style of our kitchen to its era, the kitchen and bathroom seem more in sync and I don't seeing us (other than putting in new grout and maybe painting the walls) changing our pink tiled bathroom, which also made our approach more cost effective. I think doing a blend of 30s-40s to early 50s, your bathroom would fit nicely into the updated kitchen.