Joy of Re-Creating a ‘30s Kitchen

Like the hairstyle that looked great only three weeks ago, the kitchen that I’d loved when we moved into our house now looked outdated and sad. But we didn’t want a new kitchen. The contractors we called in to consult couldn’t seem to understand.

“Why bother to salvage any of this junk?” they asked. “That corner cabinet with the glass front and jigsaw carving must be 50 years old, as old as all that wood paneling we’ll have to rip out.”

To be fair, none of these gentlemen refused to refinish all that old oak shelving as thick and solid as butcher block. They merely pointed out that up to 11 coats of paint had been applied over the years and gave us estimates that equaled the cost of a good chunk of our Westwood home back in 1980.

The numbers forced us to face facts:

We could either accept a conventional remodel or take the risks of restoring the kitchen ourselves. The risks were considerable, as both my husband, Richard, and I are normally the kind of folks who call for help before organizing a closet.

But by substituting time, energy and patience for money, we achieved exactly the warm, sunny center of our home that this kitchen was meant to be.

Two considerations guided our efforts: re-creating the traditional family kitchen built in 1938 and spending money only on items we both wanted and needed.

Behind the refrigerator, we found remnants of the original cream-colored tile and natural oak. These artifacts and the 200-year-old sycamore that shelters our breakfast area from summer sun and winter glare inspired our decorative scheme.

We wanted oak cabinets and woodwork, both stained black walnut, to contrast with matte porcelain tile in peach. For accent, 10 hand-painted tiles would reproduce the delicate bouquets in the wallpaper. Beneath ceiling moldings, we’d apply a flower border to match the wallpaper, extending the border to the adjacent laundry area and hall, at cost far less than papering these walls too.

Over the original hardwood floor, we’d lay brick-patterned linoleum that could be cared for easily in a household that includes two teen-aged boys and, when they forget, whole teams of cleats.

One contractor had told us to expect to spend about 10% of a home’s market value on remodeling its kitchen. At today’s prices, that would figure out to no less than $35,000 for any house on the Westside of Los Angeles.

Acting as our own general contractor and purchasing only “must-have” materials and services brought us exactly the results we wanted for about $9,000.

We discovered that we didn’t have to perform every chore ourselves to get the benefits of “doing it ourselves,” but we did have to take on the responsibilities for hiring crews, selecting materials and scheduling tasks.

This last activity proved the toughest. None of the inspirational or how-to texts we consulted told us what came first, next and last. So we asked everyone who auditioned for us, “When do you come in?” After several false starts, we came up with the following order:

Remove old tile. Reface cabinets, replacing doors and altering openings to fit oven and refrigerator, refinish paneling. Have electrician check wiring, update outlets and help cabinet crew replace electrical appliances. Have plumber remove sink and faucets, check and cap pipes (replacing pipes as needed). Install new tile and place new sink. Get plumber back to install new faucets, disposal and sink. Remove old wallpaper and put up new. Install flooring. Install new light fixture, put up curtain and add other accessories.

Our script had to account for who did what. For example, we learned that the tiler usually yanks out an old sink, not a plumber.

The last complication proved to be that decorating decisions don’t follow order of performance. Wallpaper was applied almost last, but we selected it first, setting the colors and scale of other design choices.

We had no more than $10,000 to spend and so constructed a budget that covered only the items we wanted most: renewed cabinets and paneling, tile, faucets, sink and disposal, oven and range hood, paint, wallpaper and flooring.

After price shopping and sorting through dozens of estimates, we projected spending “only” $8,000 because friends had warned us, “Whatever you think a job will cost, expect to add at least 10%--if for no other reason than you’ll find more stuff you absolutely must have.”

Our first “must-have” was oak moldings around the ceilings of the kitchen and breakfast area to add visual impact, charm, and a couple of hundred dollars to the cost of the woodwork.

We figured we could afford the extra expense because, by electing to reface our cabinets with new veneer, doors and hardware, we found we could achieve the look and utility of new oak cabinets and save money.

The cabinetmaker’s fee even included refinishing our paneling. (When his workers later balked at removing eight coats of paint from its intricate moldings, we compromised on new wood panels that reproduced the design of the originals, applied on top of them and stained to match the new veneer.)

Finally, “while you’re here working,” we asked them to add a shelf (about $80) to store earthquake supplies. Other extras were a couple of leaky pipes that needed replacing, Tiffany corners in apricot glass that brought the price of a single lighting fixture to $224, and $80 of border paper for the walls of the laundry area.

After adding three months of disruption to our dollar investment, we were able to move back into a new kitchen that retained everything we liked in our old one, including the corner cabinet with glass front and jigsaw carving.