The Legend of Belmont - part two: the brass ring

The St. Charles set at the Belmont house included the coveted wall-oven unit, and a variety of other desirable pieces in very excellent condition.  Not quite enough to do our kitchen alone, but if we combined the set with what we already had, it would be plenty.

We negotiated an acceptable offer for the cabinets, and declined the sellers' offer of having their contractor remove them - after our previous disastrous experience with that notion - and made arrangements to return to remove them ourselves.

The sellers took us on a tour of the rest of the house, which they were going to be demolishing, and re-building on the site.  We pointed out some incredibly neat items, as we oooh-ed and ahhh-ed our way around in the dark (both power and water were already off).

They offered to let us remove and purchase anything else in the house we wanted, when we came back to remove the cabinets.  Yes... anything we wanted.



The next two weeks were spent frantically making arrangements for truck rentals, hotels, and begging family to come along on this adventure for a weekend of long drives and hard labor.
We left on a Friday afternoon, caravaning the 200 miles from home to Belmont with a rented cargo van and large SUV full of tools, empty boxes, and padding materials.

We started the salvage Saturday morning - S and his dad removing the cabinets from the kitchen (time-lapse video after the jump), D and her parents scrounging goodies from the rest of the house.

Gather 'round, for The Legend of Belmont - part one: the backstory

Before the legend itself, a little backstory.

When we remodeled the kitchen at 48th Place, it was with brand new, slightly-better-than-big-box veneer-and-laminate cabinetry.  It was, on the surface, very pretty - but obviously not authentic for the house's age, and lacking in the character or charm of what we had removed.
Yes, we removed the job-site-built plywood cabinets.  Yes, we know better now.  Yes, we're very sorry; but also not-sorry, because there wasn't room for a dishwasher.
Then again, we knew that house was going to be sold, and ensured all our updates would be sufficiently neutral to assist with a quick sale.

Skyline is pending for a kitchen remodel - as the cabinets here are big-box replacements anyway, and arranged in a layout not conducive to workflow or our lifestyle (seriously, who needs a eat-in area in a galley kitchen?) - but we're working really hard to ensure everything we do to this house is going to make us happy, since resale is a non-issue (we are never ever moving again).
And so it was that D decreed the Skyline kitchen project will use vintage metal cabinets...

There was much searching of the internet, and driving all over creation to view disappointing cabinet contenders, and everyone's favorite "but they're listed for twice this on eBay!" non-negotiable priced listings.
We even got so far as agreeing to buy a set of yellow and walnut St. Charles which were still installed, but the sellers' contractors botched the un-install, and threw them in the dumpster before we had a chance to evaluate whether we still wanted them.

The search continued.  We bought a few odd pieces, but nothing as a set, and all of it pretty junky condition.
We decided that whatever set we bought first would be our brand and style, whether Youngstown, Geneva, or Hotpoint; just pick a pony, and stick with it, so we didn't end up living in a steel cabinet museum.

Thus, on a balmy day in April 2014, we ended up looking at a kitchen full of installed St. Charles "DURALON" finish cabinets.  This set included two "false fronts" - like a sink base - which had been attached to a bay window seat, so everything would be matchy-matchy.  The sellers accepted our offer (over a couple competing bids) and we picked them up, after they were removed, a couple days later.
The stamp on the back says these were White from the factory, but exterior surfaces were subsequently painted a creamy eggshell color.  They're otherwise in pretty decent condition.

Unfortunately, this set is insufficient to complete our planned kitchen, and is missing a key piece - the tall wall-oven cabinet unit.

The search continued for another 8 weeks, when S found a listing for a St. Charles kitchen just outside Chicago.  We were visiting the city for Memorial Day weekend, and promptly made arrangements to bail on our friends for a day, rent a car, and drive to the house on Belmont Avenue to see these cabinets.

To be continued!