Long before Instagram, I collected magazine images of English-inspired kitchens and dining room libraries.
Back then, with no internet to browse, I tore pages from magazines and stored them in a three-ring notebook.
Does anyone else remember saving tear-outs in a notebook for design inspiration?
Those magazine pages guided the design of our first English-style kitchen renovation nearly two decades ago, and they also influenced the kitchen we have now.
It’s amazing how much inspiration is available today, but sometimes having so many choices feels overwhelming. Making design decisions was challenging even then.
I wanted to share a bit about our two English-inspired kitchens and the book nooks we created—separated by decades but united by an aesthetic I love.
Several readers asked about the built-in bookcases and the banquette in our dining area, so I’ll explain how we added them and why they work so well in this space.
Did you know our current dining nook used to be the kitchen?
When we first moved in, that area looked very different.
Originally I planned only a cosmetic update, but our renovation eventually involved swapping the kitchen and dining room. That change created an opportunity to build a compact dining/library nook by fitting small built-ins on either side of the relocated windows.
To achieve this look, we ordered shelving units and the drawers that sit beneath the banquette at the same time as our kitchen cabinets. Our contractors assembled and installed them together so the pieces feel like one integrated built-in.
The goal was to maximize seating space with a bench while adding storage with drawers underneath. The flanking bookcases give us space for books and a place to display small treasures, which adds personality and warmth to the nook.
We also added a small “book nook” into the kitchen island. I deliberately created pockets for books, shelves, and display areas wherever there was an opportunity. I enjoy styling these small spaces and collecting the pieces that give them character.
I describe our kitchen’s look as English-inspired. It’s a style that has always appealed to me, shaped by years of saved images and a love for classic, cozy details.
Some people compare our kitchen to those in Nancy Meyers films, which is flattering, but my primary influences were the magazine photos I clipped in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I still have that notebook of tear-outs as proof of where my ideas began.
Below is a peek at the English Tudor kitchen we renovated in the early 2000s.
Do you notice the similarities between that kitchen and our current one?
Some elements repeat across both kitchens.
I considered wood countertops for the current kitchen—something we splurged on in our previous renovation—but it wasn’t the right fit this time. Instead, we installed soapstone on the island, a material we also used sparingly in the older kitchen near the stove.
Notice that I included a book nook in that earlier island as well, and I’ve continued the pattern of mixing functional storage with decorative touches like toile fabric and curated objects.
This house is where I started my blog in the summer of 2007. I didn’t document the entire renovation in real time, but I later wrote about the process, the choices we made, and what inspired each decision.
Those photos and the toile pattern helped introduce readers to my work and became some of the reasons people began following the blog. The earlier renovation was completed on a tight budget and aimed to keep as much of the original structure as possible, which made the transformation even more satisfying.
A Tale of Two English Style Kitchens: The Renovation Posts
If you’re interested in more photos and renovation tips from our previous English-inspired kitchen, I’ve written about planning and remodeling in an earlier post. In that article I show pages from my original notebook of magazine tear-outs and explain how I used those images to guide the design.
Gathering inspiration has changed dramatically since social media arrived, but classic styles like English-inspired kitchens remain timeless. If you’d like to see before-and-after photos of our most recent remodel, I’ve shared those transformations as well, along with practical ideas for creating built-ins and book nooks in small spaces.
Finally, if you enjoy small library corners and coffee table books, I recently shared a selection of favorites and gift ideas that pair well with cozy reading nooks.
