And here are some photos -

View into dining area:

View of desk area in the kitchen:

Another view

Breezeway side wall of kitchen:

Here's one of the big problems - the angle of the soffit:

Love the ceiling in the dining room-I'd open the space to that area...Remove the peninsula or shorten it-eliminate the soffit cabinets there. The wood will blend with your white kitchen if that's your choice-add some butcher block in the kitchen..with some bamboo or interesting blinds on those windows, remove the chandelier and do a patterned rug or something not so bland on the floor. But, I'd do lyptus or or cherry cabs in kitchen, and would not paint that ceiling.

In a large circular showy space I would put a huge round table, or an oval table.

You wrote ".... On the other side of the peninsula is a terra cotta tile breakfast bar that's not a good height ...." = I'll guess that it's attached to and behind the angled peninsula shown in your last photo.

I wouldn't change anything in the footprint. If my reading of your plan is correct, the fridge is at the end of the angled peninsula. You need the cabinet of drawers. You might gain slightly if you shortened the peninsula, but it's not worth all the cost, no matter how much spare money you might have lying around and waiting to be spent on something.

In the current phase you are in, you are spending time and effort on simulation exercises, and with this as goal I would focus on "building" (simulating) a double-size counter, double-wide countertop, behind the fridge, and add something built-in behind the fridge thereby shaping your round DR space differently. Look up raro, a username of a GW forum person who built a structure to enclose a fridge and to accomplish many other design goals (shelves, light, presentation space for art, eye-block, eye-view, etc) The fridge backside then becomes lost behind a bigger thingie, something that has shelves and light in it, some open shelves, some enclosed behind glass doors, some shelves made of glass and some made of "thick". Adding material, adding mass, instead of removing mass as that one California bathroom designer once said about fridge drawers and opening up the two areas.

I know someone who built a six-sided gazebo, i.e. hexagonal footprint shape. Each of the six sides is screened and each side has a view. He spent time to plan it right; he spent money to build it right. THEN he cheaped out and put a rectangular table in it. I hate it.

Your round space needs to be accepted as a round space. The new mass (material, built-in, thingie) needs to hug the round. It will make the round space more what it is meant to be. Your architectural plans show that there IS room to expand the peninsular countertop better to meet and match the round ceiling. Your roundness can be improved. You could have a massive ring or halo of light instead of a central chandelier. It could be an inexpensive piece of metal curved into a ring, with LED lights attached to it and covered with a strip of fabric, a thousand points of light that merge into a halo effect once they are covered by the cover... Whatever. The center of a round table could be hollow and could be put to use to hold practical things... Whatever. For now, these are general direction type ideas. Not a recommendation. Things to explore before moving on to the decision phase.

A bit of white paint can lighten up the wood ceiling. A change for the better. It can mean the grain is still visible to those who like to see wood grain. Instead of high-hiding paint, a thin coat of whitewash can be a start in the right direction, if you want to get there gradually and see the impact of making it lighter and whiter in increments.

Have you tried a circular table in your dining room? I LOVE your bertoia chairs, but wonder if a round table might make that space feel less awkward. It might de-emphasize the combination of angled kitchen cabinetry and circular dining room, since a rectangular table needs to be set respective to one of the straight elements in the space (I'm guessing it's the angled cabinetry run).

I can sympathize about houses with identity crises. Our 1956 ranch house has mid-century elements but also colonial revival elements. Our furniture is also mostly mid-century modern. In previous homes (Victorians and 1920's houses) the contrast between the old, ornate architectural details and the MCM furniture was fabulous, but in this 50's house, when we first moved in, the furniture plus the architecture just looked like a period movie set or grandma's house :(

Do you want a cleaner-lined look or do you want to embrace the tudor/country aspects? I could definitely see removing the dining room carpet, painting the ceiling, and replacing that turned wood column with something simpler. I could also see a sleeker kitchen with slab doors working in the space, in contrast with the Tudor elements.

I think I'd hesitate to add a whole another style into the mix. Inset white cabinets with moldings seem to speak of an entirely different period style than the contrasting ones you already have going on there..... But maybe I'm misunderstanding the kitchen you're proposing. Can you post any inspiration pics of the kitchen you like?

I could also see a more traditional kitchen (painted cabs, etc) that carefully incorporated design elements the house already has. Maybe glass cabinets with panes echoing the dining room windows? It would have to be done very carefully to play nicely with the MCM furnishings. But I'd be wary of adding in something stylistically different than what you already have going on.

I agree with the round table in the dining room.
I think the peninsula needs to be curved and not angled.
I'd rather see the fridge where the ovens are.
I would never paint the dining room ceiling. I might run tiny rope lights along the beams to really play it up.
Wood floors would be an improvement over the tile and carpet, but I might leave the slate as it is.
If you don't need a desk area, fill in below with cabs and make it a baking center. I would not mess with the windows because that would affect the outside look as well.
I think your house's style calls for slab front doors for the cabs. I can see it in wood veneer more than painted cabs. In any case, I'd shoot for a simple look and not do traditional.
A more modern post in the dining room would look better. The pepper shaker look you have now is not modern enough for it.

Thanks so much for the responses! I just woke up and am going to reread all of them and comment on them once the a.m. brain fog clears (I stayed up until 3:30 thinking (obsessing) about this).

I also have more photos to post ( I only took 78! )

Good grief, I didn't even post a photo of the refrigerator last night. Here's the front of it, the back of it (ignore the candle thing on the back - it's got to go along with many other things). As far as decorating goes, I've never had this much trouble with a house but then again, the other houses have all been new construction. This is the first pre-lived home in the "series." Also, we don't plan on staying here forever. This house is labeled as "the house before we leave the Los Angeles area for good and/or retire."

The refrigerator is mid-eighties, the oven/broiler is probably mid-eighties, the cabinets - original 1961 knotty pine (some of them were held together by things like paperclips), the tile is what the realtor/remodeler/handler of the estate added, the windows are original sixties aluminum as are the diamond-shaped dining room windows). Anyway, the appliances need to go. I should post some inspiration-type photos as well.

I also think a circular table would be better, and I want to paint that ceiling of the dining area white or a neutral color. I feel like the darkness of the ceiling breaks it up and it would look cleaner if it were light. I also don't think the chandelier goes with the style. Very cool space though :) can you post a few of your inspirations pictures? That would help with seeing your long term vision and what appeals to you.

Ditto getting a round dining table.

Everyone wants you to have a circular table in there. Me too. :)

As usual, Davidrol seems to be zooming in on the main issues. I agree with accepting the original structure and intent--and improving on it. Keep the shape but completely rebuild and restyle that dividing structure that envelopes the kitchen wall and defines the dining room on that side. The spindle wall on the other side of the dining room, too. Simplify. Restyle. Reframe to widen the kitchen doorway and enclose a current-size fridge. Lose the dysfunctional bar. Gain an elegantly simple counter that can function as a buffet. Do something about the upper cabinets if they make you feel you have to scrunch down to relate to people in the dining room.

That's an attractive and functional soffit. If they all looked that way, they'd have never gained the bad rep they did after decades just being tacked up here and there willy-nilly wherever some pipes or wires needed to be run cheaply.

If you put a work counter where the desk is, it'd be on the other side of a traffic aisle. Clean-up area, maybe, with cooking and prep together on the main side. If you're not crying out for more work space, how about making it into a window seat for socializing in the kitchen?

If you feel you do need some more work counter, the oven could move to the pantry wall, which would make a real difference and make the work area feel much more spacious.

Now that I've had fun, all this restyling could really use some input from a good designer on site. I envy you your boomerang house. Those one-story ramblers are a real luxury style in today's world.

herbflavor said:

"I'd open the space to that area...Remove the peninsula or shorten it-eliminate the soffit cabinets there"

This has always been my goal but when I look up at those crazy soffit lines - where the flat ceiling that comes off the rotunda (for lack of a better word) come together at an angle and then go upward another foot my brain shuts down. I've also thought about adding bamboo blinds at the windows so I'm glad to hear someone else can see it as well. Thanks for your thoughts!

davidro1 said: "I wouldn't change anything in the footprint."

Given the economy and the fact that this is not a house we intend to live in forever I'm kind of starting to embrace this idea. My husband and I are the only ones living in the house and we have a tendency to eat breakfast and/or lunch standing up at the counter and then eat dinner at the rectangular Ikea table that's been through a 3-story townhouse near the beach with vaulted white ceilings - and then on a concrete floor in a downtown Los Angeles loft (rental). It looked much better in those two places and looks sadly out of place in this house - much like the rest of our furniture. :-(

Oh yeah, our eating habits.....

I really want to get away from standing up to eat. It's a bad habit and the goofy terra cotta tiled sub-bar (as I think of it) is awkward in many ways - first and foremost - the height but then there's the break between the carpet (I loathe carpet in a dining space) and the flagstone. It's just more trouble than it's worth to drag a chair over and eat at the sub-bar/counter. All that said, I've thought about extending the countertop and having a space for eating breakfast/lunch/dinner. It would be much easier than dragging food over to the dining room table every night.

Also, thanks for your idea about the ceiling and doing it in stages. I just now saw a photo of brick that has me wondering if we could do something similar to lighten up the "tunnel of brick wall" at the end of the living room.

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[traditional kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by charleston architect Frederick + Frederick Architects

stacyneil - you managed to describe this house perfectly with just one sentence: "mid-century elements but also colonial revival elements." It's been really hard to wrap my brain around (and my husband's eyes glaze over when we talk about it so we've worked on the outside these past five years, i.e. replaced concrete with cobblestone pavers, removed the indoor/outdoor carpet in the cabana and had the concrete floor polished/colored, re-plastered the pool, pulled out all the landscaping, etc.

And I'm still smiling about this: "when we first moved in, the furniture plus the architecture just looked like a period movie set or grandma's house."

Once again, you described it perfectly! To add insult to injury, my taste has changed somewhat over the past 15 years. In 1994 I had a boomerang shaped house (new construction/my design) on 25 acres (not in California) with a skyline view of the nearby city. There was a fireplace wall between the kitchen and the living room - on the kitchen side it was a polished concrete wall that looked like a large slab/monolith - and on the other side - hammered aluminum (I had seen something similar in Architectural Digest).

The Bertoia chairs looked great in that house and I still love them from a style perspective but I'm trying to find a way to marry all this stuff together without it looking like you so aptly described it - grandma's house gone terribly wrong.

As crazy as it sounds - I would like to find a way to incorporate a look like this (the chairs/chandelier, not the ultra-modern kitchen and - btw - the chandelier was already there when we moved in, hanging like a swollen sore thumb beneath that Bonanza (it was an old television show) ceiling. :-)

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[modern kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by other metros kitchen and bath Natalie Du Bois

Another chandelier look:

Eclectic mix with moulding, Bertoia chairs, etc.

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[eclectic dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2104) by other metros interior designer Mikel Irastorza

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[modern dining room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2105) by new york interior designer Holzman Interiors, Inc.

I would also curve the peninsula, as mentioned to reinforce the circular dining room.

The midcentury house with Colonial revival elements was actually a fairly typical mix when the house was built (as was mid-century with Spanish revival in some parts of the country), so I am not sure that there was a tug of war so much as it was an intentional mix.

I can see moving the fridge to open up that space but in a sense the refrigerator was used to define space rather than block it. (the original was smaller, for sure) I don't know if counter-depth/built-in is within your budget, but the properly sized and placed fridge in the same general location could do about the same thing.

Another vote for a round DR table. But I disagree with those who say "paint the ceiling." That is such a striking architectural element and I think it would be a shame to paint it. There is a GWer with a round ceiling similar to yours and I've also seen another in a magazine. Both are stunning, IMO, as is yours. If it feels heavy, perhaps you can have it stripped and stained lighter instead.

Anyone remember which GWer is the owner of the breakfast nook with the round, peaked wood-clad ceiling? I think she was located in NC and had to travel between home base and new home while it was being built. White cabs, IIRC, can't recall much else. Oh, she collected something ... some kind of pottery or unique kitchen item. Dang, I hate brain farts.

your next fridge can be swiveled, pivoting around its front leg to face towards the sink or to the range. Then you can build a different shape of mass around it. Pivoting it makes the kitchen triangle smaller, and that is a good thing. It allows the new curvy countertop in the round room to be shorter than otherwise, and that is also a good thing. It removes the "money shot" view onto the desk area, and that might also be a good thing. So, it's an idea to consider. The disadvantage is that the walkaround time from kitchen to round room is increased by a factor of ten, in psychological terms. I would put a second sink in the new round-footprint countertop that you will build in the round room. Between the new countertop and the old one I would leave a slot, to be a garbage chute (two parts, one for organics, one for uncompostable garbage. Or maybe three parts.) Hth

palimpsest - re: Spanish revival - are you referring to the Brutalist movement? Much like this blogger, I recently (within the last month) learned of that subset of mid-century modern and I spent hours looking at the furniture and building styles.

http://retrorenovation.com/2010/11/20/1969-modern-lighting-from-moe/

My problem is - I like so many different styles these days and have a really hard time reining myself in to one overall look. Plus, I hate giving up some of the pieces I really love and have had for years. I bought the six Bertoia chairs at a little mid-century modern shop in Louisville, KY in 1995 and one of my favorite pieces is a case-goods type end table that I bought at a flea market for $20. Another flea market find was an Artemide Lesbos lamp ($25) that was sitting on concrete. Luckily, it didn't get broken before I got to it.

Re: the refrigerator - yes, counter-depth is in the budget. In this house - built-in definitely is not.

And you make an excellent point about the refrigerator being used to define the space. In a way, the bathroom designer's passing comment about the refrigerator has colored the way I've looked at room(s) for the past five years. I think it was david who said something about just embracing the roundness for what it is. Plus, I may need to just get over the idea of having an island in this house.

Re: the footprint/originality - we've had realtors contact us about people wanting mid-century type houses like ours in this neighborhood (yeah, I know it's usually a ploy) but keeping that in mind, I hesitate to go too far off the rail when it comes to changing the architect's original design.

Using an analogy here - I don't want to put a leaded glass front door on an Eichler (our house isn't an Eichler - if it was, it would be much easier to formulate an updated plan in keeping with the original architecture).

------

On another note, I am so glad I took the leap and posted the photos. In doing so I've started forcing myself into looking at it for what it is and exploring what's feasible in this economy versus what I've visualized after looking at thousands of online photos.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to comment. I'm saving all the comments because I really do appreciate all the different perspectives.

Sigh. It seems like such a shame to change this. The kitchen and all are so well preserved.

I understand why you want to update this, but it makes me sad.

dianalo: "The pepper shaker look you have now is not modern enough for it."

I can't wait to relay your description to my husband! In fact, I think I'll email it to him right now because of the brain f*rt factor (as lisa_a mentioned above :-).

Those jailhouse spindles drive me nuts. The biggest of the pepper mills is apparently a metal support pole (framed with wood) so that will need to stay but will definitely be clad in another style of column. I have a folder of columns but after focusing in more today I found a folder of designs on Houzz.com from an interior designer in San Francisco who has used a simplistic barn wood looking column in this kitchen. If we take out the peninsula this is very much the way I would like an island to look. Overall, I really like this designer's portfolio. She uses paint on a similar type ceiling and the barn wood on the beams which might be another idea that would work (i.e. paint with contrasting wood that ties into a white/wood combination in the kitchen and then carries into the living room):

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[contemporary living room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by san francisco interior designer Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs

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[contemporary kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by san francisco interior designer Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs

Re: keeping the flagstone - what would you do with the circular carpeted area in the dining room? I've thought about this in the past and wondered if we could get flagstone to match (I doubt this would be possible); however, here's the rub: when I was looking at the plans yesterday they indicated the areas with flagstone were to be set 2" lower than the overall concrete slab. I think he used the word compressed. Anyway, we need to get a floor installer to come in and give us our options regarding hardwood/engineered. Since the house is on a slab I think it would require tearing out the flagstone and then laying a sub-floor (for hardwood). OTOH, I think it might be possible to put the engineered flooring over the flagstone. Yesterday we laid sample pieces up against door jambs and the carpet break and the height seemed fine because the flagstone was laid to be level with the rest of the concrete slab.

I really wish the original owners had made the entire dining room flagstone but it might not have helped at this point unless they would have carried it into the kitchen. The original plan shows linoleum in the kitchen. It's hard for me to imagine what that must have looked like. In addition, there used to be (according to the plans) swinging saloon doors between the refrigerator space and the wall. Also, when we moved in I removed the little shutter system that allowed the kitchen to be closed off completely from the dining room. It took up way too much counter space and I knew we would never be closing it off.

I really like the existing DR ceiling. It is very striking, and it seems to me that painting it is something that some future homeowner would be asking "What were they thinking?"

I understand your urge to lighten up the space, though. Even with a light floor it seems dark. I was thinking about lighting up the walls (sconces, or using track lighting for a wall wash), but realized that there is just not that much wall in that room. But to the extent that there is, I think illuminating them and using them to reflect more light into the room would help. I assume that the room is quite bright during the day, with all those windows.

When you change the floor, I think it is important to maintain the circular DR floor that echoes the ceiling, whether it is a different material, or a different orientation of hardwood, or something. It defines the space.

Things that have already been said that I totally agree with:
1) Round DR table
2) Curved peninsula (BalTra's inspiration pic in her recent posts has a nice example of one)

{{gwi:1971098}}

Note that only the counter is curved, not the cabs, but the effect is still striking.

3) I don't think that white shaker inset cabs would be right in your space, no matter how pretty they are in other people's kitchens. Too traditional.

4) I think you should think about putting the fridge where the ovens are now.

plllog - re: It seems like such a shame to change this.

This is one of the main reasons why we've put this off for so long - hemming and hawing over it and then dropping the subject altogether until the next time (which is what this is - the most advanced of all the "next times").

The original owners waited and waited to get this lot and apparently they finally talked the builder into selling it (they had another house in the subdivision). I've always had the vibe that it was their dream house and the architect's plans label things like things like Mrs. ****** closet, Mr. ****** closet.

Their children (and grandchildren's) heights and dates are penned into the inside of the knotty pine door of the broom closet and when I did my half-*** job of painting the kitchen cabinets I didn't have the heart to paint over that bit of history. And weirdly enough, while working on the guest bath soon after moving in, I reached into the drawer stack and found a little pink plastic barrette with molded shells wedged in against the concrete and wood - exactly like one I had as a child. I had a deja vu moment of sorts and sat there thinking about the house and its past and all the thought that had gone into it along the way. Even after six years of living here we still, on occasion, get a piece of mail addressed to her.

david - loosely speaking, is this somewhat reminiscent of what you're describing (but with an actual refrigerator vs. a drawer)?

Cawaps, palimpsest and others who have mentioned a rounded/curved counter - I'm assuming you're referring to the curve following the curve of the ceiling, right? (Cawaps, thanks for posting Bal Tra's inspiration photo).

I'm kind of having a hard time visualizing it so I'm going to do an image search for the words circular/rounded peninsula.

Again, thank you all so much!

the image posted: No.

Imagine you build a second countertop, a complete new and independent countertop, curved to follow the shape of the ceiling. Your Bar counter thingie can (disappear and) be replaced by this. Imagining this might help you figure out what I've been posting. Others have probably been posting similar ideas.

Brutalism comes from the term "beton brut" - raw concrete.
This is primarily an architectural term, although Paul Evans (furniture and lamps), Tom Greene and Harry Weese (torch cut fixtures) did interior pieces in the Brutalist genre.

Spanish revival furniture looks good with Brutalism because of the comparable rusticity.

In terms of the ceiling, I might be hesitant to paint it all. (Maybe because I just bought a sorta-brutalist house with a raw wood ceiling, not as nice as yours). I think it depends on the way the rest of the house starts to go because it could look nice painted in the colonial revival sense.

I would probably put white posterboard in one pie shaped section and evaluate if I wanted to paint it all, paint the sheathing and leave the beams, or leave it alone.

I would be tempted to keep the circle of carpet too.

I found an LA Times article about the remodel of a house that's in the general vicinity of where we live. They use wide beadboard/hard paneling down the hallway which is something I've considered doing (our hallway runs the length of the house and it's the first thing seen when entering the front door). THe same type of paneling is below the windows in the dining area and on the living room side of the arc.

After looking through all the photos (link below) I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to just leave it for the next person to figure out - although it doesn't change the fact that I can't stand the 80s white bathroom tile countertops that the previous owner put in.

This house could very well have been built by the same builder. We have a wide beadboard/hardboard wall 'unit' in our bedroom similar to the one in the living room of their house.

Article title: Disney producer's ranch house in La Canada Flintridge gets updated with warmth and restraint (link below or http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-0131-hahn-pg,0,4886386.photogallery)

If we were going to stay here for the long run I would be more interested in a truer-to-period remodel but I'm not sure a kitchen like the one shown at the link would help sell the house (it's a strong demographics factor that I haven't mentioned in all this but it does play a part in the big picture).

Here is a link that might be useful: LA Times article link

TIme capsule - courtesy of a blogger who loves 50s/60s kitchens.

The blogger writes:

It really shows how modern can be merged with colonial for a timeless look..........It is completely possible to replicate this kitchen today. Use:

Planked, stained cabinetry from Omega or Cabico
Forged iron hardware from Acorn or Amerock
Matte 1″ black tiles for the counter � a great touch that brings the kitchen into the modern
Black ceramic tile, Armstrong Imperial Excelon black vct tile, or probably the best � commercial sheet
Heat lamps from ? � I�m sure you must be able to get these from restaurant supply places
And, if you have the ceiling height � dropping the wall cabinets from them, as in this kitchen, also is a definitive modern touch

Here is a link that might be useful: link to blogger's site

Beadboard is so not L.A.!

If you're thinking about selling, definitely leave it for the next buyer. You won't gain anything from remodeling. If it needs it, get pros in to clean it before you market it and get it as close to pristine as possible.

Something you often hear is, "Darling house. Too bad they remodeled it." I'm not sure if this is as true in LC-F, or even Glendale, but so many of these charmers have mismatched updates and that will kill a sale in a way that just old won't.

If you're planning to stay there for a good while, however, I'd suggest starting with layout and ease of cooking and working the rest around that, trying to keep to the basic vibe that's there now, while updating. If you're going to change the style, go for something that's now. This was a very stylish house. Anything retro is going to look wrong.

I agree with pillog, if you aren't staying you may want to,leave it. You could also just hire someone to come in and spray the cabinets and swap the hardware out, then upgrade the appliances. We did this in a former home with those exact iron hinges and it just cleaned it up and streamlined it for today's buyers. Have you painted many of the rooms throughout? Sometimes a fresh coat of paint can do wonders to a space and I agree that a wash on that brick wouldn't be bad.
You could also contact a realtor who sells in your neighborhood and see what they think.
But I definitely do not see breadboard in this house :). However, I do still want to paint the dining ceiling, it doesn't need to be white, something just a shade or two lighter. But that's just me :)

As far as moving goes - we probably won't do anything for at least another five years.

The cabinets are in such bad shape it wouldn't be worth it to spend another cent on them. I painted them (using paint I already had) in the midst of a nervous frenzy during the 2008 financial meltdown.

And plllog and chris11895 - I agree completely on remodeling and ending up with the "what were they thinking - I wish they'd left it alone" effect. In fact, that's one reason why we liked this house. It was repainted and cleaned up enough to move in right away but it hadn't been sullied too much from its original condition.

The only problem is figuring out an acceptable way to update it. I've been reading up on the California ranch style (as I guess it's called) this afternoon. I always just figured the architect and owner had missed the Neutra/Eames boat but thanks to palimpsest I now understand it was probably intentional. My mom used to have strictly Colonial furniture in that era - she then graduated to primitive antique furniture. I just never realized the two styles were so closely meshed; although I've always known Paul McCobb's designs had a Colonial/Shaker look.

Editing on preview to add - again, many, many thanks. This thread has helped me immensely at this point in the process.

I think the attempt at a colonial look just does not mesh with the organic modern look it also had. I know it was done often as well as with the Spanish look (stucco, beams, etc...), but I just don't care for it. I think you could bring it forward into a more 70s natural look. Keep the ceiling and the slate floor, and try to work in clean elements and curves. Using raised panel doors and those hinges just did not look great when new, so to recreate would be period appropriate, but a mistake.
I think a retro modern kitchen and vibe would make the most sense. Like noted above, you can use regular cabs under a curved counter. I could see it looking groovy with vertical grain veneer cabs, some retro color accessories and modern art. You can do an older style in a fresh way. There is no need to be a slave to someone else's vision for it, whether the original owner/architect, or some future buyer. If you added curves to your pix from 15:42 today, that would be quite nice. I am not sure you should whitewash your wood, but it is not a bad option. I would hate to see it get painted though. The workmanship and lines of it are really nice and that would sully it. I don't see too many painted surfaces as working in your house. I can picture grass cloth wallpaper and maybe some white walls. Certainly, you should skip crown molding....
Some funky table lamps in chrome would fit in as would some plants and macrame. I'd try to go for an ahead of its time look from years ago....

davidro1: "your next fridge can be swiveled, pivoting around its front leg to face towards the sink or to the range. Then you can build a different shape of mass around it."

___________________________

davidro1, I think the light bulb finally went off. Or on.

I'm not sure if what I've drawn up is exactly like what you were describing but your suggestion to pivot the future refrigerator was part of the light bulb moment. Unless I'm missing something obvious (which is always possible) the kitchen could end up looking much larger.

And the great thing is . . . this seems to accommodate the weird soffit line and the refrigerator box will be a conduit for electricity to the island/workspace (I think). Since we're on a slab it would be impossible (I think) to have a electric on a freestanding island. The way I've drawn it, the island extends beyond the pivoted refrigerator - which is now taking up some of the weird dead space in the dining room.

I have a rough drawing of it that I'll probably post tomorrow but in the meantime I wanted to say thanks for the suggestion. It only took me a couple of weeks to put it to good mental use!

(The peninsula goes away in this scenario which allows the dishwasher to move to the other side of the sink)

davidro1: "your next fridge can be swiveled, pivoting around its front leg to face towards the sink or to the range. Then you can build a different shape of mass around it."

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davidro1, I think the light bulb finally went off. Or on.

I'm not sure if what I've drawn up is exactly like what you were describing but your suggestion to pivot the future refrigerator was part of the light bulb moment. Unless I'm missing something obvious (which is always possible) the kitchen could end up looking much larger.

And the great thing is . . . this seems to accommodate the weird soffit line and the refrigerator box will be a conduit for electricity to the island/workspace (I think). Since we're on a slab it would be impossible (I think) to have a electric on a freestanding island. The way I've drawn it, the island extends beyond the pivoted refrigerator - which is now taking up some of the weird dead space in the dining room.

I have a rough drawing of it that I'll probably post tomorrow but in the meantime I wanted to say thanks for the suggestion. It only took me a couple of weeks to put it to good mental use!

(The peninsula goes away in this scenario which allows the dishwasher to move to the other side of the sink)