A refreshed slightly retro kitchen

The kitchen was probably the most solid room in the house. It had a worn but functional countertop, well built cupboards that had been repainted but were chipped and scratched, and original floor tiles with some staining. The Formica backsplash was in perfect condition. I was initially quite tempted to leave the counter and backsplash in place and repaint the cabinets. I thought I would tile over the existing tiles with stick on equivalents. 

Original kitchen in MLS listing photo - countertop is same colour as backsplash but damaged in one place where someone used it as a chopping board. Walls and ceiling are same colour as cabinets. Floor tiles are a speckled white with some serious staining where the old fridge was located.

The first job was to update the electrical. There was only one socket on the counter and it turned out that the other circuits had brittle insulation that fell off when I tried to replace the sockets. I installed two 20 amp counter circuits that will allow four appliances to run simultaneously and replaced the existing 15 amp one with a ground fault circuit to code. I ran new wire to the fridge socket because the old had become dangerous as well as to the ironing board plug and to a socket where the stove will go. I installed new light fixtures saved by a friend from their old cottage in Brentwood Bay.

'New' light fixture

Retro fixture over the sink replaced a fluorescent tube light 

I wanted the kitchen to look like a 1950's kitchen so with the help of friends I picked out what I thought would be an authentic green colour for the cabinets. Around this time I decided to hire my friend Lorne to help speed things along by prepping the house for painting.

Lorne did a great job of cleaning up the old kitchen

Trying out a sample colour.

After painting the ceiling white and the walls a light beige/grey, I bought a small tin of sample paint and applied it to the cabinets.

New cabinet colour and proposed tile sample

In a fit of enthusiasm I applied the sample to a large number of doors, not realizing that the paint would not stick properly to the old (probably oil based) paint. Doing this was useful because it made me realize the colour was not the best idea, but it took me half the afternoon to scrub off the old paint so I could put on a suitable primer before repainting.

The paint peeled off when scraped with a finger nail or rubbed with a wet cloth - Ughh.

I ended up mixing a bit of the green paint with a white kitchen and bath paint I had bought for the ceiling. I hope you will agree that the resulting ivory goes well with the beige/grey walls.

Plan B - doors are now painted ivory and walls and frames are grey/beige. I eventually painted the panels above the window ivory too. Note the Formica backsplash has been removed to add the new circuits. 

The next job was to tile the floors. I decided against using stick on tiles on the grounds of cost and longevity. It was actually cheaper to install the same porcelain tiles I had used in the bathroom, which run about a dollar a square foot. Of course the labour is greater and one has to purchase mortar to set the tile and grout, but the mortar costs $15 for a very large bag and I already had grout from various other projects. It took a couple of days to tile and grout the floor. The 1950s curves made for some tricky cutting and none of the walls were quite at 90 degrees to the others so there was a lot of careful measurement and cutting needed.

Cutting around a heat register and the curved wall

Tiling job done - I used a darker grout mix than in the bathroom for variety. Note the Formica counters and sink have been removed.

After the floor tiles were in and the grout set, I decided to tackle replacing the counters. I pried off the old Formica, which was not easy because it was very well glued to the plywood. I used a heat gun and spatula to work it off. I would have left it in place, but I wanted to reuse the aluminum trim and this was not tall enough to handle the extra thickness.

I chose a black Formica and used metal shears for the rough cutting.

This oscillating multi-tool blade was used to trim the Formica because I do not have a suitable router bit. It worked fine but took a bit longer than a router or laminate trimmer would have. You can see the wet contact cement applied to the plywood counter. 

Trimming the installed counters

Counter installed and original aluminum trim reinstalled along edges - Oops- forgot about the sink...

Sink cutout done and sink trim ring installed. This sink (original from 1950) is attached very differently from a modern one and clips onto the trim ring from underneath.

Old sink cleaned up and back in place - Note large subway tiles ready to be installed.

The final kitchen project was the subway tiles. I went with 4 by 16 inch white tiles like those that I had used in a previous backsplash job. I used a dark grout to make them pop because I did not install a line of accent tile this time.

Tiles going on - if you look carefully you will see I screwed up around the socket and light switch and made the tile cut-out too wide. I had to re-do 4 tiles after I thought I had finished the job because the socket and switch have to sit on top of the tile.

Job done

The final kitchen does not look startlingly different from when we bought the place but it is a bit cleaner looking and hopefully will hold up well with the tile floor and new counter.

Update - one month later - The Formica lifted in a few places after I installed it. I thought I would need to remove the top and re-glue it, but discovered that an iron applied at low heat with a couple of layers of paper between it and the surface re-activated the glue and a bit of pressure allowed me to re-adhere the spots that had lifted.