Do you ever find yourself wishing that someone would just tell you the right choice for every finish in your remodel? Between the tile, the fixtures, and the endless cabinet options, the sheer volume of decisions is EXHAUSTING.
Now you probably know me as the person who ALWAYS has options for you to consider. I like to offer alternatives, pros and cons, and let people tell ME what possibilites are landing best for them.
Options for the optimal layout. Options for tile color. Options for replacing or keeping your original windows. There’s a silver lining for every cloud and an advantage for every starting situation as I approach a remodel.
I tell my clients and students that there isn’t one “right” answer all.the.time.
Straight talk, tho?
I do have opinions. Lots of them.
My friends and family know me as someone who will judge a poorly designed building harshly AND at length.
Let’s focus on the positive here, though.
Just for today, I’m putting aside the “it depends” caveats and giving you my unvarnished hot takes on THE CORRECT choices for a mid-century kitchen update.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Cabinets
If you want to get the mid-century look right, your cabinets must have slab doors. No questions asked.
To truly nail the aesthetic, look for a rotary grain match, where the grain pattern runs continuously across drawers and doors in a single vertical line. Walnut is the “update” favorite, but a warm stain on maple is what really makes my heart sing. Avoid rift-sawn or quarter-sawn wood—they read as contemporary, not mid-century.
Metal
For mid-century kitchen hardware and other metal, stainless steel is the answer. It’s the “little black dress” of hardware—timeless, classic, and every faucet, hinge, and light fixture you’ll ever buy will match. There is always some danger in choosing trendy matte black or brushed gold.
If you want to have fun, do it with the shape, not the finish. My favorite? The boomerang pull.
Counters
Go for formica counters. For the best results, find a fabricator who can do a built-in backsplash that curves up the wall and a raised “no-drip” front edge. If you’re feeling brave, choose Sparkle Lam. It hides crumbs beautifully and adds that essential mid-century glitter.
Sink
For the sink, I’m partial to a white enameled cast iron drop-in with a traditional metal ring. If you want a pop of color, check out Kohler’s heritage colors like Peachblow or Spring Green.
Backsplash (if necessary)
Modern drywall needs a backsplash, and you have three “correct” options:
- Vintage: 4×4 square tile in a classic color with white grout.
- Modern: Subway-shaped tile installed in a horizontal stack bond (a grid).
- Very Modern: A vertical stack bond with a bold color.
Whatever you do, skip the metal Schluter edge and find a tile with a proper bullnose.
Flooring
For the floor, forget tile—it’s too hard and cold. The correct choice is Marmoleum. I love a warm light neutral interspersed with random one-foot accent squares.
Lighting
Stick to globe pendants, bow tie sconces, or cones. Use stainless finishes and milk glass for that soft, translucent glow.
Appliances
Don’t overthink it. White ENERGY STAR appliances are classic, affordable, and won’t fight with your beautiful wood cabinets. You could also splurge on a white retro style or a reconditioned vintage units.
So there you have it—my hot takes!
(Ahem..I do still believe that the best way for you to choose finishes for your house is to create a Style Guide.)
Resources
- If you missed it, the replay of my recent Mid-Century Kitchen Clinic is available.
- My birthday is June 8, and every year I offer my age as a percentage discount on my learning programs. The sale runs from June 6th through the 8th, so keep your eyes peeled for the biggest discount of the year! Get Ready to Remodel, my course that teaches you to DIY a great plan for your mid mod remodel at the deepest discount I offer.
- Want us to create your mid-century master plan? Apply here to get on my calendar for a Discovery Call!
- Need some targeted home advice? Schedule a 30-minute Zoom consult with me. We’ll dig into an issue or do a comprehensive mid century house audit.
And you can always…
- Join us in the Facebook Community for Mid Mod Remodel
- Find me on Instagram:@midmodmidwest
- Find the podcast on Instagram: @midmodremodelpodcast
Read the Full Episode Transcript
00:00
Do you ever find yourself wishing that someone would just tell you the right choice for every finish in your remodel? There are so many questions to answer and choosing tile and fixture and finishes can feel exhausting. The right choices for you, of course, for your mid-century update are going to depend on your taste, your house, your budget, existing conditions you’re working with.
00:20
I often say I don’t think there is a right answer, but that’s not really true. I do think there are right answers, and so today I’m going to share them. I’m going to tell you the correct choice for updated kitchen cabinets, for mid-century hardware, for countertops, for sinks, for tile, for floors. I’m giving you the answers today and today only.
00:41
Hey there. Welcome back to mid mod remodel. This is the show about updating MCM homes, helping you match a mid-century home to your modern life. I’m your host. Della Hansmann, architect and mid-century ranch enthusiast. You’re listening to Episode 2406.
00:54
Before we dive in. Just a little heads up if you’re looking for more advice about making every detailed choice in your mid-century kitchen or whole house update, especially as it relates to more than the surfaces, to solving layout challenges, then what you really might want to check out is the live mid-century kitchen clinic that I delivered just a couple of weeks ago. The recording for that is available, and you can watch it at your own convenience and go through a mini Master Plan process for your own home, you’ll find that by going to the website midmod-midwest.com and clicking on the learn with us tab.
01:31
That’ll give you access to both all of my prerecorded design clinics, but also my homeowner DIY Support Program ready to remodel. Just a little heads up about that there will be a discount coming on that I do every year for my birthday, a sale. This is the biggest annual discount that I offer on all of our learning programs, not our services. I can’t discount the cost of design time, but all of our recorded workshop content and the ready to remodel program itself, all will be going on a sale around the weekend of June 6 through eighth. So keep your eye on that.
02:13
If you are not already getting the emails that I send out for the podcast and for the YouTube videos and things like that. If you’ve downloaded any one of my free resources over the years, you should be signed up for that email list. You’ll get an early heads up about that discount. So you might, in the meantime, want to do a little thinking, a little planning, see if those mini courses, the workshops or the entire ready to remodel program feel like they might be useful to you.
02:39
If you could use a little dose of options with opinions to shepherd you through the process from the mid mod Midwest cinematic universe, now is the time to do your research so you’re ready to jump on that sale when it’s announced. Okay, I spend so much of my time as a designer giving options, talking people through a pro con list, supporting why you might want to go one way or another, giving answers and then qualifying them or modifying them with multiple changes.
03:10
I don’t ever want to make someone feel that my choices are right for them, that my profession as an architect, or my experience in mid-century, makes my taste more valid than theirs than yours, but I do have opinions. So with the caveat today that the possibilities are many, that your perfect mid-century update answers will depend on what’s going on in your house, on your taste, your mid-century moment, the compromises you might make with your partner, the best way to figure out the right choices for you and your house is to set up a style guide.
03:42
And I have talked about this extensively, so I will pull a list of past podcast episodes where I’ve gone deep into how to make a style guide for yourself and put them in the show notes. I’ve given a two hour workshop specifically on the topic of style guides, taking you from disorganized Pinterest board to specific product selections. I’ll put a link to that in the show notes. I talked at length about this at the kitchen clinic that I gave just a couple of weeks ago. And if you want to see the recording of that, it will be in the show notes.
04:13
I teach this extensively inside of ready to remodel. And when I’m working with my clients, I also give them options based on the style guide system. But if you want my opinion, if you want to know what I think, today I’m in the mood to give some hot takes. Let’s start with a big one cabinet services. If you’re going update, you want walnut, if you’re going vintage, leaning maple, probably these days, originally, your cabinets in a mid-century kitchen would have been maple or even pine.
04:36
Yes, pine veneer was a completely different creature in the old growth era. It was beautiful. It was lovely. It was much more durable. I don’t recommend pine today. But much more important than what it is made of is how it’s made. So you’re shocked. I’m going to tell you they should be slab doors. They should be slab doors, full stop. No questions asked, no alternatives.
04:58
Veneer is okay. Most mid-century, original cabinets were plywood, and no less attractive or sturdy or durable for that. What’s the far most important element of getting your cabinet surfaces right, in my opinion, is that you have a grain match, which means that the drawers and doors in a single vertical line are cut from a single, larger piece of ply, so that you can see the grain pattern running through them. And also, it’s got to be rotary sawn, maybe flat sawn, but rift sawn, quarter sawn, for me, doesn’t read mid-century. Reads contemporary. I don’t like it. So there it is.
05:38
You’ve got to have a rotary grain matched slab front door, walnut is fine. Honestly, a warm stain on Maple is what makes my heart sing. That’s your answer. Okay, so now you’ve got cabinets and drawers you want to open them. What should your hardware be?
05:55
Your hardware in a mid-century kitchen update should be stainless. Basically, everything else on offer is a current trend. Yes, I know, and I think it’s cool that Restoration Hardware, no rejuvenation, rather recently started offering some of their handles and pulls in unlacquered bronze that will pick up a patina with age. It is cool, but good luck matching that to your other fixtures, to the hinges, to the latch plates on your doors.
06:23
Stainless will always match. This will save you so many headaches and free up so much more ability to source within your budget and to work with local suppliers and just to find what you’re looking for across every opportunity for metal to come up in your house, stainless is the answer. Chrome visually, the same thing, but stainless steel is also going to be a really strong choice because it will last better. It’s easier to clean. It’s more durable than a lot of the other applied finishes.
06:56
You don’t want to pay a premium for matte black or brushed gold and then have it literally wear away under your fingers, in the parts that you touch most often and therefore will look at more often. I know it can feel a little passe, a little everywhere, a little everyman, but stainless steel is the original classy future, forward mid-century material. It felt so atomic age to our grandparents’ generation, and since then, it has become the builder grade default.
07:22
So you know what else is a default? The little black dress. It’s timeless. It’s classic, and like I say, every single product, every faucet, every handle, every switch plate, every light fixture, it all comes in stainless, and it all matches. So make your life easier and get all your hardware in stainless. If you want to make sure it feels fun, choose fun shapes.
07:43
In fact, because stainless is so universal, you could actually even source vintage hardware cabinet door pulls and then match them to modern stainless hinges and other hardware around the kitchen. My favorite shape for a kitchen cabinet, oh, it’s got to be the boomerang. It’s got to be the boomerang.
08:02
But there’s a bunch of other nice things. But yeah, this is me hot taking I’m reminding myself to be limited in my options. The proper drawer pull in a mid-century kitchen is a boomerang in stainless steel. Moving on, how about the countertops? If you’re feeling brave and classy, commit to the bit and set yourself up with a good old fashioned built in backsplash, Formica countertop in sparkle lam. Let it glitter.
08:29
What’s more, having a random, scattered pattern of little gold flakes in your counter is not just fun, but it actually hides a little bit of mess. If there’s a crumb or two on the counter. Yes, you’ll need to get to them eventually, but they won’t stand out like the sore thumb, like they will on a white surface. My 1952 Formica kitchen counter is still going strong, and not only does it have a beautiful, durable surface, but it was crafted with a shape with a counter profile that I highly recommend and endorse.
09:00
This takes a little bit more craft, but it curves right up the back so there’s no join at the back corner for things to leak through or for failures to happen, and it actually wraps the front curve of the edge with a slightly raised lip, so that if you were to splash a liquid on the counter, it does not immediately spill onto the floor. This is what I would do again if I was starting from scratch. And this is the counter that in my kitchen. I will not change the counter layout of my mid-century. Kitchen is locked because I think I’d rather die than change it out, I want I want to go first me, or that counter. I want it to outlast me.
09:40
It’s beautiful, and I certainly will not be responsible for throwing in the trash for no reason. But if I was starting over from scratch, I would replicate it. I would find someone who was capable of helping me install it properly, and I would install sparkle lamb for Micah again, if you want to play it safe. White solid surface is the simplest. It’s clean, it’s classy, it’s unobjectionable. It will go with everything. And you want to choose the one with a slightly rounded, most simple corner profile on offer. That’s okay. It’s not a crime. You can do that.
10:14
Okay, so you’ve got two options for that, going directly from countertops to sinks. If you are going solid surface playing it safe, you can do an under mount sink in the same solid surface material and have it sealed such that there is essentially no gap. I’m such a big fan of simple finishes in wet areas in kitchens and bathrooms that have a minimum of grime potential, that’s a great way to do it.
10:36
But for myself, I’m actually really partial to the vintage way of installing a sink, even in modern times, a drop in, a drop in with a metal ring around it. In the 1950s way, super charming, pretty easy to clean. Looks great. And there is, for me, no substitute for a white Enameled Cast Iron sink, unless maybe it’s the colored enamel cast iron sink. Check out the Kohler lines for some fun in peach blow and Spring Green.
11:05
They reintroduced those from the 50s a couple years ago. They’re both cute as buttons, but cast iron will not ding, will not dent, will not deform. It’s so cleanable. A two basin sink is really nice if you want to do your dishes by hand. Ever make sure at least one of those basins is big enough to fit your biggest pot, and you can’t go wrong. So if you have chosen a four micro countertop with a wrapped back board, you don’t necessarily need a backsplash tile.
11:38
Mid-century kitchens often did not come with backsplash tiles, but modern kitchens certainly do. Among other things, mid-century, kitchen walls were plaster and much more durable and water resistant, schmutz resistant than our modern drywall walls. Which are basically a piece of paper with some paint on it so you can’t throw tomato sauce and scrub it off at that surface too many times. Hence, backsplash tile.
12:03
Okay, I said I was limiting myself to one opinion. These are my hot takes, but in my one opinion, there are three correct options for tile in a timeless mid mod update. If you lean vintage, you should choose four by four tile in a classic colorway with white grout. I don’t have any more to say about it. No actually, it’s best if you spring for a supplier that lets you finish your edges with a proper bull nose. And it’s even better if you can wrap up from any corners or around any corners with appropriate matching nosing pieces. So that might limit where you can get it from.
12:37
You can get a four by four anywhere, but if you want the bull nose edge, you’ve got to choose from a certain shortlist. If you want a more modern look in your update, you can have two things. You can have subway tile, shaped tile installed, not in a subway tile offset pattern. You can install it in a grid, either horizontally, a stack bond, where every tile is a stretcher laid on its side. All the corners line up. It’s a grid, a mid-range color and a lighter grout. Or if you want to go slightly more modern still, a vertical stack bond, a grid where every tile is a soldier standing up vertically.
13:17
Choose a bold color you love, and a grout lighter than the color, or maybe a perfect grout to tile match. One thing that makes all the difference is no shoulder tile edge, not that little metal strip you want a tidy bull nose defining the exposed edge of any tile condition. And if that’s hard to find in a tile color you love, you can just cap off the vertical edge of your tile with a small shelf or run it straight up to upper cabinets above.
13:45
Tile, in a perfect mid-century kitchen update, does not belong on the floor. For me, the correct kitchen floor in a mid-century kitchen is Marmoleum. It’s a light color, light marled texture, so it’s not quite a solid you can hide a little bit of mess again. Give you some leeway until you’ve got a sweep. I’m not a big fan of one solid color or a checkerboard grid.
14:05
What I adore is a pattern that goes across the floor mostly in a neutral a warm white color, maybe interspersed with an accent color, little squares, foot by foot, squares at semi random intervals. This is what I will do for my own kitchen floor when I get around to replacing it. It is what I talked my little sister into for her kitchen and it is cute as a button, easy to clean, comfortable underfoot, reasonably warm, unlike tile, and pretty pet nail impervious.
14:33
Plus, if you’re a cat person like my sister, is the little random color squares become cat magnets. They will go and sit on those spots just like they would if you made a box on the floor with painter’s tape. It’s adorable. Such a bonus.
14:46
What’s left to choose in a mid-century kitchen? Light fixtures. Globe lights for pendants, bow ties for sconces, or maybe cones. Those can be stainless too. They can be stainless. To let everything be stainless, let your glass be milk so it’s translucent white, not clear. And you’ve simplified your selection options from every modern supplier.
15:12
And then, of course, there’s appliances. Appliances don’t really float my boat. They’re not great. You know, in back in the day, we had some really charming colorway appliances, but unless you enjoy defrosting your own freezer, which I admire the fortitude of those who do, you’re going to be a little bit more limited in what you can do.
15:34
So my opinion, is the proper choice for appliances in your mid-century update, kitchen is white ENERGY STAR, a vintage detail, if you can swing it. But here’s the thing, appliance styles will come and go. They could be stainless, they could be dark, stainless, they could be white, they could be a color.
15:52
You know what? You’re never going to have a fight with a white appliance. It’s not the most important or interesting part of your kitchen. You can probably make more affordable choices if you choose white and at the end of the day, it’s just an appliance. Go look at the wood grain in your cabinets if you want to fall in love.
16:11
So there you have it. That is my shoot from the hip. What I would do if nobody was telling me what they wanted, what I would do for myself, what I would tell anyone who came to me with sad eyes and just complete decision, fatigue, overwhelm, didn’t know what to choose, I’d tell them to choose each and every one of those things that that contains no wrong answers.
16:34
There we go. I’m not going to qualify it. I won’t. But of course, I will caveat with you should go through the style guide process for yourself and see if you agree or disagree.
16:46
If you enjoy getting my opinionated hot takes. Well, then you’ll really like being a member of my homeowner DIY Design Support Program ready to remodel. And I’ll just drop a hint right here, that at the time of this recording, I don’t know when we’re starting it, but keep your eyes peeled, because we will be doing a birthday sale on ready to remodel soon. My birthday is June 8, and every year for the last couple of years, I’ve offered my age as a percentage discount on the ready to remodel program.
17:17
So you could pop in ask me your questions, and let’s be real, I’m not going to tell you what I think you should do. I’m going to give you options and pros and cons and what I like and why I have multiple opinions and what you might like and ask you about your taste first.
17:31
But if you’re looking for hot takes, I regularly serve them up inside our office hours in ready to remodel. And if you’re looking for thoughtful, well-reasoned opinions that you get to after going through a process, then all of the lesson content inside of ready to remodel will get you there.
17:50
You can learn all about ready to remodel in the interim by going to mid mod midwest.com/ready and you can find the show notes with links to all of my various less aggressively opinionated takes on proper mid-century materials and setting a style guide for yourself at mid mod, mid best.com/ 2406.
18:12
We’ll be wrapping up the kitchen season soon, but I think we’ve got at least one more episode coming at you. Tune in next week when I discuss the exception that proves the rule. When people think you can’t have an open plan, island based kitchen in a mid-century time capsule home, they are forgetting the key historical example of the Stahl house.
18:35
Which has a completely open plan kitchen in a modern glass box all built around a giant, gorgeous, beautiful, functional island. So I’m going to talk about that house, that kitchen, the idea of islands in vintage kitchens, and maybe islands in general. I don’t know.
18:54
We’ll see what I ramble about next week. I will catch you then mid mode, remodeler. And until then, I hope you enjoy mulling on this uncharacteristic decisiveness for me. If you want to reply back by email or on Instagram and let me know what your kitchen material hot takes are, I’d love to hear them.