Home Kitchen

Checklist for Designing Victorian Kitchens

This short checklist will allow you to design a more authentic Victorian kitchen from scratch. Wear alone or together with a designer.

1. Ridged Frame Cabinets with Pocket Doors

2. Doors and drawer fronts must be five-piece with flat panels

3. Doors and at least some drawer fronts must have integral or applied molding to the inside edge of door jambs and tracks.

4. Flat panels may have vertical ridges, sometimes called cottage ridges or country ridges.

5. Consider using single flat panel drawer fronts without mullions or tracks on top drawers.

6. Hinges must be exposed cast barrel hinges. Cap-point hinges are more ornate than ball hinges, but either will work.

7. If possible, the finish on the hinges should coordinate with the doorknob hardware on the house. If your door knob hardware is brushed nickel, use brushed nickel cabinet hinges.

8. Knobs and pulls to have ornate details; finish to match the hinges

9. Consider using glass or porcelain knobs on upper cabinets and metal pulls on lower cabinets.

10. Butler’s high-quality, polished, cast latches can also be used for an authentic appearance.

11. The drawers will be solid wood, preferably tongue and groove. This isn’t necessarily a Victorian detail, but it adds to the overall attention to detail.

12. Position upper cabinets close to the ceiling and add decorative crown molding.

13. If the ceiling is nine feet high or higher and the upper cabinets reach to the ceiling, split the cabinet frame in two, with two separate doors, with the top door as square as possible.

14. At least some upper cabinets must have glass; beveled glass will give them a very elegant look; stained glass windows will look period appropriate. The darkened ‘water glass’ will also add a vintage look.

15. Use Long Curved Decorative Brackets to ‘Support’ Upper Cabinets

16. End panels and back of island panels can be beadboard

17. Back Panels Of Open Shelving Can Also Be Bead Boards

18. Countertops – Consider using a mix of materials. If you primarily use granite and have a defined baking area, use marble for the baking area. Side counters and islands will look elegant with solid wood tops; use cherry, walnut, or mahogany.

19. If you have a side booth with a counter, consider using a solid wood top; mahogany or cherry look

20. Apron sinks always help to give a kitchen a vintage touch.

21. Varying cabinet depths creates more interest: make the sink cabinet shallower than the others so it is recessed under the vane-front sink

22. If you use a dish rack, use round pegs for dividers.

23. If the base cabinets are going to have legs or accent legs, use curves in the design instead of straight lines

24. Suggested Cabinet Materials:

*Painted maple

*Cherry

*Mahogany

*Vertical Grain Douglas Fir

*Quartered oak