Cultivate.com

We recently discovered a website designed for anyone taking on a kitchen renovation.  Cultivate.com offers a user-friendly format to feature hundreds of designers, architects, cabinetmakers and products for the perfect kitchen.

Click here to view our profile and let us know what you think.  We will be adding new projects soon.

Chester County Preservation Fair

Next weekend, we will be exhibiting at that 2nd Annual, Chester County Preservation Fair in Historic Yellow Springs, PA.  If you are involved in the renovation of an historic home, please plan to join us on April 21. 

There will be a full schedule of lectures and demonstrations given by trademen and other experts in the restoration field. 

Click here for further details.

Kitchen furniture for sale

After participating in several kitchen and home shows over the last few months, we find ourselves with too many pieces in our showroom.  

This piece is now for sale. It was based on an antique, Irish cabinet but the interior of the base cabinet is constructed like a modern kitchen cabinet.  It is fitted with dovetailed maple drawer boxes with soft-close Blum drawer glides, hand-wrought rat-tail hinges and iron knobs.  The hutch is finished in our milk paint finish (French Gray and Cream) and lightly distressed. 

The dimensions of this piece:  55"wide  x 83"high x 21"deep (upper cabinet 14" deep).

Our showroom is located in Malvern, PA.   Contact us for other details, pricing or to schedule a time to stop in. 

Our first magazine cover shot!

The current issue of "Early Homes", Spring-Summer issue chose an image of one of our kitchens as the cover shot.  This is our first and we are honored to have this kitchen chosen. 

The issue features two kitchens on Nantucket and we built one of them several years ago.  The spread is beautiful and shows the house well.  We thank Patty Poore at Old House Interiors and Early Homes magazines and Gridley + Graves Photographers. 

We greatly enjoyed working with the proud owners of this Nantucket home, Ann and Craig.  Thanks for the opportunity to be involved with this project. 

Contact us at our website to find out how we can create YOUR dream kitchen.

Log and Timber Home Show

We had a successful weekend at the Historic Home Show. Thank you to everyone that came out to see us. The show promoter convinced us to keep our kitchen at the Oaks, PA Convention Center for the Greater Philadelphia Log and Timber Home Show next Friday through Sunday.

 The show features some of the best custom log and timber frame home builders in the country.  

Historic Home Show this weekend

Come out and see us at the Historic Home Show of Greater Philadelphia this weekend in Oaks, PA.  It is a great resource for anyone who owns an old home or wishes to make their newer home feel like a vintage home.  Click here for details.

Farmhouse kitchen in NJ

Last week we had an opportunity to take a few quick snapshots of one of our projects from last year.   The compact kitchen is locate in an early house in rural New Jersey, near Pennington.  The range hood is housed in the enclosure above the Aga range.  A small tv is hidden in the upper cabinet in the corner.  The sink and countertops are by Bucks County Soapstone, of course.

To avoid the dozens of emails and phone calls that I usually get when I post pictures of our work....the stunning light fixture above the island is by Restoration Hardware.

This was not a large kitchen space but we were able to design and build a cabinet layout that met every requirement of the homeowners.  Email us here to discuss your kitchen renovation plans.

Huge, antique butcher block

 We have had an antique butcher block sitting in our shop for quite a while.   We finally had some time to remove some old whitewash paint on the edges, clean it and apply an oil finish to it.  The age of this piece is unknown and  I have never seen one like this before.

I would imagine that the story of its origin would go something like this...
In 1893, a farmer in a rural community of Pennsylvania needed a chopping block for butchering time.  He asked the local sawyer if he could cut him a piece of maple to be used as a work surface.   The sawyer didn't have any maple but he offered the farmer a large section of a butternut tree.  When the farmer got the block to his farm, he and his sons fashioned 4 oak legs.  They drilled 3" holes into the bottom of the block and turned the end of the legs down to 3".  The legs are removable so that the block could be stored when not in use.  For decades the block was used on the farm as it aged to perfection.

The piece is for sale and will be shown at the Historic Home Show of Greater Philadelphia in Oaks, PA on March 9 - 11.  Click here for show details.

If you are interested in further information about the piece, please click here and contact us through our website.

44" diameter

 10" thick

Butternut top with four oak post legs

Color Palette

We are finally developing a standard color palette from which our clients may choose their kitchen cabinet finish colors.  Up until now, all of our colors have been custom mixed shades of milk paint.  We will offer the standard colors offered by The Real Milk Paint Company as well as a few new standards that we have developed based on their colors.

Over the years, we spent many hours of time and used many gallons of milk paint to develop the perfect colors for client's homes.  We will continue to do that but hopefully this will simplify the process.

Custom colors will still be offered...but at an additional charge. 

Storming the Bastille...with slip-cast metal

Our friends at Bastille Metal Works have perfected a unique countertop fabrication technique - slip-casting.  They are creating countertops (and other products) in zinc, pewter, bronze and copper.  

The slip-cast surfaces have the patina and texture for which so many of our clients are searching.  The metal is actually cast onto a substrate surface and worked by hand to achieve the desired level of finish sheen and texture. 

Bastille also offers countertops made with sheets of metal.  The surfaces are finished with a patina that works well with our distressed paint finishes. 

Slip-cast zinc

Slip-cast zinc

zinc sheet countertop

zinc sheet countertop

Talent lost

Rest in peace, Fred Peltier.  

 

de France

Not long ago, one of our clients gave us a photo of kitchen island that was a reproduction of a French antique counter made in the Louis XV.   We were asked to make our version of the piece.  It was a challenge but we welcomed it.  The end panels were made in Provence. 

Add caption

Moulding opens as drawers

"Drawers open as doors"

End panels handmade in Provence

Photos cou.rtesy of Betsy Barron.