The story below is from our March/April 2020 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
One homeowner recreates that vintage, grandmotherly feel.
Melissa Firestone holds heritage dear. As the design consultant for The Townes at Hidden Valley, a subdivision in its last phase of construction under the direction of her husband Michael Littleton, she knows what’s trending. But she didn’t want what’s trending for the kitchen in their new home. She wanted the familiar and the comfortable.
“I wanted a kitchen like I grew up with, in New York,” she says.
So, her mind and heart traveled back to the kitchens of her German and Polish grandmothers, where pots of something always simmered on the back of the stove and everyone gathered to eat, tell stories and eat some more. A place where meal prep and family mealtime were important elements in the home – elements Melissa wants to incorporate into their new blended family.
The first thing Melissa did to try and recreate her grandmothers’ kitchens was to go online.
“I thought that with real estate sites like Zillow the way they are, that maybe I could find photos of their homes online to give me ideas.”
So, she plugged the addresses into a few sites but found the new homeowners had redone the kitchens she remembered.
“That’s okay,” she continues, “my memories are so vivid. And you know, what every kitchen had was a butcher block and a hutch.” So, she started shopping for a hutch.
“I looked online for antique dealers,” she says, “and found the perfect one.”
The only drawback? They had to ship it from France.
The Hutch
Firestone really wanted the hutch to be the focal point of the kitchen so she and Chris Wade, designer and branch manager with Reico Kitchen and Bath in Salem, worked tirelessly to make that happen.
“She had a vision of multiple colors,” says Wade, “which is something you have to be careful with. When you have very specific ideas, you have to incorporate all the details.”
For instance, she said, they had to decide which cabinets to match the crown molding to. They decided to make it the darker color all the way around.
Once the hutch arrived, it proved the perfect place for the Littleton’s bar. The shelves hold glasses and they store liquor in the cabinet below. Directly opposite, under the island, is a small refrigerator for cold drinks and mixes.
The Cabinets
To replicate her grandmothers’ kitchens, Firestone didn’t want all her cabinets to be the same; she wanted them to complement the style of the hutch.
“I don’t like matchy-matchy,” she says. So, she went with two different styles of Merillat cabinets.
“She chose the Canvas with Desert accents from their Classic collection,” says Wade, “and the Maple Cognac from their Masterpiece collection.”
The plate rack over the sink, from the Masterpiece collection, makes things more accessible and adds to the vintage style. The built-in, teak butcher block at the end of the full island is much like what Melissa’s grandmothers had and completes the Old World feel.
In keeping with her eclectic expression, Firestone chose two different quartz countertops as well. The island is topped with Cambria Nevern and the surrounding cabinets with LG Clarino.
The Jewels of the Kitchen
Firestone calls her appliances and fixtures the jewelry of the kitchen with finishes labeled Sunset Bronze, Brushed Champagne and Satin Gold.
“I think it’s more interesting the golds are mixed up, not matching,” she says. All the appliances are Whirlpool stainless.
The Littletons laid pre-finished hickory throughout the open floor plan with boards of random width and length to “make it look old.”
The kitchen includes can lighting in the ceiling, as well as fixtures from Build.com. A farmhouse sink provides ample space for large pots. The travertine wall reminds Firestone of the brick walls in her grandmothers’ kitchens. And, adjacent to the kitchen is a large, walk-in pantry.
The Heart of the Home
A traditional kitchen would have a table in the middle of the room. To keep that eat-in kitchen feel, Firestone did a few things. First, the island includes space for seating. Second, no wall separates the farmhouse style table from the kitchen’s work area.
“It was important to me that the stove face out, toward the table,” Firestone says.
Third, while the open floor plan includes seating for family and friends, she chose not to include a television.
“Being newly married, with a daughter and step-daughter,” she says, “I like us all to talk and not have a distraction.”
She also includes Makenzie, 18, and Charlotte, 12, in tasks like setting the table and food prep each night. And, since no television is within sight, they spend mealtimes eating and telling their own stories.
FIrestone isn’t the kind of person to order a fully equipped kitchen and spend her life eating out.
“I cook every day,” she says. “I aim for food to taste like it did when I was a kid.”
Her new kitchen not only reminds her of her grandmothers in New York, but it also reminds her to make new memories with her daughters for their future kitchen and families, too.
Tips for Creating an Old World Kitchen Design
If you, too, gravitate from the matchy-matchy to the eclectic and would love to step back in time with every culinary experience, an Old World style kitchen is for you. Achieving it is easier than you imagined possible.
“There is no book that says ‘Do this for Old World style,’” says Chris Wade, designer and branch manager with Reico Kitchen and Bath in Salem. “Every designer is going to interpret the style differently.” That said, here are a few tips from the experts to get you started.
Mix old with new. Incorporate something old or something that looks old, like Melissa Firestone’s hutch.
Mix light with dark. Whether the color of cabinets or different materials, like the countertop choices Firestone made, mixing is what Old World style is all about.
Accessorize with hand-forged metals. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be hand-forged,” says Wade. “It could be a mixture of metals or finishes.”
Use natural stone. Whether brick, travertine, or marble, natural stone is preferred over other manufactured surfaces.
Choose fabrics with rich colors and stripes over florals.
Add a pot rack, baker’s rack, or a freestanding piece like a hutch or china cabinet.
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