This brief checklist will enable you to design a more authentic looking Victorian style kitchen, right from the start. Use it on your own or together with a designer.
1. Cabinets to be beaded inset face-framed with inset doors
Wood Shelving Brackets
2. Doors and drawer fronts should be five-piece with flat panels
3. Doors and at least some drawer fronts should have integral or applied molding to the inside edge of the doors stiles and rails
4. Flat panels could have vertical beads, sometimes called a cottage bead or country bead.
5. Consider using simple flat panel slab drawer fronts without any stiles or rails on the top drawers.
6. Hinges should be exposed cast barrel hinges. Finial tipped hinges are more ornate than ball tipped, but either will work.
7. Hinge finish should coordinate with home's doorknob hardware if possible. If the doorknob hardware is polished nickel, use polished nickel cabinet hinges.
8. Knobs and pulls to have ornate detail; finish to match hinges
9. Consider using glass or porcelain knobs on upper cabinets and metal pulls for base cabinets.
10. High quality, polished, cast Butler's latches can also be used to give an authentic look.
11. Drawer boxes to be of solid wood, preferably dovetailed. This isn't necessarily a Victorian detail but it adds to the care for detail overall.
12. Run upper cabinets close to the ceiling and add a decorative crown molding.
13. If the ceiling is nine feet high or more and the upper cabinets run to the ceiling, break up the cabinet frame in two, with two separate doors, with the top door being as close to square as possible.
14. At least some upper cabinets should have glass; beveled glass will give them a very classy look; stained glass will look period appropriate. Obscured 'water glass' will also add a vintage look
15. Use long curved decorative brackets to 'support' upper cabinets
16. End panels and back of island panels could be bead board
17. Back panels on open shelving can also be bead board
18. Counter-tops: consider using a mix of materials. If you are using granite primarily and have a defined bake area, use marble for the bake area. Side counters and islands will look elegant with solid wood tops; use cherry, walnut or mahogany.
19. If you have a side hutch with a counter consider using a solid wood top; mahogany or cherry look
20. Apron front sinks always help to give a kitchen a vintage feel
21. Varying cabinet depths creates more interest: make the sink cabinet shallower than the others so that it is set back below the apron front sink
22. If using a plate rack, use round doweling for dividers
23. If base cabinets are to have legs or decorative kicks, use curves in the design rather than straight lines
24. Suggested cabinet materials:
*Painted maple
*Cherry
*Mahogany
*Vertical grain Douglas Fir
*Quartersawn oak