House Love- Stuff that Makes My Vintage Love Heart Swoon

 I live in a house built in the 1930's that we purchased for a song. As it goes with most "song" houses, this beauty has it's flaws and it has it's charms. Some of it's features, I can't figure out which category they fall into. For instance, we have original knotty pine cabinets in the kitchen. I think I love them, but I'm not quite sure.

The ultimate plan, 'a la husband, is to gut the kitchen and do a total modern redo. It would open up the space, give me a full sized double oven, a bigger breakfast bar, and a larger prep area right by the stove. But my heart recoils at the thought. All that history, all those years that those amber knotty pine kitchen cabinets have taken good care of their people, and something about that warm honey glow makes me feel like it'd be a betrayal rather than an upgrade.

On the other hand, they do need work. A LOT of work. I have two drawers that have completely fallen apart. It looks like they were water damaged at one point and the poor sides just couldn't support the screws and nails anymore. Several other drawers have had the faces pop off and we've had to nail them back on. Nevertheless, I keep envisioning the kitschy beauty that could happen if we restored those lovely knotty pine things.

(Source: https://knottyisnice.com/)

If we pulled down the grey formica backsplash and painted the walls, redid the countertops with some newer Formica, added a bit of a modern twist with turquoise-ish walls and beautiful glass tile added to the backsplash, like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MUG25UY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=odiak-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01MUG25UY&linkId=0bc2b9c2ab11a19efd920e46564b2ab2


And the ultimate? A black and white checkered floor.   I think I'm getting my decades all sloshed together, but those are all the things I love sloshed together, so it should work for me, right?

(Source: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1004718/black-and-white-checkerboard-tile-floor-in-kitchen)

Hmmmm, maybe not the floor. It looks a little weird.

Am I mad? Will all the effort I put in to renew this kitchen to it's former glory, with a twist of new,  just gross everybody else out? Will it seriously decrease the resale value of our home? As a realtor, I've seen a lot of houses, and I don't think so. It will have character, and feeling and love imbedded into it, and people can see and feel that. There's a massive difference between a slopped-together-patch-it-up-and-make-the-best-you-can Home Depot cabinet kitchen with no real individuality and a home with  planning and forethought and one with some uniqueness. I personally prefer some personality.