Customer Reviews

Bungalow Kitchens

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book, very inspiring. We own a foursquare built in 1910 and we found very interesting and inspiring ideas to rebuilt our kitchen.

The only negative things about this book is a lack of pictures. Many pictures were taken of the same kitchens.

This book is great encouragement for those homeowners who know they want authentic vintage, but have to deal with current day construction fellas who just don't get it. The authors give many tips on how and where to get what you are looking for. The only drawback is that I was looking for a 1950's looking style, and this book very much focuses on an era before that. Their focus on a style largely from the 1920's has styles and functions somewhat limited to that era. Still it did help me make some remodeling choices, and the photographs are wonderful.

My first impression was WOW! Here is a book for anyone who has an old house to remodel. These kitchens will fit into any house older than 1950. Bungalow doesn't begin to say it all. My son is remodeling a Californis Arts and Crafts house with obsessive zeal,whereas, my goal is just to get the feel of an old house in a new addition to a two hundred year old cape in Maine. Read the book from cover to cover.

In Bungalow Kitchens, Jane Powell and Linda Svendsen have successfully collaborated to create, quite simply, the best guidebook available today for preserving the beauty and integrity of yesteryear's bungalow kitchen while adapting it to the utilitarian values and conveniences of today. Every aspect is covered from plumbing to windows to shelving to electrification. What the remodeling householder needs to know about contractors and subcontractors is also informatively dealt with. Highly recommended reading for anyone contemplating an upgrade or modernization of their bungalow kitchen facilities, Jane Powell's informative and detailed text is superbly enhanced by Linda Svendsen photography showcasing bungalow kitchen examples throughout.

As an interior designer working in home restoration, I'm constantly searching through books and magazines to find answers to my clients' questions about period kitchens. This book has all the answers - not just about bungalow kitchens, but also those in other styles of period houses. I especially appreciate the fact that both the "Obsessive Restoration" and "Compromise Solution" sections focus on how it would have been done originally. There's enough information in other places to tell us how to build modern kitchens - in fact, we're overwhelmed by it! It's obvious the author has a love and respect for original styles and her take on kitchen restoration is something that's been sorely lacking until this book. In addition, "Bungalow Kitchens" is a lot of fun to read and the pictures illustrate beautifully the points that are being made. I don't know how I got along without this book!

As an interior designer working in home restoration, I'm constantly searching through books and magazines to find answers to my clients' questions about period kitchens. This book has all the answers - not just about bungalow kitchens, but also those in other styles of period houses. I especially appreciate the fact that both the "Obsessive Restoration" and "Compromise Solution" sections focus on how it would have been done originally. There's enough information in other places to tell us how to build modern kitchens - in fact, we're overwhelmed by it! It's obvious the author has a love and respect for original styles and her take on kitchen restoration is something that's been sorely lacking until this book. In addition, "Bungalow Kitchens" is a lot of fun to read and the pictures illustrate beautifully the points that are being made. I don't know how I got along without this book!

As an interior designer working in home restoration, I'm constantly searching through books and magazines to find answers to my clients' questions about period kitchens. This book has all the answers - not just about bungalow kitchens, but also those in other styles of period houses. I especially appreciate the fact that both the "Obsessive Restoration" and "Compromise Solution" sections focus on how it would have been done originally. There's enough information in other places to tell us how to build modern kitchens - in fact, we're overwhelmed by it! It's obvious the author has a love and respect for original styles and her take on kitchen restoration is something that's been sorely lacking until this book. In addition, "Bungalow Kitchens" is a lot of fun to read and the pictures illustrate beautifully the points that are being made. I don't know how I got along without this book!

"Bungalow Kitchens" offers an outstanding historical perspective on the use and layout of the kitchen in bungalow homes. As someone who is in the process of restoration/rennovation of a 1920s bungalow I found the suggestions for restoration a bit unforgiving however. I felt the breakdown on restoration ideas into the two catagories of "obsessive" and "compromise" to be a good idea for presenting rennovation ideas. However, even the compromise ideas seem to be impratical for someone who will continue to use their bungalow kitchen frequently. I had hoped the author would have dedicated more time towards rennovating bungalow kitchens using materials of the present day. A more complete discussion of maintaining the character of the bungalow kitchen using modern materials and amenities would have been more useful to those of us embarking on a "semi-restoration" effort.

As a bugalow owner and enthusiast, I found this book very enjoyable. The photographs are beautiful and the historical information on the evolution of the kitchen is very interesting. If a kitchen remodel is in your future, the author discusses treatment of all elements in a kitchen and utilizes a 2-category system to recommend restoration options: Obsessive Restoration and Compromise Solutions. In general, I found Compromise Solutions to be most practical, however, these suggestions were even a bit non-forgiving of modern conveniences. While the book espouses that it is "the ultimate guidebook to preserving the beauty and integrity of the past while adapting it to the utilitarian values of the present", few present-day values are acceptable to the author. Heaven forbid if you use solid surfacing on your counters. While perhaps not stylistically accurate, many new materials are utilized in a manner consistent with the spirit of original bungalow design and habitation: efficiency and practicality. Many can actually be made to resemble elements of a period kitchen. As a pseudo-preservationist, even I don't want to cook on a dirty cast-iron stove, and chop my vegetables on a beat-up 75-year old wooden counter!