After decades of renting, we've been planning on building or buying and renovating a place for three years now. In that time, I've done a lot of kitchen research. While I've seen some lovely ones, they've all started to look the same to me, no matter what the particular style.

I was wondering if there are any examples out there of a kitchen that doesn't go the typical "built-in" route. Not sure what else to call the standard, but the sort with rows of cupboards above and below, the long counter sitting atop the lower cupboards, maybe an island, appliances recessed within all this, and so on. The alternative I'm thinking of would be built more around stand-alone pieces, like this hutch (photo attached). And maybe with some vintage appliances that aren't so ugly you desperately want to hide them.

We're currently looking at buying a very small house whose kitchen forms part of the open living space, contiguous with a tiny dining area and tiny living room. While it has a serviceable kitchen now, of the above "standard" sort, I get the feeling the whole place would improve if the kitchen looked less kitcheny. It's a 19th-century country house with some lovely original features, like wainscot along the walls and tongue-and-groove ceilings. Somehow a modern kitchen feels wrong in it anyway.

But I can't seem to find a concrete example of the alternative I'm thinking about. Any ideas?