When think it’s an original kitchen,
you know somebody went all out. All I can say about Karla Pearlstein’s Victorian cook room and pantries is WOW! Karla is a restoration consultant with a specialty in kitchens. In her own house, she and her crew got everything right: round-top windows that echo those in the Civil War-era house, the 19th-century layout, the wood flooring, gaslight-era lighting, the hardware and heat registers, even the china stored in the butler’s pantry. Most convincing of all, she used unique, vintage fixtures including a cast-iron sink (and antique faucet) and a reconditioned cookstove. No, she hasn’t lost her mind and gone back to the era of soot and low water pressure. This kitchen works. But the refrigerator, the freezer drawers, the dishwasher and appliances are so well integrated, they have to be pointed out. It was the perfect last project in an incredible restoration, Karla’s labor of love.
In a recent lecture, I stated—I thought unnecessarily—that I do not consider period restoration in any way more “moral” than interpretive or eclectic design. The audience smiled with a hint of relief. From its first issue in 1973, OHJ has urged owners—perhaps better called stewards—not to destroy good old work. Don’t try to put an industrial loft in your Queen Anne by tearing out all the walls and walnut. But it’s not necessary to turn back the clock; and replacing in perfect (expensive) detail that which has been lost over time is not an imperative. Just stay true to the structure’s style and quality.
I have really enjoyed seeing mixed interiors, done well. Spare midcentury furniture in a rustic lake house comes to mind from a past issue, as does a high-ceilinged San Francisco townhouse unexpectedly filled with New England Federal and Empire furniture. Museum-quality houses like Karla’s are rare, the result of dedicated study and years of collecting. Such houses are the work of creative minds having a lot of fun!