11 Retro Kitchens We Love From AD PRO Directory Designers

Annie Schlechter

Our apologies to the all-white kitchen, but soulful, retro kitchens are making a serious comeback. Straddling kitsch and comfort, the throwback-inspired styles explode with vivid color and transporting components. These 11 renditions of retro kitchens—some subtle, others dauntless—from AD PRO Directory interior designers celebrate the enduring past without compromising modern functionality.

Prospect Refuge Studio

Gucci’s spring-summer 2020 runway show sparked Prospect Refuge Studio’s remodel of a Minneapolis kitchen. “We loved the almost medical green paired with red. That seemed to work so well set against the ’60s browns and woods of the existing architecture,” says Victoria Sass, owner and design director of the local practice. Sass and her team selected deep red Flower Pot from Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore’s vibrant Dunmoore Green for the cabinets—sleek, glossy complements to the glass backsplash painted in Benjamin Moore’s Cucumber Salad. The kitchen island, situated underneath RBW pendants, is crowned in a red laminate material that Sass says was “inspired by the Alvar Aalto bentwood Artek tables that featured brightly colored linoleum tops and wood edge banding.”

Another Human

Throughout LA designer Leah Ring’s gut renovation of a Pasadena kitchen, she wanted to honor Buff, Straub & Hensman, the renowned architects who brought the midcentury residence to life. “While we changed the layout to open up the space and accommodate modern appliances, the materials were selected to pay homage to the original design,” she says. “The new cabinets were stained to match the color of the originals, and the square backsplash tile, dark stone countertops, and checkerboard floor tile are all materials that conceivably could have been used in the era that the house was built.” She outfitted the banquette with Knoll fabric and vinyl for ease of cleaning and incorporated pendants from Ravenhill Studio and Servomuto to heighten the backsplash that “brings so much life into the space,” muses Ring. “It was inspired by Alvar Aalto's kitchen, and I just adore the royal blue color and beautiful variation in the glaze of Heath tiles.”

Ayromloo Design

In Mexico City’s Centro Histórico, LA designer Jessica Ayromloo refurbished a pied-à-terre with a memorable kitchen that evokes ’60s mod. “The client did not want a large kitchen and did not plan to use it for cooking, so we only needed small and essential appliances. Even though it would be petite, I wanted it to have a significant visual impact,” says Ayromloo. This translated to practical and durable materials like stainless steel, cork, and an array of Un Rayito de Sol concrete tiles used elsewhere in the retreat. Along with vintage pieces from 20th-century design destination downtown, furnishings were found locally at the La Lagunilla flea market, Trouvé, and antique stores in Puebla. Ayromloo’s favorite intervention? “The shelf we customized using antique dragon sconces for the brackets. It's unexpected and original.”

Zoe Feldman Design

Her clients’ love for 1990s and 2000s pop culture led Zoe Feldman to revamp a Washington, DC, row house with a profusion of color and pattern throughout. In the kitchen, the local designer reinforced that playful aesthetic with a bright neon yellow Ilve range and hood, “a lively accent that sets the tone for the whole space,” she says. It’s backdropped by black and white tiles from Clé that nod to the skateboarder-beloved Vans brand and joined by Fajen & Brown shelving, soft peach-hued cabinetry, In Common With pendants, and a gleaming Waterworks faucet for what Feldman describes as a “bold, arty, retro feel.”

Digs Design Company

Opening onto the living and dining rooms, Jocelyn Chiappone’s airy kitchen in a Shingle-style Cape Cod new-build mixes quartz countertops and the Urban Electric Company pendants. Chiappone, principal of Newport, Rhode Island–based Digs Design Company, “showcased colorful patterns and textures to create a Palm Beach meets Cape Cod aesthetic. The client wanted the kitchen to feel happy and bring a sense of joy to their vacation home,” she says. That directive prompted Chiappone to spring for cheerful Grow House Grow cement tiles that “add an energy to the space and give it a relaxed summer sensibility.” Anchoring the island, done up in Benjamin Moore’s pearly gray Athabasca, are the Jenny Lind–turned legs Chiappone designed as an ode “to old Cape Cod.”

Ken Fulk Inc.

Big family breakfasts and evening celebrations alike unfold in the kitchen of a coastal New England summer cottage upgraded by San Francisco-based Ken Fulk. “We wanted this kitchen to feel timeworn and unpretentious—no shiny new appliances, but obviously it needed to function at the highest level,” says Fulk. The team accomplished this by cladding the entire space in custom casework with inset beadboard paneling washed in Farrow & Ball’s minty Arsenic and bolstered by splashes of historical, geometric-print Adelphi wallpaper. They weaved in industrial pendants sourced at the Brimfield Flea Market, Serena & Lily bar stools, and “for the floors, we created a hand-painted checkerboard ‘rug’ that instantly reads as a throwback,” adds Fulk. “Retrofitting vintage elements is a fun and smart way to reuse salvaged items, but don’t underestimate the longevity you’ll get from a custom piece, like the central island.”

SCW Interiors

To conjure a grounded, old-world air in the kitchen of a Spanish Colonial in Austin, local studio SCW Interiors melded custom Tabarka Studio tiles flaunting rubbed clay edges, leathered granite Ubatuba countertops, brass-hammered CopperSmith sinks, and cozy vintage rugs that lend it the feel of a moody study. SCW’s private-label ash cabinets, made in Pennsylvania, are standouts, elevated with Modern Matter hardware. “It was important to use a stained wood versus black paint to lean into the organic nature of the other materials,” says lead designer Shazalynn Cavin Winfrey. But it’s the glass-door True Residential refrigerator, painted a brazen grassy green, that provides the most memorable of glamorous touches. “It was an expensive gamble and commitment,” adds Cavin Winfrey, “but one that sets this kitchen apart.”

Sagrada Studio

Previously, the kitchen in a two-story Culver City abode was tiny and closed off, so when renovating the first floor Hema Persad, principal and CEO of Burbank-based Sagrada Studio, opened it to both the dining room and courtyard. “I wanted to create nostalgia for them by using their original dining table and light fixtures they had brought from India and hung on to for years,” says Persad. Durable quartz countertops mingle with a cement apron-front sink from Native Trails and a butcher-block island, but it’s the sage cabinets juxtaposed with the emerald Zia Tile zellige backsplash that Persad finds most alluring. “Most people will do neutral cabinets with green tile or vice versa,” she observes, “so it was exciting to go all in with the green tones. It's not something you see often these days.”

Deana Lenz Interiors

Emerald green tiles emblazoned with voluptuous clover-shaped motifs grace the kitchen of an apartment on New York’s Upper East Side, the perfect accompaniment to the client’s original green American Range stove. “The custom hood with brass tacks fits well in the space,” says local designer Deana Lenz, and although it speaks to the domicile’s prewar architecture, “it is nice to mix and match some different eras like we did by injecting a modern table and clean-lined cabinetry.” The fittings embellishing those oak cupboards are in dialogue with the black and brass Brizo faucet, Maya Romanoff wallpaper, and Zak+ Fox textiles. Making room for a coffee bar in the breakfast nook area also “allowed us to add glass and black wrought-iron cabinetry,” says Lenz, “and my client was thrilled because they got to hang their antique coffee grinder.”

Annie Downing Interiors

For a new-build in Austin’s Allandale neighborhood, local designer Annie Downing was eager to “create a refined, sophisticated yet playful and youthful home,” as she puts it. Central to this vision is the kitchen, starring a lilac-tinted banquette that recalls convivial roadside diners. Fusing Moore & Giles leather and graphic Ottoline fabric that reinterprets classic plaid—and is replicated in the window treatment above—the cozy seating vignette is buoyed by a metal-capped Allied Maker pendant and Natural Curiosities artwork. “The curved back and edges and the details of this custom-designed piece are not only a practical solution for a corner,” says Downing, “but also so pretty.”

Lisa & Leroy

Washington, DC, row homes are notoriously short on natural light, so to enliven the kitchen she was overhauling inside one of these edifices, Lisa Shaffer, CEO and creative director of local studio Lisa & Leroy, embraced “a custom mint green color for the cabinetry and paired it with warm brass and bold wallpaper to add a fresh, bright perspective.” The wall covering, a large-scale botanical print grounded by white, is combined with a swath of cool tiles and homey touches like a rug and artwork. To maximize the small footprint and introduce modern-day conveniences without sacrificing the kitchen’s retro vibe, Shaffer concealed a workstation and countertop microwave behind cabinets “to stay true to the style.”

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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