Updating Your Victorian House?
Contact us for authentic Victorian period design, preservation, restor­ation, renovation and remodeling services.
Italianate House Drawing: Victoria Heritage Foundation.

We specialize in updating period homes while preserving the feel, style and craftsmanship of the historic era. Seamlessly incorporate a modern kitchen, bath or addition into your Victorian home.

Preserving our past, enriching our future since 1996.
The Victorian Styles: Queen Anne, Italianate, Gothic Revival and Eastlake
Printable view.

There are some restrictions on
reprinting this article. Please see
Reprints for more information.

Adobe Reader required. Click
here to download Adobe Reader. J. M. Edgar, CMC, CRC Victorian house styles flourished in post-Civil War 19th century American. The trend throughout the later part of the 19th century was toward more ornate homes showcasing the increasing wealth produced by the Industrial Revolution. Gothic Revival Style Gothic Revival house. The sweeping curved porch is typical. In a smaller footprint, this style may be seen all over the Midwest as the "Folk Victorian" style. Many were built from kits sold by Sears, Roebuck & Co. The house came as pre-cut lumber in two boxcars to be assembled by the owner or a local builder. Mass production processes had made even very detailed ornamentation relatively inexpensive, and the expansion of railroads made it possible to ship great quantities of mass produced goods into every city and hamlet. This abundance was increasingly reflected in American housing styles and decoration.

Gothic Revival
The relatively simple gothic revival style was the first departure from the rectangular Colonial footprints of the 18th century. Earlier houses, built primarily of local materials, were usually devoid of ornamentation except what could be laboriously produced by local craftsmen. It was expensive and thus sparely used. Victorian architecture changed all that. The Gothic house was the initial example of industrial abundance reflecting the increasing wealth of Americans. Its irregular shape, arched windows and steeply pitched complex roof, elaborate vergeboard trim along roof edges, high dormers, the use of lancet windows and other Gothic details heralded an break from the less elaborate architectural styles of the earlier period.

Italianate
The Italianate style began in England in the 1840s. For most of two centuries English homes had tended to be formal and classical in style, following the trend established in the 15th century by Christopher Wren. With the Italianate Photo: Nebraska Historical Society Italianate Style The 1869 Italianate house of Thomas P. Kennard is now the Nebraska Statehood Memorial. It is the oldest house in Lincoln's original plat still standing. style, however, builders began to move toward romantic, fanciful recreations of Italian Renaissance homes. Italianate Lap Siding A modest house in the Italianate or Mansard Style on 10th Street in South Lincoln. Compared to the Kennard House, it is much less elaborately decorated, and has, unfortunately, been converted to apartments.

When the Italianate style migrated to the United States in the 1850s, it was almost immediately stamped with a purely American character — much less fanciful and much more practical. The homes were typically two to three stories in height, with flat or hip roofs, bay windows with inset wooden panels, corner boards and two over two double-hung windows. The windows often had curved or molded window caps. It could be build of just about any material — stone and brick for the affluent, wood siding for the rest of us, and it could be scaled to fit even a fairly modes budget. The elaborate mouldings nd pressed metal fittings required for the style were becoming abundant and cheap due to growing mass production. As a result, by the late 1860s, Italianate had become the most popular house style in the United States.

Photo: Lancaster County Register of Deeds Queen Anne Style The "F"-Street "Castle". This elegant Queen Anne in Lincoln's Near South neighborhood is being restored by its current owners.
Its primacy was short lived, however. Starting in the 1870s it was being overtaken by more ornate late Victorian styles such as Queen Anne and Eastlake, and by the 1890s was retired. During its short reign, however, a great many were built. The prosperity resulting from the Civil War and increased industrialization made the 1870s something of a boom time, resulting in lots of building primarily in the Northeast but also in the then rapidly growing Midwest.

Queen Anne
Common from about 1870, Queen Anne houses were built of stone, brick and wood siding, often featuring shingles and ornate exterior decoration. They often feature towers, turrets, wrap around porches, and other fanciful details. But many such homes, especially those built without the aid of an architect, lacked elaborate ornamentation. Essentially, any Victorian Era home with a turret is probably going to be classed as a Queen Anne no matter the amount of decoration.

Photo: Lancaster County Register of Deeds Eastlake Style The Yates house. An example of the Stick or Eastlake Victorian style house elaborately decorated with spindles and other ornamentation. The style at its most extreme is characterized by overwhelming excess, featuring large projecting bay windows, towers, turrets, porches (often on multiple stories), balconies, stained glass decoration, roof finials and crestings, walls carvings and/or inset panels of stone or terra-cotta, cantilevered upper stories, acres of decorative trim, patterned shingles, belt courses, elaborate brackets, banisters and spindles — even the chimneys on Queen Anne houses were often spectacularly crafted.

Stick-Eastlake
The Stick-Eastlake Style, popular from about 1860 to 1890, is sometimes considered to be a High Victorian elaboration of the Gothic Revival style. The single most distinguishing feature of the style is small vertical, horizontal, or diagonal planks placed on top of the exterior walls. The style is often associated with houses featuring enormous, overhanging, second-story porches which led to the name "Swiss Chalet" houses. Elaborately decorated and very fanciful Stick houses are often referred to as the "Eastlake" style because of the lavish use of furniture designer Charles Eastlake's favorite ornamentation, the spindle. Photo: State of Nebraska Shingle Style The Arthur C. Ziemer Shingle Style House in the Lincoln Near South neighborhood. Elements of the emerging Arts & Crafts Style can be seen in this late Victorian house now renamed Maple Lodge.

Eastlake himself, however, detested the style and disavowed any association with it right up to his death in 1906. The elaborate Eastlake style is now virtually synonymous with the phrase "Victorian house", at least in the Midwest.

Shingle Style
The Shingle style is a muting down of elaborate Victorian fussiness that evolved from the vacation homes and hunting lodges of the well-to-do. It is considered by many to be the transition style between Victorian excess and the simple Craftsman and Prairie houses of the early 20th century. It is distinguished by the use of natural or single-color shingles as exterior covering and the lack of elaborate ornamentation -- the shingles are the ornamentation. Unlike most other styles, the Shingle style is purely American. It has no European antecedents.

Folk Victorian
While architects were building elaborate Queen Anne and Eastlake homes for the well-to-do, we "just folks" were also building houses and taking full advantage of the growing availability of consistent dimensioned lumber, inexpensive steel nails and the railroads to transport them from where they were made to where they were needed.

Photo: Lancaster County Register of Deeds Folk Victorian Style A Queen Anne style Folk Victorian house in Lincoln's Near South district restored to Victorian colors. Unfortunately, the interior has been ruined by a succession of ill-conceived "remodels" that did away with the original ornate trim. Usually called "Folk Victorian", "Prairie Gothic" or "Frontier Victorian" and derived largely from the Gothic Revival style, they are overwhelmingly rectangular and symmetrical in shape with a low-pitched pyramid roof and extended eaves supported by brackets. Folk Victorians lacked the towers, bay windows and elaborate mouldings of classic Victorian houses. There are at least five basic Folk Victorian sub-types in one- and two-story versions. Many were built out of kits supplied by Sears, Roebuck & Co. If you did not buy a kit, you used a plan from one of a number of plan suppliers. Virtually all made at least some use of the ornamental trim being mass produced and distributed to all corners of the continent by rail. Folk Victorian houses were adorned at minimum with flat, jigsaw trim made locally by the builder in a variety of patterns — mostly on porches and eaves. But many also had spindles, gingerbread and details borrowed from the more ornate Victorian styles. How much ornate detail was added by the builder most likely depended on the budget. Behind the trim and scroll work, however, a Folk Victorian is a simple, work-a-day, house: solid, practical and long lasting. Very long lasting. Folk Victorians were still being built in this area in the 1940s, and some built in the late 19th century are still in use. There are a lot of them in the Havelock, Bethany and University Place neighborhoods.

Victorian Interiors
Victorian Trim A bright, inviting sitting area. Mass-produced plate glass made large windows affordable and the Victorians used them with abandon to create bright, sun-lit, pleasant rooms. The finish is toned-down Victorian more suited to modern tastes. Victorian interiors were lush and ornate to match Victorian exteriors. However, there were often three levels of decoration in Victorian homes: Public rooms such as the drawing room or parlor were sumptuous, private family rooms were less so, but still quite ornate, while servants' rooms were spare. Decorative plaster, elaborate mouldings and woodwork, and multi-hued bright colors were common. The Victorian era saw the first widespread availability of wallpaper, and it was used lavishly. The favored wallpaper patterns featured scrolls, vines and birds and were usually small-figured and finely detailed. "Fussy" is the word we would use today. Inspired by the writings of Owen Jones (The Grammar of Ornament (1856)) the Victorians were uninhibited in their use of bold colors, elaborate Photo: Bradbury & Bradbury. A victorian parlor Rich colors, sumptuous fabrics, ornate decoration and overstuffed furniture is typical of high-style Victorian urban interiors. This recreation features Bradbury & Bradbury Victorian collection fabrics and wall coverings. ornamentation and deep, rich fabrics. Jones, inspired by youthful journeys to the middle east and India, advocated elaborate Moorish, Byzantine and Eastern ornamental themes. The decor was designed to create a feeling of comfort, therefore, the guests would chose to linger. Plaster or wood ceiling mouldings were elaborately carved and painted in lighter tones taken from the color of the walls. Applied decorations were added to the ceiling, usually in the corners and around the chandelier.

Major public rooms such as the parlor were usually filled with furniture and show items until they could hold no more. The largest furniture item was the obligatory overstuffed sofa. Typically they were deeply tufted and buttoned Victorian loveseat An ornate Victorian loveseat. It is actually more comfortable than it looks. medallion and serpentine- or camel-backed Queen Anne or Sheraton setees. Windows were heavily decorated. The drapes were usually made of white muslin for Spring and Summer and heavier sumptuous fabrics such as velvet and brocaded silk for Fall and Winter. Drapes were changed during the semi-annual Spring and Fall cleanings. Folded and held back with ropes or scroll shaped fitments and embellished with tassels, ribbons and festoons. Scrolled, scalloped or gilded valences adorned the tops and were usually made of velvet or lace.

In the early 19th century flooring was untreated, random-width pine planks. Toward mid century floors were starting to be painted and by the later decades oak, parquet and marquetry floors were coming into widespread use. Tile and stone were common in entries, kitchens, and late in the century, bathrooms. Oil cloth, what we now call linoleum, appeared in the 1870's and was in wide use by the turn of the century.

The Victorian Kitchen Photo: Heartland Appliances Victorian Kitchen A modern Victorian-style city kitchen featuring reproduction Victorian appliances from Heartland Appliances. Completely modern in function, these appliances incorporate Victorian style elements into appliances that did not actually exist in the Victorian Era, such as refrigerators and wall ovens.
Replace the huge wood-burning iron stove with a modern range and a Victorian kitchen would look familiar to all of us over 50. Some of the implements would be strange: the lark spit, sugar nippers, spice tin and marmalade cutter might be a little mysterious, but the iron skillets, brass pots, steel cutlery and chinaware would be old friends. Victorian Kitchen A Victorian kitchen was often located in the basement or an outbuilding to keep cooking grease and odors from permeating the house — and to reduce the fire hazard. Most pots, pans and utensils were hung from the walls and ceiling. If there were any cabinets, they were just movable cupboards and sideboards. Food preparation and baking competed for space at the large central island table that doubled as the servants dining table. Cooking was done in a fireplace or, in the late Victorian, on a wood- or coal-burning iron stove.

There were cupboards and working tables, but no built-in cabinets, and probably a sink or two after piped water became common. There might have been a new Hoosier cabinet after the turn of the century. Keep in mind, however, that in the era of cheap labor, most cooking was done by servants. Anyone well-off enough to afford a Victorian house was probably also able to afford a cook. Kitchens, therefore, were usually not all that elaborate. Good thing, too, otherwise they would be expensive to reproduce. A Victorian kitchen would have a lot of overhead racks for pots and pans, and hooks and open shelving for cookware and dishes.

Cabinets: Victorian Footed Cabinet Legs and feet on base cabinets make them look more like the furniture that was typical in a Victorian kitchen. A Victorian kitchen should not look built in. Built-in cabinets came much later to American kitchens — not until the early 20th century. Cabinets should look like furniture — a collection of tables and cupboards with the odd pantry or two. Base cabinets should have legs, particularly turned legs, to give more of a furniture effect. Cabinet depths should vary, some shallow and some deep. The furniture effect is enhanced if the cabinetry is given more than one finish, some stained, some painted. As long as the colors complement each other, even three or four different finishes can be used. Open cabinetry works well, along with wall shelves in place of wall cabinets. Hooks and pegs for storing utensils have a place in a Victorian kitchen.

Victorian kitchen cabinets should have ornate raised panel doors, usually with a flat top and often with applied beading or other mouldings. Rich, dark stained cherry, chestnut, elm, birch or oak cabinets are typical of urban Victorian. Light stained or natural wood is unusual. For country Victorian, painted cabinets are the rule. Door styles and finishes can be mixed and matched for special effects. Cabinets should appear to be relatively massive — a feeling helped by heavy crown molding. Light and airy is not a Victorian characteristic. Tall wall cabinets should go all the way to a standard 8-foot ceiling (which ideally would be pressed tin) or to the A Kitchen in a Box — The Hoosier Kitchen Cabinet
Around 1899 J. S. McGuinn of Indiana got an idea for a self-contained food preparation center by taking a baker's cabinet and compacting it into a practical work center.

He founded the Hoosier Manufacturing Company to make them, and by 1920 his hoosier cabinets were in millions of American homes. Sold as timesavers for mom, but also, more importantly, sold on an early form of installment plan: $1.00 down and $1.00 a week, they were the kitchen revolution of a time before most homes had built-in kitchen cabinets. (If $1.00 a week sounds cheap, consider that in 1913 it was about 10% of a workingman's wages — not at all cheap.)

Hoosier Cabniets

Four to five feet wide, with built in sugar and flour bins (including a shifter at the bottom), numerous drawers and shelves, spice jars, racks for pots, pans and bowls, and a zinc-lined bread box, the Hoosier cabinet was virtually a compact kitchen in a box in which all of the clutter could be hidden behind attractive cabinet doors.

It captured the trend current at the time for a well-organized life ("a place for everything, and everything in its place") that also gave rise to the self-contained office, the Wooten Patented Cabinet Office Secretary. The original Hoosier spawned many initiators, some of whom were true innovators, including McDougall, Sellers, Napanee, and Castle — any of which, if in good shape, bring many, many dollars at antique sales today.

But, if you can't find a perfect match for your kitchen at the antique store, don't worry, we can build one for you to your precise specifications — and for quite a bit less money. Just contact us for more information. 8-foot level of a higher ceiling. The upper shelves are used to store rarely used items. There are no soffits. The wall behind the counter top was often paneled with simple tongue and groove boards installed vertically.

Victorian Door Styles Typical Victorian cabinet door and drawer styles. Countertops: Victorian countertops were usually marble, wood or zinc-plated steel. Individual worktables or Hoosier cabinets might have enameled steel tops. In fact zinc and "porceliron", a type of enamel steel, are more or less the defining work-surface treatments of the era. Granite, soapstone, manufactured stone or stone-look laminates would also work. Tile and Corian®-type solid surfacing do not. Mix and match countertops, some zinc, some stone, some wood to give more of a furniture feel. A mass of countertop in the same material extending the length of the cabinetry is not the effect we are looking for. An island in a Victorian kitchen can be made to look like a tall table with a chopping block top. We have also seen concrete countertops used to good effect in Victorian-style kitchens. But you have to be careful with this material. If it looks too much like concrete, it seems out of place.

Flooring: Victorian Resources
Furnishings
Magnolia Hall. Reproduction Victorian furniture and accessories.

Victorian Furniture Company. Reproduction Victorian furniture and accessories.

Hardware
Ed Donaldson. Restorer of original antique hardware, primarily door and window hardware, but also some cabinet pulls and household hardware. We particularly like the boot scrapers. The items available change constantly. Ed will also restore you own antique hardware find to as good as new.

House of Antique Hardware. Reproduction period door, window, cabinet and furniture, lighting and electric, and house hardware. Paxton Hardware, Ltd. This is the company used by custom furniture makers for authentic reproduction hardware and furniture restoration supplies. The company still manufactures a lot of its own hardware here in the U.S. If you can't find it anywhere else, odds are good you will find it here.

Signature Hardware. Faucets, clawfoot tubs, sinks, commodes and vanities; door, window and interior hardware, grills, registers and lighting.

Interiors
Bradbury & Bradbury. Reproduction Victorian wall coverings and decorator fabrics. See illustration above.

Decorating With Lace. Victorian lace curtains.

Heartland Appliances, Inc.. Modern appliances with a Victorian look. (See photo above.)

M-Boss, Inc. American made tin ceiling panels.

The Tin Man Reproduction pressed tin ceiling panels.

Victorian Collectibles, Ltd. Victorian era wallpapers.

Vintage Tub and Bath. Everything for the Victorian bath, and many other things for the kitchen and the test of the house. Victorian Station. All things Victorian: architectural and interior design, the Victorian lifestyle and period literature.

Lighting
Rejuvenation: Classic American Lighting & Houseparts. Period light fixtures and hardware including registers, bath and kitchen hardware, door hardware and period electrical, including light and outlet plates for pre-1920's electrical systems. There is no Victorian Collection per se, so you will have to explore the Early Eclectic and Historic Revivals collections to find suitable lamps. Or get Lighting Advice from the store's always helpful customer service.

Magazines
Victorian Homes Magazine. Bi-monthly print magazine dedicated to the history, restoration, decoration and building of Victorian homes.

Tile
Extra Special Tile Company. Reproduction Victorian-era ceramic tiles from the Victoria and Albert collection. See illustration at right.

L'Esperance Tile Works. Dedicated to the art and preservation of handmade ceramic tile using authentic pre-industrial techniques.

Are any of these links broken? Please let us know.
For flooring, random-width plank wood, or true linoleum are the first choices. Ceramic and stone are OK, if not strictly to period. Vinyl sheet flooring can simulate linoleum and using modern laminate flooring to simulate the look of wide plank wood is also an option. The Victorians were vigorously innovative, so, although bamboo and cork were not floorings of the period, probably no Victorian would object to their use.

Mouldings: An ornate compound crown molding is almost required. But this heavy crown treatment assumes you have a typical 9 or 10-foot Victorian ceiling. If not, then some aesthetic adjustment must be made. Base molding should be deep, at least 6", and at least 3/4" thick. By contrast, modern base molding is usually just 3/8" thick and not more than 3-1/4" deep. Chair rails are rare, but picture molding, usually incorporated into shelving, is used to hang pans and other kitchen implements at eye level.

Appliances: Modern appliances tend to look out of place in a Victorian kitchen — more so than is the case with any other kitchen style. We cannot do without them, so special efforts need to be made to disguise them. Modern appliances with a Victorian look are available. Modern refrigerators and dishwashers can also be used if hidden behind panels that match the cabinetry.

Most Requested Feature: A separate butler's pantry is the most requested Victorian kitchen feature. In the original Victorian house, the butler's pantry was a transition room between the hot, bustling and noisy kitchen and the quiet, cool dining room where the family gathered for dinner. It stored dinner- and servingware and often doubled as a wet bar after dinner where gentlemen guests gathered. In its modern incarnation, the butler's pantry often contains a sink and dishwasher for quick after-dinner cleanup, and the liquor and wines. An undercabinet refrigerator is also convenient. It replaces the sideboard for storing dinner ware and serving pieces, linens and silverware.

A Victorian Bathroom
Photo: Thomas J. Crapper & Co., Ltd. Decorated Victorian Toilet An original decorated Victorian toilet. The Victorians invented the modern bath with running water, porcelain fixtures and a flushing toilet. And to celebrate their inventiveness, proceeded to add as much fuss and detail as they could to the room. Victorian bathrooms, especially in England and the Northeast United States were elaborate fanciful rooms.

The Clawfoot Tub: The defining characteristic of a Victorian bath is a large clawfoot tub. Photo: Extra Special Tile Company. Victorian Bath A reproduced Victorian bath featuring period tile from the Victoria & Albert Collection of the Extra Special Tile Company. The tub, connected to running water, was an innovation that sparked a change in the hygiene habits of American. Prior to the Victorian Age, a bath once of twice a year was the norm. More frequent bathing was considered somehow unmanly and even dangerous to the health. The Victorians changed that. A whole raft of organizations and societies trumpeted the benefits of frequent bathing — with soap, mind you — and by the turn of the 20th century, weekly bathing was the rule, at least in the cities.

If you are lucky, your Victorian bathroom already has a clawfoot tub, so all we need to do it get it cleaned up or refinished. Most of these tubs have a thick coat of porcelain enamel, so thick that it can be refinished several times. So if your tub is not rusting away (and sometimes even if it is), it can be restored to nearly new condition in about a day. If you don't have a tub, or it's in just in too cruddy a condition to save, there are plenty of local and national sources of new and refurbished tubs. New tubs have some nice features, including compatibility with modern plumbing fixtures, and can include a whirlpool or Jacuzzi.

Thomas Crapper Toilet An original Thomas Crapper toilet with wall-hung 3-gallon "high" tank. Despite the name, and common belief, Crapper probably did not invent the siphoning toilet, but was one of its first industrial manufacturers. Thomas Crapper & Co. Ltd. has been producing bathroom fixtures continuously since 1861. Unfortunately, if you do have the original clawfoot tub, you probably also have the original plumbing. Plan on replacing most of this. It may be lead pipe, or more probably in this part of the country, galvanized steel. But in either case it is well beyond its useful life and needs to go. The faucets that work with clawfoot tubs are special. The most compatible with modern bathing are the "telephone" style arrangements with separate hand shower. (See: Sources of Supply: Faucets for detailed information on faucet features and manufacturers).

But if the clawfoot does not fit your room, any modern drop-in fixture will work provided the enclosure built to house the tub is Victorian in style. Victorian faucet A modern version of a Victorian brass bathroom faucet and bowl. The finish never needs polishing, unlike early brass faucets that turned green overnight.

The Flushing Toilet: The modern flushing toilet was actually invented in England in 1596, but did not come into widespread use until the last half of the 1800s. The signature feature of Victorian-era toilets is the placement of the tank several feet above the bowl. This is what is commonly thought of as the "high tank" toilet. The placement of the tank several feet above the bowl was more a matter of function than style. These early toilets were very inefficient. Waste was removed from the bowl and through the trap below the bowl by water flowing out holes in the rim around the top of the bowl. For the water to have sufficient pressure to completely remove waste, tank had to be placed at least several feet above the bowl. Typical tanks released 3 gallons of water per flush, more than twice what a modern toilet uses, and made enough noise to wake up the house.

Toilets were often hand painted and highly decorated as befit a device that was both rare and expensive. Tanks were made of tin-lined wood, cast iron and vitreous china. Tanks were sometimes decorated, but not as elaborately as bowls.

After the introduction of the siphonic jet flush toilet in the 1890's, the high tank was no longer required as a matter of function but sanitaryware manufacturers continued to offer them as an option to low tanks. The high tank had become a design tradition of Victorian style and remained popular until the early 20th century when tastes changed to modern toilets that looked clean and functional. Victorian vanity To a Victorian this vanity would probably seem understated and sparsely decorated.

The Victorian Vanity: A Victorian vanity was not just a place to wash up, but also a place to display wealth and taste. It is almost impossible to get too garish. Original vanities would have been fine wood sideboards, commodes or dry sinks adopted to use as a vanity by the addition of a bowl and plumbing. Marble, especially white marble, was the typical top, but other stones and porcelain tiles were also used. Tile in small formats: 2" x 2" mosaics and smaller were favored.

Almost any faucet manufacturer makes faucets that are elaborate enough for use in a Victorian bathroom. Selecting a finish for your Victorian faucet is fairly easy. There are two, polished nickel and polished brass.

Brass was the original faucet finish. Its limitation was that it needed nearly daily polishing before modern finishes made it nearly tarnish-proof. Chrome actually did not come into widespread use until the 1920s. Before that, faucets were plated, if at all, with polished nickel. Brass and nickel, then, are the authentic Victorian finishes. You can, of course, go with hand-rubbed oiled bronze or some other more modern finish, but it will likely seem out of place.
  • Adapting a Kitchen to a Budget
    A terrific kitchen does not have to break the bank. We may have to get creative and even make a few compromises, but you will end up with a wonderful kitchen that will serve your needs for years to come.
  • The Bathroom Revolution
    The role of the bathroom is changing rapidly. The importance of the bath in our homes has grown dramatically. Spacious rooms, closeted toilets, double bowl lavatories, whirlpool tubs, and recently large walk-in showers have found their way into our homes. No longer just a functional room, the bath is becoming a retreat. How can you modernize your bath into one of these gracious rooms? Find out here.
  • Behind the Scenes — The Hidden Kitchen
    Behind the beautiful new cabinets, under the sparking countertops, beneath the gleaming tile floor are the invisible bones and sinew that make the kitchen work - electricity, venting, heating and plumbing. Find out all that's needed behind the scenes.
  • Cabinet Basics
    There's oak, maple, hickory, ash, cherry. Faced and unfaced. Framed and frameless. Custom, semi-custom and manufactured. MDF, Melamine, Thermofoil, even steel. So many choices. How do you pick the cabinets that are just right for you? Click here to find out.
  • Creating More Bathroom Space
    Our fondness of open spaces within the home doesn't end at the bathroom door. Unfortunately the acreage needed to create that spacious feeling just is not available in many older bathrooms. Often the key to updating a bath is creating more space — or at least the illusion of more space. This article examines where additional space can be found both outside and inside your existing bathroom.
  • Designing Efficient and Effective Kitchen Lighting
    The kitchen uses a lot of energy for lighting. While remodeling your kitchen, you have the perfect opportunity to create a highly efficient lighting system.
  • Finding Some More Kitchen Space
    Learn where to get more space, or at least the feeling of more space for your new kitchen.
  • Flooring Options for Kitchens and Baths
    Wood, stone, vinyl, ceramic tile, laminated flooring. What are the pros and cons of each? Learn the fundamentals of kitchen flooring.
  • How to Measure Your Kitchen
    All the steps required to measure a kitchen explained and illustrated. Learn to measure like a pro.
  • Mise en Place: What We Can Learn from Commercial Kitchens
    Organized to prepare a large variety of appetizing meals at a moment's notice, we can learn a lot about kitchen efficiency from studying commercial kitchens.
  • New and Traditional Countertop Choices
    Is solid surfacing, laminate, stone or tile your best choice of counter top? Or maybe something more exotic. Take a look at the incredible selection of modern counter top materials.
  • Off the Wall Kitchens: Living Without Wall Cabinets
    Wall cabinets are unquestionably useful storage, but with drawbacks. A major disadvantage is that wall cabinets make a kitchen seem smaller by closing in the space at eye level — which is where we subconsciously judge how large the space around us is - and limit the number and size of windows in the kitchen. Can your new kitchen do away with wall cabinets? Probably. Find out how.
  • The Rules of Bathroom Design
    The Kitchen and Bath Association has published guidelines for designing a safe and functional bathroom. Created and maintained by a panel of expert designers, these recommendations should be closely followed in any kitchen plan.
  • The Rules of Kitchen Design
    In 1944 the University of Illinois conducted a study of kitchen design and developed fundamental design principals that are still very much in use today. Here are the rules for designing great kitchens.
  • Selecting Bath Fixtures
    The choices of bathroom fixtures are a little overwhelming. Tubs, showers, sinks, faucets and toilets come in so many shapes, sizes, colors and with such a great variety of features that choosing the right fixtures can be a challenge. Here are some guidelines and suggestions.
  • Sources of Supply: Faucets
    Thinking about buying a faucet? Before your do, see our list of major faucet manufacturers with ratings and guidelines on what to look for and how to select a good, lifetime faucet.
Castle cabinet, Castle cabinets, Charles Eastlake, clawfoot bath, clawfoot bathtub, clawfoot tub, cost of Victorian bathroom remodel, cost of Victorian kitchen remodel, Eastlake, Eastlake architecture, Eastlake decor, Eastlake designs, Eastlake exterior, Eastlake exteriors, Eastlake furnishings, Eastlake furniture, Eastlake furniture, Eastlake home, Eastlake home design, Eastlake homes, Eastlake house, Eastlake house design, Eastlake house plans, Eastlake houses, Eastlake interior, Eastlake interiors, Eastlake kitchen, Eastlake kitchens, Eastlake lighting, Eastlake movement, Eastlake stick, Eastlake stick architecture, Eastlake stick decor, Eastlake stick designs, Eastlake stick exterior, Eastlake stick exteriors, Eastlake stick furnishings, Eastlake stick furniture, Eastlake stick furniture, Eastlake stick home, Eastlake stick home design, Eastlake stick homes, Eastlake stick house, Eastlake stick house design, Eastlake stick house plans, Eastlake stick houses, Eastlake stick interior, Eastlake stick interiors, Eastlake stick kitchen, Eastlake stick style, Eastlake stick style architecture, Eastlake stick style furnishings, Eastlake stick style furniture, Eastlake stick style home, Eastlake stick style homes, Eastlake stick style house, Eastlake stick style house plans, Eastlake stick style houses, Eastlake stick style interior, Eastlake stick style interiors, Eastlake stick Victorian bath, Eastlake stick Victorian bathroom, Eastlake stick Victorian bathrooms, Eastlake stick Victorian baths, Eastlake style, Eastlake style architecture, Eastlake style bath, Eastlake style bathroom, Eastlake style bathrooms, Eastlake style baths, Eastlake style furnishings, Eastlake style furniture, Eastlake style home, Eastlake style homes, Eastlake style house, Eastlake style house plans, Eastlake style houses, Eastlake style interior, Eastlake style interiors, folk Victorian, folk Victorian architecture, folk Victorian decor, folk Victorian designs, folk Victorian furnishings, folk Victorian furniture, folk Victorian furniture, folk Victorian home, folk Victorian home design, folk Victorian homes, folk Victorian house, folk Victorian house design, folk Victorian house plans, folk Victorian houses, folk Victorian interior, folk Victorian interiors, folk Victorian kitchen, folk Victorian kitchens, folk Victorian lighting, folk Victorian movement, folk Victorian queen Anne, folk Victorian queen Anne architecture, folk Victorian queen Anne decor, folk Victorian queen Anne exterior, folk Victorian queen Anne exteriors, folk Victorian queen Anne houses, folk Victorian queen Anne interior, folk Victorian queen Anne interiors, folk Victorian queen Annes, folk Victorian style, folk Victorian style architecture, folk Victorian style bath, folk Victorian style bathroom, folk Victorian style bathrooms, folk Victorian style baths, folk Victorian style furnishings, folk Victorian style furniture, folk Victorian style home, folk Victorian style homes, folk Victorian style house, folk Victorian style house plans, folk Victorian style houses, folk Victorian style interior, folk Victorian style interiors, gothic revival, gothic revival architecture, gothic revival decor, gothic revival designs, gothic revival furnishings, gothic revival furniture, gothic revival furniture, gothic revival home, gothic revival home design, gothic revival homes, gothic revival house, gothic revival house design, gothic revival house plans, gothic revival houses, gothic revival interior, gothic revival interiors, gothic revival kitchen, gothic revival kitchens, gothic revival lighting, gothic revival movement, gothic revival queen Anne, gothic revival queen Anne architecture, gothic revival queen Anne decor, gothic revival queen Anne exterior, gothic revival queen Anne exteriors, gothic revival queen Anne houses, gothic revival queen Anne interior, gothic revival queen Anne interiors, gothic revival queen Annes, gothic revival style, gothic revival style architecture, gothic revival style bath, gothic revival style bathroom, gothic revival style bathrooms, gothic revival style baths, gothic revival style furnishings, gothic revival style furniture, gothic revival style home, gothic revival style homes, gothic revival style house, gothic revival style house plans, gothic revival style houses, gothic revival style interior, gothic revival style interiors, home improvement, home remodel, home remodeling, home remodeling Victorian bathroom, home remodeling Victorian kitchen, hoosier cabinet, hoosier cabinets, house additions, house floor plans, house renovation, house renovations, house restoration, houses Eastlake, houses Eastlake stick, houses gothic revival, houses Italianate, houses queen Anne, staminate, staminate architecture, staminate decor, staminate designs, staminate exterior, staminate exteriors, staminate furnishings, staminate furniture, staminate furniture, staminate home, staminate home design, staminate homes, staminate house, staminate house design, staminate house plans, staminate houses, staminate interior, staminate interiors, staminate kitchen, staminate kitchens, staminate lighting, staminate movement, staminate style, staminate style architecture, staminate style bath, staminate style bathroom, staminate style bathrooms, staminate style baths, staminate style furnishings, staminate style furniture, staminate style home, staminate style homes, staminate style house, staminate style house plans, staminate style houses, staminate style interior, staminate style interiors, J. McGuinn, J. S. McGuinn , kitchen design, kitchen designer, kitchen designs, kitchen remodel cost, kitchen remodel costs, kitchen remodel design, kitchen remodel ideas, kitchen remodeling, kitchen remodeling contractor, kitchen remodeling contractors, kitchen remodeling cost, kitchen remodeling design, kitchen remodeling designs, kitchen remodeling idea, kitchen remodeling ideas, kitchen remodeling services, kitchen remodel pictures, kitchen remodel plan, kitchen remodels, kitchen renovation, lincoln NB, lincoln ne, lincoln Neb, lincoln Nebraska, McDougall cabinet, McDougall cabinets, NB lincoln, NB Omaha, Neb lincoln, Neb Omaha, Nebraska lincoln, Nebraska Omaha, Nebraska Omaha Nebraska, ne lincoln, ne Omaha, Nepanee cabinet, Nepanee cabinets, Omaha NB, Omaha ne, Omaha Neb, queen Anne architecture, queen Anne decor, queen Anne designs, queen Anne exterior, queen Anne exteriors, queen Anne furniture, queen Anne home, queen Anne home design, queen Anne homes, queen Anne house, queen Anne house design, queen Anne house plans, queen Anne houses, queen Anne interior, queen Anne interiors, queen Anne kitchen, queen Anne kitchens, queen Anne lighting, queen Anne movement, queen Anne oak, queen Anne oak furnishings, queen Anne oak furniture, queen Anne queen Anne, queen Anne queen Anne architecture, queen Anne queen Anne decor, queen Anne queen Anne house, queen Anne queen Anne houses, queen Anne queen Anne interior, queen Anne queen Anne interiors, queen Anne queen Annes, queen Anne style, queen Anne style architecture, queen Anne style furnishings, queen Anne style furniture, queen Anne style home, queen Anne style homes, queen Anne style house, queen Anne style house plans, queen Anne style houses, queen Anne style interior, queen Anne style interiors, queen Anne Victorian bath, queen Anne Victorian bathroom, queen Anne Victorian bathrooms, queen Anne Victorian baths, remodel, remodeling, remodeling bedroom, remodeling construction, remodeling contractor, remodeling contractors, remodeling cost, remodeling costs, remodeling homes, remodeling house, remodeling houses, remodeling ideas, remodeling the Victorian bathroom, remodeling Victorian bathrooms, remodel kitchen, remodel Victorian bathrooms, room remodeling, Seller cabinet, Seller cabinets, shingle architecture, shingle decor, shingle designs, shingle exterior, shingle exteriors, shingle furniture, shingle home, shingle home design, shingle homes, shingle house, shingle house design, shingle house plans, shingle houses, shingle interior, shingle interiors, shingle kitchen, shingle kitchens, shingle lighting, shingle movement, shingle oak, shingle oak furnishings, shingle oak furniture, shingle style, shingle style architecture, shingle style furnishings, shingle style furniture, shingle style home, shingle style homes, shingle style house, shingle style house plans, shingle style houses, shingle style interior, shingle style interiors, shingle Victorian bath, shingle Victorian bathroom, shingle Victorian bathrooms, shingle Victorian baths, shower remodel, shower remodeling, small kitchen remodel, small Victorian bath remodel, small Victorian bathroom remodel, small Victorian kitchen remodel,Victorian, Victorian architecture, Victorian bath remodel, Victorian bath remodeling, Victorian bathroom design, Victorian bathroom designs, Victorian bathroom flooring, Victorian bathroom makeover, Victorian bathroom remodel, Victorian bathroom remodel cost, Victorian bathroom remodel design, Victorian bathroom remodel ideas, Victorian bathroom remodeling, Victorian bathroom remodeling contractor, Victorian bathroom remodeling contractors, Victorian bathroom remodeling cost, Victorian bathroom remodeling costs, Victorian bathroom remodeling design, Victorian bathroom remodeling designs, Victorian bathroom remodeling ideas, Victorian bathroom remodeling photos, Victorian bathroom remodeling pictures, Victorian bathroom remodeling plans, Victorian bathroom remodel photos, Victorian bathroom remodel pictures, Victorian bathroom remodels, Victorian bathroom renovation, Victorian bathroom renovations, Victorian decor, Victorian designs, Victorian exterior, Victorian exteriors, Victorian faucet, Victorian faucets, Victorian furnishings, Victorian furniture, Victorian furniture, Victorian home, Victorian home design, Victorian homes, Victorian house, Victorian house design, Victorian house plans, Victorian houses, Victorian interior, Victorian interiors, Victorian kitchen, Victorian kitchen & bath remodeling, Victorian kitchen and bath remodeling, Victorian kitchen bath remodeling, Victorian kitchens, Victorian lighting, Victorian parlor, Victorian parlor furniture, Victorian parlor furnishings, Victorian parlors, Victorian shower, Victorian showers, Victorian style, Victorian style architecture, Victorian style bath, Victorian style bathroom, Victorian style bathrooms, Victorian style baths, Victorian style furnishings, Victorian style furniture, Victorian style home, Victorian style homes, Victorian style house, Victorian style house plans, Victorian style houses, Victorian style interior, Victorian style interiors, Victorian style kitchen, Victorian style kitchen & bath remodeling, Victorian style kitchen and bath remodeling, Victorian style kitchen bath remodeling, Victorian style kitchens, Victorian style kitchens, Victorian style lighting