Stainless Steel Appliances

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Permalink Reply by Esther Khanna on February 18, 2011 at 1:00pm

Hi Brad!

 

This is a very good question, considering how often stainless steel appliances are included in just about every DIY program imaginable. However, I think that they don't belong in an Arts & Crafts kitchen: the standard finish at the time was white enamel (I'm talking about a turn of the century kitchen or there about). Variations in the Feistaware colors were seen in the Sears Craftman homes years later, but pure white enamel really seemed the standard. Frankly, I can't understand the whole stainless steel craze: fingerprints are really visible on it and it seems too space-age for an Arts & Crafts home.

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Permalink Reply by Brad Shipton on February 18, 2011 at 2:03pm

Thanks Esther.  The kitchen seems to be one of the hardest rooms given all the new gadgets we all think we need to have in our houses today. 

 

Everyone seems to love the stainless steel.  I went around at one store putting fingerprints on them to see how they would look in different lights.  I was not impressed.  I look at these SS fridges and all I think they say is "Look at me, I am wonderful."  I think the focus of any AC room should be the crafts involved in the construction and not fixtures.  I still cannot seem to decide.   Cabinet front ready is what I am leaning to,  but I wow, does that ever do a number on the fixture budget. 

 

Brad

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Permalink Reply by Marianne on February 21, 2011 at 11:44pm

In my opinion, a serious problem with the "arts and crafts" kitchens one sees in restoration and revival houses is that authentic kitchens do not, as Brad says, provide storage and counter space for our current ways of cooking.  So people decide to give an A&C "feel" to their modern kitchens and fill them with built-in wooden cabinets that actually reference libraries and living rooms.  Perhaps silliest, they have wall cabinets made, based on book shelves and other similar furniture, that include swept out Greene and Green-style bases, and even occasionally "feet" - right there at eye level.  I don't have a developed idea about how to deal with the kitchen (and our "counter revolution" is not scheduled in the next five years), but I am sure that if you actually want to give an early 20th-century flavor to a kitchen, your guiding principle should be "hygienic" fixtures, and not full wooden paneling.

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Permalink Reply by Aileen Reid on March 24, 2011 at 8:08am

I love this "kitchen" chatting, as my very first project in my A&C home will be rebuilding the kitchen.  I am putting in a "room" in the kitchen so I can minimize the number of cabinets.  A mini-pantry of sorts for pots/pans, food and extra dishes.  It will be 6x6 and shelved from the floor to the ceiling.  My only dilemma right now is "working".  At the moment, I work from home in the "keeping room", but intend to work out of the kitchen so need to figure out a way to put my desk and work in the kitchen without ruining the A&C look.

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Permalink Reply by Rory Alexander Bremner on February 26, 2011 at 5:07pm

Brad,

I'm renovating my kitchen at the moment and have selected stainless appliances for a variety of reasons. Firstly, while it's nice to to respect traditional aspects of a period home, I feel that a home should evolve with your lifestyle and tastes. It is very possible to recreate a space that has a modern approach, while paying homage to heritage too. Finally, it's your house, you have to like the area you're creating. I simply love the look of stainless, I'm sure that if appliances were available in stainless 80 years ago, Westinghouse would have had them in their range back then too. Comes down to personal choice. :)

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Permalink Reply by Aileen Reid on March 24, 2011 at 8:04am

Hello Brad:

 

I am starting to rebuild my kitchen this spring and have been having the same dilemma.  I've decided to go with Black appliances.  I too wanted cabinet front ready, and have had to give up that idea so my money can be spent on a hand-built island.  I thought black might disappear easier, especially if I use a lot of "iron" in the light fixtures.  I am installing a woodburning cook stove - a replica of the Enterprise Company in New Brunswick who has been making wood cook stoves for over 150 years, and has never changed the mold. 

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