How to Design the Pre-War Kitchen

Old appliances and containers make excellent accents.

There's a great deal of variety in kitchen design. Some opt for the sleek look of stainless steel while others prefer expansive amounts of cabinetry. Pre-war kitchens have a charm and look all their own. Anyone wanting a truly authentic pre-war style kitchen should be prepared to say goodbye to nearly all the built-in cabinets that are already in place. Antique shops and auctions are an excellent place to find different accessories to make your kitchen appear as though it's trapped in a time bubble.

Things You'll Need

• Examples of actual pre-war kitchens
• Tape measure
• Sketchpad and pencil
• Stand-alone storage cabinets
• Replica appliances
• Pre-war kitchen accessories

Instructions

1. Look at photographs of authentic pre-war kitchens. With luck your parents or grandparents have some pictures of their old kitchens; otherwise, you'll have to look elsewhere for examples. Search the Internet for photographs of other people's kitchen renovations and the types of appliances used in the 1920s and '30s.

2. Decide what elements of a pre-war kitchen you're going to include into your own renovations. The amount of money you have to spend will be the main determining factor in this area. You can save expenses by doing much of the work yourself and use that money toward adding more pre-war details to the kitchen.

3. Calculate how much storage space you'll need. While there was cabinetry under the counters in pre-war kitchens, the built-in units that are so common in modern kitchens were replaced by stand-alone storage cabinets. These storage cabinets make wonderful focal points in the design of your kitchen. They can be left either with a plain wood finish or painted a bright, cheerful color.

4. Find an appliance dealer that sells replica appliances. Replica stoves and refrigerators are the easiest to find, but you might luck out in your area and find other examples of appliances unique to the era.

5. Draw a sketch of just what your renovated kitchen will look like. Measure the exact dimensions of your kitchen and scale the plan down so that you can include the different appliances and cabinets in their correct sizes. If you have a lot of built-in cabinetry, keep track of which storage cabinets will hold their contents.

6. Go to antique stores to look for different accessories that you can use to decorate the kitchen. Removing the built-in cabinets will free up a lot of wall space, so you need to plan how you're going to fill it. A set of old copper pots arranged on the wall or an early electrical fan set on top of the storage cabinets add a pre-war touch to the room.

Tips & Warnings

• Paint the walls white to highlight the pre-war features in the kitchen.

• Online auction sites are a good place to hunt for different accessories.

References

• HGTV: 5 most Popular Kitchen Layouts
• Kitchenisms: Cool Kitchen - Pink Pre-War in Brooklyn, NY