Shortly after buying our first house several years ago I came across two old china cabinets. The first one was painted and the fretwork was damaged and the other pictured above in pour condition. I stripped both, cut new fretwork, varathaned one for the kitchen and put the one pictured in the good livingroom. When we bought our third house I sold the fretwork cabinet to friends but I wish I hadn't.
The vintage china cabinet (circa 1950's) pictured was made by Knetchetels Limited of Hanover, Ontario. Originally it was a blond finish that can still be seen on the inside but had been painted over a few times. Once I started stripping the piece I decided to go with a darker wood finish. At some point I may refinish the piece to fix the damaged vaneer and restore it closer to the original blond finish. I was told by one source that the curved glass, original to the piece, came from England. Apparently would be rather costly to replace so I've always protected the cabinet by keeping it well away from regular household traffic. I honestly love the piece as is, flaws and all!
When we moved into our third house this cabinet was pushed to a corner where it was just barely possible to open the one door. It found its way to a spare bedroom used for storage in our fourth house and then a place in the room we didn't know what to do with in our last house. So for the past almost fifteen years the cabinet has been used for little more than storage. I am pleased to say the cabinet has found a new home in our dining area where it is once again home to my Depression, pre-Depression era glass and cut lead glass pieces. The drawers and cabinet below them hold necessary extras for entertaining.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
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