There’s so much to love about your charming, vintage kitchen. A great part of the appeal of living in an older home is the history and detail that seems to belong to every room. There’s hardly a corner to be turned that doesn’t have some sort of significance. There seems to be a story behind every door handle and purpose behind every nook and cranny. While these features capture our attention and have a way of creating an emotional bond with a home, age can’t be ignored when it comes to updating certain features in your residence.
The kitchen in particular is a place where charm is important, but efficiency is just as much of a priority. While those antique cabinets hold a special place in your family’s home, they may need a little touch up in order to keep up with the requirements of daily life. The flooring has carefully supported the feet of generations, but could be showing wear and tear with time. Fortunately, there are many small things that can be addressed that make a big difference in older home renovations. Adding well-placed modern updates to an old kitchen can help history and functionality find a balanced meeting point in your home.
Bring the backsplash up-to-date
If you’re looking to maintain the vintage look of the original sink design in your kitchen, addressing the backsplash can be a great way to add a modern touch and protect what’s already there. The backsplash is a smaller surface to renovate, but can make a big aesthetic difference. Similarly, it will work to protect your walls and countertops over time. If you want to keep an “older” appearance, try adding copper tiles to your backsplash. The color is easy to match and maintains a vintage feel. Additionally, copper tiles tend to work well with the undertones in granite countertops if that’s what your kitchen already has installed.
Letting lighting go modern
Updating your lighting schemes is another great route to adding a modern flair to your old kitchen. For example, adding track lighting can enhance the color value in your kitchen’s design for a great majority of the room. It also gives you the ability to change the lighting and hues at different time of the day and for different events, which is particularly helpful if you love to host in your home!
Go granite and make a subtle and sophisticated statement
Adding modern updates to an old kitchen is just as much about longevity as it is aesthetic appeal. When it comes to countertops, look no further than adding granite to your surfaces. Granite countertops not only fit well into a variety of decor themes, but will incorporate a durable and long lasting feature into a vintage space.
Modern distressed cabinets
It’s very possible to add new features to an old kitchen that fit seamlessly into the overall design. If your original cabinets just won’t cut it, but you’re not looking to go too modern with the feel, try adding new cabinets and adding a layer of distressed paint to the surface. This will incorporate the quality of modern appliances with the aged look you have learned to love!
Helping handles into the age of modernity
If you are willing to mix and match eras and designs, adding modern, linear handles to original cabinetry or cupboards can create a very dynamic and beautiful effect. It’s a subtle, yet sleek feature that can work as a bridge between original design and modern durability.
Get creative with color
If you’re not sure where to start with modern updates in an older kitchen, getting creative with your color palette is a fairly safe starting point. Give original table chairs a modern lift by covering them with stylish chair covers. This can add a bold hue to a vintage design and create a visual focal point. Picking a color that corresponds to a primary kitchen feature is a good way to pull the modern and vintage looks together. If your kitchen has granite countertops, choosing a complimentary undertone color from your surfaces to link to your chair covers will act as a stunning design bridge in the space!
Shelving and display options
If you’re willing to make more a dramatic design overhaul, you might want to consider adding significant shelving options in your kitchen to create a space to display those older home, kitchen items you don’t want to put away, but make way for the addition of modern features such as appliances, kitchen islands or countertops. Extra shelving will give you the opportunity to create a display case of sorts for vintage items you want to show off to family and friends and will work towards maintaining the original design feel in your kitchen, even if your appliances are up-to-date and living in the modern age.
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