Home Improvement

Bring Old World Charm to Your Country Kitchen

One of the hottest trends in kitchen remodels right now is to create a space that's warm and friendly, comfortable and relaxing. The kitchen has, afterall, overtaken the family room and den as the most popular gathering place in the house.

Not only is it the room where you cook and clean, but the place the family gathers to watch TV, where the kids do their homework and where people hang out when you entertain.  

If you have an older kitchen that's not very functional and are considering a remodel, a great place to turn for inspiration is your grandparents' kitchen. A few short years ago, you may have thought it was quaint and outdated with its painted white cabinets, glass doors, brass hinges and cushions tied to the spindle back seats, but the country kitchen look is making a comeback.  

If this is the look you want to achieve, a good place to start is by replacing the flooring. Instead of linoleum or tile, which are the most common flooring materials in kitchens these days, you'll want to go with hardwood, like grandma and grandpa had. Among the period-styled options: red oak hardwood, wide-plank rustic pine and "reclaimed" wood floors that were taken from old barns then refinished.

The latter has been gaining in popularity in recent years, particularly as environmentally conscious homeowners become more concerned about the ramifications of cutting down old-growth trees. "People want the look of yesteryear, but they don't want to feel guilty when they walk on their floors. Flooring made from reclaimed antique wood just makes you feel good," says Jeff Horn, president of the Yesteryear Floorworks Company, a Pennsylvania-based business that for the past 20 years has been carefully dismantling barns across the mid-Atlantic, Midwest and several Southern states and turning the old, weathered wood into flooring.

The Aged Woods-brand product line includes milled and distressed heartpine, chestnut, white and yellow pine, maple, hickory and oak flooring that sells for between $8 and $15 per square foot or $2400 to $4500 for the average 300 square foot kitchen. If you'd like to see what their floors look like installed, visit nearly any recently built Ralph Loren Polo and Rugby store or log on the their Web site, www.agedwoods.com.

Once you redo the flooring, you can move on to the cabinets. If they're functional and you don't want to replace them, paint them white, yellow or green and switch out the doors, knobs and hinges to give the room more of a country feel.

If your appliances are in need of an upgrade, you can replace your side-by-side refrigerator/freezer with an old fashioned-styled one that has the freezer on the bottom.  You may also want to replace your stove with a cooktop and add a wall oven for baking. A warming drawer framed with the same painted wood as the cabinetry would also make a nice touch.

Other touches that will help add to the country kitchen feel, grouping knickknacks throughout the kitchen, adding an antique armoire for storing dishes, linens or a television and placing small lamps on the counters and scones on the walls.

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