25 Memorable Midcentury Modern Kitchen Renovations

We love a good midcentury renovation all the more when stellar kitchen updates are involved.

Portland-base pastry chef Andrea Nicholas purchased a 1953 midcentury ranch whose 2,500 square feet needed

We’ve said it before: The kitchen is the hardest-working room in the house. This space typically takes center stage in an open-plan midcentury home, often making it the major focus of a renovation.  Even if you aren’t a big home chef, chances are that updating the kitchen with contemporary appliances and on-trend touches will be your top priority due to the sheer visibility of the room. Below, we’ve rounded up some midcentury kitchen renovations to serve as inspiration for your upcoming project. Or if you haven’t got any major projects on your mind, feel free to indulge in just a bit of architectural eye candy. 

A Kitchen Remodel That Meets Personal and Professional Needs

Portland-base pastry chef Andrea Nicholas purchased a 1953 midcentury ranch whose 2,500 square feet needed

Portland-base pastry chef Andrea Nicholas purchased a 1953 midcentury ranch whose 2,500 square feet needed “a lot of TLC.” Nicholas hired architect Risa Boyer to design the renovation, which involved opening up the kitchen to the dining room and creating a contemporary open-plan living space.

Photo by Josh Partee

A Seattle Ranch Renovation Gives the Kitchen a More Central Role

Wood cabinetry wraps the kitchen, and oversized sliding doors open to the expansive deck. Skylights fill the space with natural light—a necessity with Seattle's gray winter skies.

SHED added oversized sliding glass doors which allow for indoor/outdoor living during the warmer months, while new wood cabinetry establishes a clean, minimalist aesthetic, and an oversized, marble-topped island with a table extension provides room to cook, eat, and entertain. Oversized sliding doors open to the expansive deck, while skylights fill the space with natural light—a necessity with Seattle’s gray winter skies.

Photo: Rafael Soldi

A New Napa Kitchen by Henrybuilt

Originally built by Walter Thomas Brooks in 1962, this Napa abode received a breath of fresh air in the form of a new kitchen by Henrybuilt. Maintaining its connection to the living and dining areas, the room is anchored by an island with leather pulls. Its pared-down look, in harmony with the other spaces, is defined by minimal open shelving, built-in storage, and refined matte finishes.

Originally built by Walter Thomas Brooks in 1962, this Napa abode received a breath of fresh air in the form of a new kitchen by Henrybuilt. Maintaining its connection to the living and dining areas, the room is anchored by an island with leather pulls. Its pared-down look, in harmony with the other spaces, is defined by minimal open shelving, built-in storage, and refined matte finishes.

Photo by Henrybuilt

See the full story on Dwell.com: 25 Memorable Midcentury Modern Kitchen Renovations
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    Built for family and friends as a space for sport and gathering, the Fieldhouse is a simple, functional structure. Like the immersion of nature and recreation in the development of state and national parks of the early 20th century, this family wanted a structure where friends, family, and neighbors could gather, play sport, celebrate and relax in the country. The Fieldhouse feels distant and secluded, located on a mostly undeveloped seven-acre site, surrounded by a meadow of natural grasses, a fruit orchard, wetland ponds and a maintained field for sporting. As long time natives of the Pacific Northwest, the family was keen to convey a specific sense of place and longevity. The architecture responds to those ideas in its simplicity and versatility, and in its construction from durable, local materials. Inspiration was taken from vernacular stone and timber structures built across the country in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The architects and clients channeled their own recollections of summers spent in Seattle’s waterfront parks and their simple elegant structures, often by early 20th century Seattle architect Ellsworth Storey. The 1,664-square-foot structure consists of a covered outdoor patio flanked by two, offset and enclosed spaces housing a sun room and inglenook to the west, and a kitchen, grill and two bathrooms to the east. Designed to accommodate almost any situation, the Fieldhouse can shelter four as comfortably as it can 60, hosting sleepovers, family sports tournaments, reunions and outdoor dining with ease. The structure employs a gradient of enclosure and structural qualities from the immersive intimate inglenook to the ever thinning shed roof structure, gently lifting off above the central patio. The building can be shutdown to weather storms, or opened wide to allow light, air and activity to pass through freely. The structure provides a straight-forward and visibly-constructed language of materials. It progressively lightens from a solid stone base, to thick timber columns, to pairs of rafters and thinner yet pairs of purlins, supporting the single-plane shed roof. The timber is all Douglas fir and cedar harvested and salvaged from the Pacific Northwest. The stone is taken from a quarry on nearby Vancouver Island and the early, factory-style steel casement doors and windows are West Coast built. This timeless assembly of materials and method of construction suggest that this is a building about its surroundings and a stalwart of the region it resides in, functioning as well today as it will in 100 years. Hoedemaker Pfeiffer design team
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