Kitchen of the Week Lives Peek Through a New Kentucky Kitchen

Built as a barn in the 1880s and converted into a home in the 1920s, this Kentucky house has been transformed again for the 21st century. The proprietor’s family had made few changes since buying the home in the 1980s, therefore when she purchased it from her parents several years back, she decided to present her childhood house a brand new look — but one which also highlights its unique history.

Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A few and the spouse’s parents
Location: Highlands area of Louisville, Kentucky
Size: 220 square feet

Rock Paper Hammer

Designer Emily Fisher and her team at Rock Paper Hammer additional more space and used a very simple material palette, highlighting the house’s authentic architecture from all its stages wherever possible.

The 1920s homeowner, a romance novelist, turned into this place in the rear of the home to a small galley kitchen to get a home maid, using as many salvaged materials from renovations around Louisville as she could. Fisher and the client brought this same mindset into the new kitchen, salvaging materials in the original layout and the demolition of other areas of the home.

The leaded glass window with diamond molding was a part of the original kitchen, and one of the few areas where natural light could enter the distance. The client highlighted it by putting a cozy eat-in nook underneath.

Cabinetry: custom cherry and Ikea; sink: Gourmet Undermount, Elkay; faucet: Trinsic, Delta

Rock Paper Hammer

The walnut floors were still in great condition, therefore Fisher abandoned them as is. The owners wanted to expose the barn’s ceiling beams where possible; Fisher restained them into their original black color.

Countertops: Gunmetal, Paperstone

Before Photo

Rock Paper Hammer

BEFORE: The kitchen’s narrow entrance was well suited for the one maid it was designed for but did not work for this particular two-generation household.

Rock Paper Hammer

AFTER: The fireplace was coated with plaster. Fisher saw a peek of brick throughout the demolition and functioned the brick wall to the design.

Now a wider entrance combines the dining room and kitchen. Light grey paint highlights a built-in in the 1920s remodel. The kitchen had two staircases for your maid to get the rest of the home: One stairs into the basement at the far end of the kitchen had limited width, and a single stairs to the upstairs was right behind the fireplace. Fisher and her team linked them, building one stairs behind the fireplace so they could expand the kitchen and focus traffic flow.

Dining table, chairs: classic; dining room dividers: Drum Pendant, West Elm

Before Photo

Rock Paper Hammer

BEFORE: The kitchen’s original red cabinetry was fun and worked well with the narrow galley layout, but did not provide much storage for dishes and food.

Rock Paper Hammer

AFTER: The new cabinet layout unites uppers and lowers on each side of the kitchen, making more space by actually swinging the cooker to the cabinet layout and extending storage into the very edge of their kitchen and dining room.

Backsplash tile: Malt Blend, Fireclay Tile; refrigerator, oven, microwave: GE Cafe

Rock Paper Hammer

Salvaged crimson doors from one of the closets now open into a built-in pantry next to the eat-in nook.

Rock Paper Hammer

Several components salvaged from the renovation are used by the nook. The timber for the built-in seat is from another portion of the remodeled home. The table marble shirt was located in the house’s basement and outfitted with a custom metal base.

Pendant: Industrial Glass Pendant, West Elm

Rock Paper Hammer

Fisher coated the drywall ceiling in glossy tongue and groove paneling, drawing the eye toward the ceiling beams in the dining room.

Rock Paper Hammer

At one end of this kitchen, the demolition revealed a single crooked place in the wall. The team used it to frame the end of a windowsill.

Rock Paper Hammer

The renovation of the 19th-century barn-turned-home revealed another hidden treasure. When the owners started a door that was locked in the cellar cellar, they discovered a closet filled with Prohibition-era liquor with some bottles dating back to 1919.

Does your home have remnants of previous lives? Tell us about it in the Comments!

See related