Victorian cabinets usually reflect the architectural design of the home or the furniture inside it — most Victorian kitchens used furniture and freestanding cabinets inside the kitchen instead of built-in cabinets. When cabinets were wall-mounted, they would fit the furniture-like worktables located at the middle of the room. Butler pantries, small rooms offset in the kitchen, often provided extra built-in food storage.
Kitchen and Pantry Cabinets
Cabinets at the Victorian era were often freestanding, with ball and claw feet on worktables and also the kitchen island at the middle of the chamber. You may even find feet on the lower cabinetry set from the wall. Decorative corbels often supported wall-mounted cabinetry when it had been used, as from the butler’s pantry or above the wet sink. Many cabinets comprised inlay moldings, rosettes and leaves, scrolls or flower carvings. Look inside drawers for dovetailed joints and glass, brass or nickel hardware and knobs.
Cabinet Wood Used
Victorian kitchens utilized painted cabinetry with flat or raised panel doors or panels which have a board-and-batten appearance. Kitchen cabinets were often painted using a creamy-colored paint to easily identify areas needing cleaning, or finished with dark oil finishes to bring out the qualities from the timber. Frequent forests used comprised oak, pine, fir and cherry wood.
Glass Doors and Open Shelving
Instead of solid wood doors, many doors in Victorian cabinetry tended to include leaded glass to show what was inside. This wasn’t so much a design component as a functional one, comprised so that you could easily find what was required. Beside glass doors, Victorian cabinetry often featured open shelving for quick access.
Victorian Furniture Styles
Meant primarily as a usable space — not for fun — the kitchen and cabinets typically matched the furniture elsewhere in the home. The Queen Anne style was a favorite in the Victorian Age, and translated well to the kitchen. Search for delicate S-curving cabriole legs on worktables, and mount or bun feet for cabinetry set from the wall.
Baker’s and Hoosier Cabinets
Freestanding bakers and Hoosier cabinets consisted of two and occasionally three parts. The base section might include bins for flour and sugar, as well as drawers and cabinets. Its countertop was wide enough to use as a worktable for rolling out pie crusts or kneading bread dough, and has been covered with wood, soapstone, slate or zinc. The top half of the cabinet was half the width of the base and had open shelving and cupboards for storage, or even included small drawers for keeping dried goods or spices.