Kitchen Part One – The Impetus & Inspiration

In October 2023, we connected with Jennifer Salvemini (@jlslifestyle on Insta) to embark on a journey we had been dreaming of since the day we closed on this house. Every room we walked through, we saw the potential therein—except with the kitchen.

There were a few good features (hello, tin ceiling!), but the layout... left much to be desired.

Mostly thanks to an oddly placed "island", the room lacked any sense of flow or cohesion. There was a bay window that sat lower than counter height, which the island cut into, causing discomfort via the visual chaos of inconsistent planes and angles. The island also created a choke point between it and the range, meaning you had to stand to the side when opening the oven door. Two people could hardly be in the kitchen at the same time, making holidays and gatherings centered around cooking unpleasant.

Then there was the much maligned (justly so) corner sink, which created a "dead zone" of counter space behind it. We are not of small stature, and still found it a struggle to reach over the sink, leading to that space getting cluttered and dirty.

Oh and as punctuation, we enjoyed the boundless joy of an internally circulating range hood that, despite our best wishes otherwise, did virtually nothing to improve the air quality. The only thing it really did with any sort of efficacy was spray cooking grease up onto the cabinetry and ceiling; the sole redeeming quality was that sweet sweet retro style. Deluxe, indeed.

Despite knowing this space was in dire need of care the second we saw it, it took us 7 years to finally make the move. Most people probably wouldn't have waited more than 2, but (finances aside) I think it's a good thing it happened when it did.

Over the last few years, the two of us have experienced immense personal growth individually, and as a couple. We know more about ourselves, each other, our interests together and apart, and have a better understanding of what makes us tick than ever before. This ended up being the foundation with which the entire project was built on. We knew we were not going to settle for anything 'ordinary', we would be avoiding buying anything new or modern (aside from appliances, but even that...well, hang tight on that one), and most importantly we did not want our kitchen to look like it was redone in 2024. With all that above, we took a kitchen renovation, derided as the first-worst room to renovate in any given house, and made it harder.

And while we were ignorant of that fact, we knew enough to know figuring it out ourselves was the wrong path. Enter: Jennifer.

We had 7 years to try and picture what our ideal kitchen would look like, and in those years, nothing came to us. We simply couldn't envision how the space could be improved. It felt too small, too impossible without major modification (that was one of our lines). But after our very first phone call with Jennifer, we knew she would be able to solve this problem with us.

She spent so much time really getting to know us, our quirks, our interests, and our style, and knew the right questions to ask to get us thinking. She embraced the true nature of collaboration with us for this project. We are very hands on with everything we do, and we've had contractors in the past show issue with our involvement. Jen embraced our attitude in a way that made us feel seen. She appreciated our insufferable requests to source incredibly specific details (more on that in Part Two), and she understood exactly what we wanted - a kitchen that was outfit with modern necessities but with details that have you questioning if they were original, or when they were added. We wanted to have elements that spoke to different design eras that somehow blended seamlessly.

We wanted a genre-bending industrial gothic grandma-core kitchen. And we got it.

Jenn brought in her design partner Alison Zavracky to draw up a layout that we couldn’t even believe was possible. We had done some "old house archeology" (and also noticed some odd patching in the siding in an old photo from the 90s) and found there had previously been a window on the side wall.

By removing the bay window in favor of a countertop height casement, and adding a window on the side wall where there was one previously, we opened up new possibilities with the layout. Suddenly, we had a whole extra wall we could utilize with the bay window issue now solved. We also knew we needed to move the range to an external wall to allow for proper venting, so plumbing, gas, and electrical all had to do a little dance around the space. In the end, we solved the corner sink problem with a traditional sink under a windowsill, our range vents externally, and (as tested throughout the holidays) more than one person can comfortably work in the space without being on top of each other!

We have no idea how the space feels double the size without changing a single dimension. We would not have believed you if you told us at the start, that the classic U-shape counter layout would not only fit, but solve all of the problems of the old layout and then some.

We knew we wanted to embrace the history of the house with this renovation, as well as lean into our interest in salvage, vintage, and antique materials. The mood board we sent Jennifer had everything from an X-Files promotional photo of Mulder and Scully, to an album titled "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" featuring photos of old SAABs and trolleys, to our vintage camera collection, antique desk fans, and even some album artwork for musical inspiration (including Depeche Mode's 'Violator').

Luckily she understood the vibe, and quickly coined our combined aesthetic as "gothic industrial grandma".

We cannot overstate how lucky we are that we found Jennifer when we did. Her passion for working with old houses and salvage and antique materials made us confident in a dream we never thought we could make a reality. The fact that she not only respected our lines in the sand, but embraced and encouraged us to dive into our unique aesthetic with enthusiasm was a gift all on its own. I think she understood the vision better than we did for a while.

In the next one...

We will dive into more detail about the details. How did we end up with custom fluted cabinet glass, how many tile samples did we go through to land on the 2" square, what does "BROWNTLET" mean, and where did yellow come from?

We'll also touch on some late-game design pivots, abandoned efforts, and the DIY that tied it all together.