Before & After: A 1950s Kitchen Gets a Stunning Transformation (With Cabinets You’d Think Are Custom!)
Sometimes in an older home, there’s just nothing left to salvage or hang onto in a kitchen. Designer Linda Hayslett of LH.Designs knows that firsthand, having recently worked with clients in the San Francisco Bay Area. That was the case with the dated cook space in their 1950s condo, which featured a mishmash of elements from several different decades.
“The existing kitchen was in poor condition in terms of function, layout, and aesthetics,” Hayslett says. “The countertops were tile from the ’70s, and the kitchen was closed off to the entire home.” Moreover, the space was so “beige and dimly lit,” she adds, that it simply “felt small.” Forty-year-old appliances and crusty linoleum flooring weren’t doing the room in any favors, either.
Hayslett’s clients were ready to go all in with a total gut reno. The design goal? A warm, welcoming space with clean lines and the bells and whistles of a contemporary chef’s kitchen.
After demo, Hayslett did some restructuring to the kitchen’s layout by having a wall taken down and moving a door to better suit the room’s flow. This design move also created more storage possibilities and opportunities for functional work surfaces, too — chiefly, a larger island. “Changing just those structural items really opened up the space to allow for a better working kitchen that felt incorporated into the home,” the designer says.
As far as aesthetics go, Hayslett incorporated a mix of classic-meets-contemporary elements to create a timeless, stylish kitchen. The room centers on Shaker-style cabinetry from Semihandmade, which she chose in a bold black colorway for extra-modern oomph. These cupboards provide tons of storage for cookware and food, but also didn’t break the bank, as they’re prefabricated versus totally custom. “Having a professional, seasoned designer can help you understand what you can do with prefabs,” she notes. “Many think ordering prefabs is easier than getting custom cabinets, but there’s still a lot to know and understand before placing that order.”
For the rest of the space, Hayslett drew upon a soft, serene but impactful melange of grays that complement the black cabinetry. The light gray porcelain backsplash has a seamless look that extends onto the counters, and the concrete floors from Stone Source ground the space in a darker smoke shade.
As far as kitchen color schemes go, Hayslett’s a fan of sticking to two to three colors, like this one. “Cabinets should be one color, then counters, flooring, and backsplash another color, if not similar in hue,” she says, noting that the walls and ceiling should be one color as well. “Making [the kitchen] stylish comes with the appliances, hardware, dishware, and accessories.”
On that front, oversized bar pull-style handles on the lower cabinets give the door fronts a contemporary pop, while flared white metal pendants add an exclamation point above the dramatic waterfall island. An architectural gooseneck faucet looks like a mini sculpture in the room.
The new kitchen perfectly walks the line between workhorse and show pony — and it’s truly become the central gathering spot in this young couple’s home. “Older spaces always had the kitchen closed off, as it was never seen as a place that was a part of the home,” Hayslett says. “Today, it’s the heart of the home, where everyone hangs out, chills, and, of course, eats.” And her clients couldn’t be happier with theirs now, as it finally functions this way.
This post originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: A “Beige & Dimly Lit” ’50s Kitchen Transforms into a Modern Masterpiece
