Kitchen Remodeling in Northville, MI

Mill Race-era houses and the historic district’s kitchens

Older Northville houses were built when the kitchen was a work room at the back. Today that shows up as a narrow room behind the dining room, a butler’s pantry or back stair taking up space, tall ceilings, and window placement that ignores where counters would go. Many were later fitted with 1970s or 1980s cabinets that suit neither the house nor modern cooking.

The design question is how far to open things. Removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room solves the light problem but changes the character of a period house. Often the answer is a wider cased opening, a reclaimed pantry for storage and furniture-style cabinetry that reads as part of the house.

The core of the old town has been on the National Register since 1972 as the Northville Historic District, roughly bounded by Cady, Rogers and Randolph streets, and much of it is Gothic Revival housing from the 1860s and 1870s. Houses that age were plumbed and wired long after they were built, so expect to find several generations of both behind a kitchen wall.

Kitchen remodeling in Northville, service by service

Kitchen RemodelingNorthville’s period houses usually need the full remodel route, since a 1970s cabinet update left the layout, the wiring and the plumbing all needing attention at the same time.Kitchen DesignRenderings help decide how much to open a Victorian kitchen before a wall is touched, comparing a full opening, a wide cased opening and a closed plan side by side.Custom Kitchen CabinetsFurniture-grade custom cabinetry fits the tall ceilings, deep original trim and out-of-square rooms common in the blocks around Main Street, where stock boxes leave awkward gaps.Kitchen Material & Finish SelectionChoosing finishes that suit an 1870s Gothic Revival or a 1920s house is a design task in its own right, from door profile and hardware to how the floor meets old thresholds.Quartzite & Marble CountertopsHoned marble and quartzite suit Northville’s older houses visually, and we walk through how each stone etches or wears so the choice fits how hard the kitchen actually works.Aging-in-Place RemodelingOwners planning to stay in a walkable downtown home often want a kitchen and bath that will still work later in life, with reachable storage and fewer level changes.Bathroom RemodelingSmall original baths in these houses are often redone in the same project, which shares one round of plaster repair, one plumbing rough-in and one inspection schedule.

Planning a Northville kitchen from our Pinckney studio

A phone call books the first meeting, held at the house and run like an interview: Nick asks how you cook and entertain, then measures with care, because in an older house the drawings depend on exact ceiling heights, casings and floor levels.

Under a design retainer you get layout options, floor plans, elevations, 3D renderings and technical drawings, then pricing. Selection help comes either by the hour or as one package, and Nick carries the samples to you. When the purchase agreement is signed, we order the cabinetry, and partner contractors handle construction while Nick returns for planned milestones through installation.