A beautiful Victorian home gets a brand spankin’ new kitchen.
I helped a buyer purchase a beautiful old Victorian home in New Brunswick. After a few years, the time had finally come for a full kitchen makeover! This was a true transformation. Here is the story in his words with pictures.
The kitchen was probably 60 years old in a 125-year-old house. There had been plaster over the fireplace, which I smashed and yanked down with a hammer to reveal the brick, which struck me as a cool aesthetic feature. It did need some tuckpointing, which was done by a craftsman my contractor knew. I toyed with putting the stove in there, but it wasn’t feasible, so I settled on built-ins instead.
I came up with the floor plan, which was tricky because I didn’t want to fundamentally change window and door locations in this very old house, and they (along with the fireplace) complicated every corner. I basically pivoted the kitchen 90 degrees and put the sink in the island to make it work. I also chose a hood that didn’t require venting to the outside to save on the cost and inconvenience of running a duct across the whole ceiling to the exterior wall.
I ripped up several layers of flooring, revealing hardwood.
But it was in terrible shape, plus the floor was sagging, so it made sense for my contractor to rip it all up and install sister joists to level the floor. Hardwood seemed appropriate to the house, and I generally don’t like tile very much.Â
When the plaster came down from the ceiling and walls, remnants of the gas lines that at some point were part of the ancient lighting and/or heating system in the house were revealed. I also installed three new windows–a few of the photos show that one of the existing panes was severely broken and held in place with duct tape. The contractor removed the brick in the external wall, which had been used as insulation in the original so-called ‘balloon construction. This also made it possible to run electric in the exterior wall under the glass-front cabinets.
I also upgraded my laundry area, by running pipes inside the wall, laying a new tile floor, and buying a new washer and dryer. This also involved pivoting one radiator to fit the space better. I’m very happy with the results, and I get a lot of compliments on it.
Check out the full gallery of BEFORE/AFTER pics!
After
Fireplace_before
Fireplace_after
Laundry room wall_before
Laundry room wall_after
New Range wall_before
New Range wall_after
Outside wall_Before2
Outside wall_during
Outside wall_Before2
Outside wall_after
Wood floor_before1
Wood floor_before2
Wood floor_demo 3
Wood floor_install
Wood floor_demo2
Wood floor_demo1
Sink_before
Sink_after
Laundry_Before
Laundry_after
Outside wall_before
Thanks for reading!