What is an unfitted kitchen

Searching for kitchen ideas for your home?  We have the unfitted kitchen to share with you today.

Barbara Westbrook 

I thought we would try something new today... I am sure you get tired of seeing pictures of my own home... so I have some different kitchens to share with you because they are on my brain of late... 

Have you heard of the unfitted kitchen before?  If not, let me briefly explain, it is a kitchen that does not look like your standard kitchen or what we have come to know as a standard kitchen... it is more of a throw back to the past.  You will not see upper cabinets lining the walls over counter tops as we have come to expect in today's kitchen...   

If you think along the lines of Downton Abbey... the large work horse in the center where the women stood around and prepped the meals for the day... if you think in those terms, the kitchen island has been around forever!  I have always known I have wanted an island, but I do not want your standard kitchen island made from cabinets, well Cara, no surprise there... you do like those fancy pants things... what do you envision for your kitchen?

So happy you asked... I see something with decorative legs... like the leg below... do you know we drove over two hours to pick up these legs?  When we arrived, we thought we were purchasing four legs, but the gentleman sold us all seventeen legs he had for the same price of the four we thought we were getting.  I have 17, yes, you read that right, 17 legs stores in our basement awaiting their permanent home here... I have ideas for these legs of course!  I see four of them on our kitchen island, similar to the island below... the other ideas are various and some off the wall, how could I not when I have 17 of them to do things with!  

Piano leg awaiting it's permanent home in this cozy cottage

 

source: cartwheelholidays.co.uk

Doesn't that kitchen just make you smile and think ohh... I want that!  I can tell you that is exactly what I was thinking when I found it!  Too bad my cozy cottage could never house a kitchen like this one... but you know what I could have?  A kitchen island like this... I love the solid wood, the drawer pulls, chunky legs at the top and tapered bottom... 

I could envision my legs from above on a similar kitchen island... the original plan was to turn a piano into a kitchen island, but you know what?  Do you know how heavy a piano of this size would be, and then I was like how would we even get it home?  We found one or five available for sale, but then I started worrying like I tend to do and decided against it. Good thing those 17 legs popped up when they did!

Check out the link above, you will LOVE this place, the "luggage" room, oh my goodness!  I would love some of those pieces, especially the hat box front and center!  I can only wonder what the library looks like, but the few old books they show, wow... I would be in heaven leafing through old books like those...

source: unknown, Pinterest

Do you see where everything is not matchy, matchy?  I love that look... I am preferring more like furniture in our kitchen than cabinets really... I like some shelves, just not a full wall of shelves.  Since our dishes are in the cabinet we made, we do not have to worry about our dishes being exposed to flies that sometimes make it in the house.  Yes, I think about these things... do you?  I am kind of a nut about germs, and flies?  Yuck!  They make me squirm when I think of them landing on food or plates I intend to eat off of.

source: Tumblr/vintage kitchens 

This does not exactly scream kitchen, aside from the gorgeous stove... yes, I called a stove gorgeous... am I strange?  So be it if it involved a stove that looks like this!  And the pictures hanging on the wall?  Not something I would say we would typically see in a kitchen, but I am digging it.  Loving the copper pot holding all of the wood utensils too... I also love the wood drawers.  I want drawers in our kitchen when we make it over.  I am also quite fond of the brick and stone walls.

source: sharonsantoni.com 

A chandelier in the kitchen?  Yes, please... have you noticed impractical things are kind of my thing and what I am drawn to?  What I would call fancy pants... I love the mantel above the stove and the large painting... not something common that we see in kitchens these days, but I like it... if you are a utilitarian, then you may think well Cara, the grease floating through the air would just ruin your painting in the kitchen... trust me, I have heard similar things from a loved one who thinks they are helping, but tend to rain on my parade when I get something in my mind and want it.  

I would love to have all of those copper pans too!  Maybe that will be something I can aspire to one of these days. Also, I am in love with the large casement windows!  I would be so at home in this kitchen because who doesn't love high ceilings and brick walls in their kitchen too?   

source: unknown, Pinterest

Wowsers... a traditional Queen Anne chair in a kitchen?  Hmmm... I love the wire rack, even the curtain covering the storage below the countertop.  The urn holding utensils on the counter... not something you see everyday, but I could get used to it, no arm twisting needed at all!  the iron stone pieces hanging on the wall and sprinkled throughout... I am even liking the pipe going from the range hood piped to the exterior... are you seeing a common theme here though?  None of the kitchens I am sharing with you today really resemble the kitchens you think of when we refer to the kitchens in our own homes.  

I want something different, unique to our cozy cottage, and I am sure you are thinking well Cara, when is this kitchen coming together?  Well, the thing is, I cannot piece it together in my mind how it will look just yet.  This is not something I usually struggle with, but I have a lot of ideas, and just a cozy cottage to implement them in.  I think the ole' brain is on overload when it comes to our kitchen.  Can you tell I have been thinking long and hard about kitchens though? 

The internet is a wonderful thing when you are searching for ideas, but it can become overwhelming pretty quickly!  I know the backsplash is staying, it screams my vintage heart all over the kitchen!  I know the built in will stay as well... aside from those two things, I am not sure, but I have a lot of ideas that is for sure and that should count for something, right?  

source: bhg.com

    

Even this kitchen above draws me in, if you take a look at this one, you can find it on Better Home and Garden's website under kitchen renovations for under $5,000!  My kind of kitchen renovation!  LOL.  At the end of the day, I just want unique, something not everyone else will have in their home... and something with lots of storage... we need that!  

Source: My inner landscape 

This one is kind of impractical with the large urn filled with flowers on your work space, but who cares!  It is quite lovely!  See where having fancy pants gets in the way of real life for me?  I love living with my head in the clouds though... it makes life more interesting and Mr. Vintage shake his head... and we could never let things get boring for him, could we?

Well, what do you think?  Are you a fan of the unfitted kitchen now too?  Or is it not your thing?  Some people like things all to match, I have a family member who would cringe looking at some of these kitchens, but me?  I love character!  Being different than what most have... that is right up my alley!  

I march to the beat of my own drum!  Always have, always will!  I hope you were able to get a glimpse of what I have in mind for our kitchen, working around four doors, one large window, one regular sized window, and a built in... you get the idea, not an easy kitchen to work with... and those legs we have?  Be still my heart!  I cannot wait to do something with them!  They have been my focus since we picked them up... 

I picked out a few things for the kitchen below to keep with our theme for kitchens today...  how about that urn for our utensils, and the decorative towels, a platter to hang on the wall, and some faux lavendar in wood boxes to brighten our kitchens with... affiliate links included in this post.  Interested in more kitchen posts, click to read: How to make small updates in your home, How to make custom kitchen towels, How we made a baby pantry.