Our own chapter to this kitchen story started in March 2019, when our 1912 home, Frances, became ours on the first day of Spring. Our chapter obviously wasn’t the first: The topmost layer was a 1980s kitchen, complete with dark wood cabinets, a huge light box, a drop ceiling, and beige laminate countertops.
Once we decided we were going to move forward with a full gut job, we began peeling back the layers. Under the 1980s kitchen were 9-foot ceilings and ochre-and-teal painted plaster. We brought things down to the original lath. My favorite discovery: we unearthed an original brick chimney that had been hidden under drywall, a frame of 2x4s, and plaster.
Like most old homes, our kitchen is in the very back of the house. I chose to maintain the closed layout, but widened the square doorway into an arch to match the rest of the main floor. Now the kitchen doesn’t feel like a disconnected afterthought.
The back portion of the room used to be an open porch and was enclosed sometime in the past. I wanted to bring more light in and, inspired by the idea of the old porch, added large windows to what we now call “the breakfast nook.”
When I designed the kitchen, I wanted something that felt timeless. For cabinetry, I went with inset shaker doors with base and crown molding. Carrara marble countertops with an ogee edge feel right at home in a historic house. The trim, walls, and cabinets are all painted in “Elephant’s Breath” from Farrow & Ball; I think the color drenching adds a built-in feel to the cabinets and a cohesive elegance to the room. The floor is a marble-look porcelain tile in a checkerboard pattern. We commissioned stained glass inserts for the hutch cabinet doors, which cast the most beautiful rainbows in the sunset hours.
The brick chimney is showcased behind open shelving. What I call the “Curiosity Shelf”—my traditional take on opening shelving—holds all my knick knacks: jars, candles, salt and pepper shakers, teapots, tea tins, and my prized collection of 1992 Lenox Spice Garden jars. An antique prep table grounds the room, providing ample space for messy baking, piles of cookbooks, and colanders.
This kitchen is now my happy place in the afternoons, when the evening suns streams in and the kettle is turned on.
Frances is a historic home in Dundee being affectionately restored and cared for by homeowner Amanda Yong and her husband, Kyle Dworak. Follow the couple’s journey in Omaha Home and on Instagram @thebirdsdothus.
This article originally appeared in the June 2024 issue of Omaha Home Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
