See How a Tired 70-Year-Old Kitchen is Given a Charming New Lease on Life

With a design brief described by Sabrina as “English countryside with an edge”, the Save My Reno team worked with homeowner, Charlotte, to bring her outdated 1950s kitchen into the 21st Century – while still keeping its mid-century charm.

The new contemporary white cabinets go right up to the ceiling, giving Charlotte the amount of storage space now standard in modern kitchens. To keep one foot firmly in the past, Sabrina opted to add traditional crown mouldings to the top of the cupboards.

Related: 40 Brilliant Kitchen Backsplash Ideas for Your Next Reno

Over the years, homeowner Charlotte had done some updates to her kitchen, such as installing beadboard wainscoting and laying down a black-tile herringbone floor. Now she’s allotted $40,000 to spend on future update projects.

To save on renovation costs, the Save My Reno team decided to keep the recently updated herringbone-tile floor and upcycled Charlotte’s old wooden kitchen hutch into an English farmhouse-inspired centre island.

While Charlotte’s old kitchen had oodles of charm and character (thanks to her fun collectibles and crockeries), the layout was cumbersome and the appliances were on the brink of breaking…she even had to wheel over and attached her dishwasher to the sink for it to run. Remember those?

With the money she saved helping out Sabrina and Sebastian on the renovation, Charlotte was able to afford brand-new, top-of-the-line stainless-steel appliances that work well – and remain stationary.

A pretty white apron sink, with a charming farmhouse-esque faucet, is perfectly positioned under the back window, providing an unobstructed view out into Charlotte’s lush backyard.

Sabrina spearheaded a few DIY projects that really played to Charlotte’s love of handmade objects and funky accessories. The white wine rack is made out of a discarded pine palette and a rake head, while the wall vases are fashioned from a couple of mason jars.

Sebastian decided to keep the beadboard Charlotte installed herself a few years back, but updated it with a coat of white paint. To freshen up the windows, Sabrina found a roll of grey-and-yellow fabric on deep discount, which she fashioned into chic roman blinds.

This kitchen is a balanced mix of old and new ingredients, perfectly represented by this on-trend industrial-pipe-and-rough-pine shelving, which Charlotte made with Sebastian to display her unique collection of antique tins and bottles, bowls and cookbooks.