While California has Eichlers, Oregon has Rummers. Built during the 60's and 70's, Robert Rummer's homes pop up everywhere from Beaverton to Gresham and are recognizable for their open floor plans, central atriums, flat roofs and radiant heating. Another commonality in the Rummers we've seen? Lots of 80's-style updates that stray far from the character of the house.
Glenn and Suzanne Walker knew they had work to do when they purchased their 1965 Rummer in Lake Oswego. According to the article, the counters were covered in basic white tiles usually used in bathrooms; the floor was Pergo; and the storage and counter space were inadequate. It was also too small for a family of five (or even just two) to use comfortably and was closed off from the rest of the house, particularly the great room.
With the help of kitchen designer William Roy, they uncovered the original aggregate floors; made custom cabinets from apple plywood; replaced the walk-in pantry with a niche for the fridge; and eliminated the stifling wall to make way for a breakfast bar. Along the way, they gained more space for counters and cabinets.
The article refers to a "strict budget," but there's no telling what it might be. Regardless, we like the way this open kitchen compliments Robert Rummer's original work while embracing a thoroughly modern style.
Images: William Roy, Fredrick D. Joe
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Comments (15)
love it! love it! love it!!
what a perfect plan to make the most of that cramped space!
love the art on the wall in the backdrop as well!!
"the floor was Pergo"...made me laugh because all these houses I see on realtor.com say "beautiful wood floors!" only to see that it's actually Pergo. Makes me want to scream!
This kitchen is really nice and shows the potential of all the terrible ones I come across in the houses I look at. Thanks for sharing!
What a fantastic update. Very nice use of space and materials.
Slice of heaven. Truly.
More pictures please, and make them larger so one can really appreciate the details.
the more i see rummers, the more i think they're actually better in many ways to eichlers. the layouts always seem more spacious and a better match to "today's" lifestyle...
this is a great read and very inspirational. i'd agree more pictures are in order.
kudos.
redneckmodern, I couldn't agree more - and this remodel is a great example of why.
Redneckmodern, I lived in an "unimproved" Eichler way back when they were so out of style you could buy one for a pittance. That house was freezing in the winter, stifling in the summer. It was a terrible house. Rummers must be better.
I love this remodel. The cabinetry, the counters (Caesarstone?), the floors, the color on the post and ceiling beams... are all fab. The stovetop, which looks like an induction unit, is an odd choice here, visually (and where is the vent for it, or is it a downdraft?). But I do love those counters, and the mix with the concrete (?) backsplash/bar.
The counters don't look like Caesarstone to me, they look like the concrete counters we had made for our own kitchen remodel -- concrete with multi-coloured glass aggregate.
We had our counters custom made by Formworks (can't say enough great things about them, and their service!), in Confetti Terrazzo:
http://formworks.homestead.com/color.html
It could also be IceStone (which, as I recall, was more expensive).
gorgeous reno, and LOVE the house!!
What a beautiful kitchen!
I do have to laugh though... the people who tore out the 50's/60's kitchen in the 80's probably thought they were doing something great. Today we hate 80's style kitchens (myself included) and proudly update them. I have to imagine that 30 years from now, people will be complaining about those outdated and impractical "early 2000s" kitchens.
I live on the east coast, so we don't have any homes here with that architecture. But I'm dying to build one of my own out here one day.
I'll continue to dream until then.
I for one, think that the 80's era gets a bad rap when it comes to interior design. It wasn't all about grey and pink and Miami Vice (although, yes, that was *part* of it). My in-laws just (last night) gave me a book on Bay Area cottages - with really nice exterior and interior shots of some great local houses. As I looked through the book I noticed a conspicuous lack of "adult hipster toy" vignettes, gratuitus mid-century same-old-same-old "favorites", Flor tiles, rat-pack style "collections" or overly ambitious & brash color choices. Dare I say, things looked so much more grown-up and sophisticated than what I've become accustomed to in most of AT's house tours. I turned to check the copywrite and - shock - 1989!
From what I can see, this reno looks like a great improvement over the "80's" kitchen from the before picture. But i wouldn't write-off the 80's altogether. I think people tend only to remember the train wrecks, and not a lot of the good stuff sometimes...usually from abot 20 - 30 years before.
But, of course I'm ahead of the curve on that - I can't stand the 90's and early 00's...
The end result is actually much closer to what was probably originally in the house than what they tore out.
IME, Rummers are pretty much carbon copies of Eichlers. Unfortunately, flat roofs (a feature of some of the designs) are a huge problem in the rainy, mossy Pacific Northwest. We looked at several run-down Rummers and were consistently disappointed with how poorly they'd held up to the climate here.
If you're curious, there are links to exhaustive photos of several recently sold Rummers at http://portlandmodern.com/forsale/forsale-index.html
Wow. So incredibly gorgeous! I love kitchen makeovers <3 but why with all that beauty did they stick to a flattop stove? Blech.
Amazing redo on the kitchen! It's perfect in size for me!