Heart of the Home

Transforming a galley kitchen into an open-concept space reinvigorates this home’s mid mod sensibilities.

design MUST-HAVES:

● Midcentury look with modern-day conveniences

● Island designed for cooking and entertaining

● Custom birch cabinetry

After purchasing their 1959 shed-style ranch in 2012, Aletha Vandermaas, owner of True Home Restorations design firm, and her husband, Greg, enjoyed a home with the Midcentury Modern exterior they craved—stone, brick and glass. However, the galley kitchen had been stripped of most of its mod styling through decades of upgrades and updates.

“Sadly, the original galley kitchen had been completely replaced in 1992,” Aletha says. “The kitchen that was in its place was a standard big-box, plain-white kitchen; it did not go with the house one bit. It was in good shape, but it was in the wrong house.”

A FRESH START

To help the kitchen better fit the home, the homeowners decided to start fresh. The galley kitchen was gutted and the walls to an adjoining office were removed to create an open space for kitchen, dining room and living room. Previous homeowners provided pictures of the kitchen over the years, giving Aletha and Greg a reference point, since nothing from the original 1950s kitchen was left for the couple to use in their renovation.

The new kitchen mixes midcentury must-haves like atomic light fixtures with contemporary touches like two sinks, one for prep and one for cleanup. Even

when adding 21st-century details, Aletha was careful to make sure they fit with her MCM home and offers this advice to other homeowners looking to create kitchens with midcentury style: “To keep your midcentury kitchen looking original to your home, avoid non-midcentury trends such as subway tile, farmhouse sinks, commercial-style faucets, commercial-grade appliances.”

WELCOME HOME

With the renovation, the kitchen now serves as the home’s entry point, providing a warm welcome for Aletha and Greg’s family and friends, and a fitting introduction to this reinvigorated midcentury home. “I love that it looks original to the home,” Aletha says of the kitchen. “We did what designers did in the 1950s: used builtin appliances and kept the materials simple and straightforward.”

BY COMBINING THE PREVIOUS KITCHEN AND OFFICE, THE HOMEOWNERS WERE ABLE TO CRAFT AN OPEN SPACE FOR COOKING, EATING, ENTERTAINING AND RELAXING. RIGHT: THE FLORAL ORLA KIELY WALLPAPER MAKES THIS DINING AREA FEEL QUINTESSENTIALLY MID MOD AND PROVIDED THE INSPIRATION FOR THE CUSTOMFABRICATED RAILING. THE VINTAGE DINING TABLE WAS AN ESTATE SALE FIND, WHILE THE LIGHT FIXTURE IS A NEW PIECE BY REJUVENATION.

TOP: THE CUSTOM ISLAND, FEATURING A WHITE QUARTZ COUNTERTOP, DOES DOUBLE DUTY AS AN EATING SPACE WITH THE ADDITION OF MODERNICA CASE STUDY FURNITURE® WIRE BARSTOOLS. OPPOSITE TOP: FROM THE CUSTOM BIRCH CABINETRY TO THE SMALL APPLIANCES, EVERY PIECE WAS CAREFULLY SELECTED TO PERFECTLY COMPLEMENT THE HOME’S CLEAN MODERN STYLE.