The Porch House // Adding vintage charm to a New Kitchen

There are few things I love more in a home than a beautiful kitchen with vintage appeal. And I'll let you in on a little secret, adding vintage charm into your kitchen isn't as hard as it seems. Even if your kitchen is brand new and your budget is stretched super thin, vintage charm is possible!

The Grit and Polish - Porch Adding vintage charm to new Kitchen Open Shelves.jpg

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Six takeaways from the Porch House renovation on how to add vintage charm to a new, old, or something-in-between kitchen. psst: these are great tips to review before starting on a kitchen renovation, especially in a vintage home! Pin this post for later.

Natural elements

Wood, marble, stone and other natural materials feel old because they are old. These are also the materials that were used in kitchens at the turn of the last century - back before the advent of quartz and mdf - so these materials lend a timeless appeal to any kitchen. If you're renovating, think about marble, soapstone, or honed black granite countertops. And if not, prop some old wood or marble boards against your backsplash. Natural materials tend to get better with age, so you can argue that they are great investments too! That brings me to number two...

Aged Brass

In the oldest of old homes, you usually find brass hardware on the original cabinets and doors, and it's aged to perfection. To get that feel in a new kitchen, try swapping out your hardware for unlacquerd brass (which will patina) or aged brass hardware in a classic style such as a bin pull, cabinet latch, and knob. For budget hardware options, like what we used in the Porch House kitchen, look here.

Vintage accessories

If a remodel is not in your immediate future, bring in some vintage accents. Pieces with a little patina like old bread boards, vintage cotton towels, hand-carved utensils, vintage art and rugs, your grandmother's cookbooks, and old baskets add instant character. Place them on your countertops (in low traffic areas), on open shelves, in glass-fronted cabinets, or prop them against your backsplash. These pieces don't need to cost a fortune, either. Try hitting up yard sales, antique shops, estate sales, or peek through your parent's garage.

Dried herbs

Growing food and making spices is a bit of a lost art these days, but hanging herbs in your kitchen (even if they're from your grocery store's produce section), gives your space automatic vintage appeal. I like wrapping up a few stems of thyme, sage, or lavender with a little twine and then hanging them from a peg or a small hook mounted to the underside of a cabinet. Bonus: your kitchen will smell like a five-star restaurant!

Keep the color palette simple

Whether you're renovating anew or dealing with an existing kitchen, sticking with two or three hues in your kitchen lets vintage accents shine through. At the Porch House, we painted all the walls and shelves a basic white, selected a soft neutral for the cabinetry, and topped everything with carrara marble. This simple color palette allows the eye to notice the elements we layered over top: vintage artwork, wood utensils, and brass hardware. And if you happen to have a dark kitchen or it's wood heavy, I'd look for white stoneware and other light vintage accents to achieve a similar focal point.

Hide the hood

This tip is for folks looking to renovate or do a large DIY project. Built-in range hoods that hide all or part of the hood and vent, feel much older than their modern counterparts. At the Porch House, we drywalled the built-in hood, and in our Ravenna renovation, we built a cabinet to hide the vent.