This content was originally published on OldHouseOnline.com and has been republished here as part of a merger between our two businesses. All copy is presented here as it originally appeared there.
This old house in town on Nantucket was built in a vernacular style, gable front to the street. Its façade is intact, but inside, the vacation house had been renovated and updated many times. Today’s owner redid the kitchen using a neoclassical vocabulary with a country accent. Neither reproduction nor hidden away, the kitchen fits the house beautifully.
Working with preservation architect Paul Alden Curtis of Boston, the homeowner created a seamless transition from the rest of the house by keeping the original windows and old flooring. Yet the room has a practical layout and modern appliances. Traditional elements include the restrained cabinets, beadboard and turned legs on the island, and Windsor chairs. Then there’s the historical, still coveted blue-and-white scheme, cued by the owner’s collection of Canton porcelain.
The scheme is held together by unique blue-green granite countertops, a highlight amidst white cabinets, along with the printed window fabric (robertkaufman.com) and a new color for the old Windsor chairs, which used to be painted black.
