“There’s a perception that relocating a kitchen is cost-prohibitive because of utilities, but when you’re taking rooms down to the studs, you often need to redo the plumbing anyway, especially in an older home, and we were lucky here that the basement ceiling underneath the room was exposed,” Loecken said. “Relocating isn’t as expensive as people think.
Loecken and Mitlyng’s clever use of existing space and finishes that evoked the home’s architectural character impressed the Home of the Month judges.
“Once the new car smell wears off, you’d never know it wasn’t original,” one judge said.
A reinvented Spanish Craftsman in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis is September’s Home of the Month. (Rachel Cook)
The new kitchen features just enough dark wood for continuity with the rest of the house, mixed with painted cabinets and lighter countertops that bounce light and brighten the space. There’s also a new window next to the original and a glass exterior door that will eventually lead to a patio.
“Our dog loves it. She can see the neighbor’s chicken coop,” Callie Bullock said.
Instead of recessed lights, which wouldn’t fit the era of the house, there are four semi-flush-mounted fixtures on the ceiling and a pair of scones mounted above the sink, all with period-appropriate milk glass shades.
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