They Cut the Top Off This Old Antique Hutch and Turned the Rest Into Custom-Looking Kitchen Cabinets
Buying an enormous antique hutch years before a kitchen renovation sounds like a storage problem waiting to happen. The piece had four glass-front doors, another row of solid wood cabinets above them, and a bank of worn drawers beneath. Its darkened finish, scratched surfaces, and bulky proportions made it look more suited to an old storage room than a renovated kitchen.
Miriam, one half of the Instagram duo @eighteenthcenturystephens, spotted the cabinet on Facebook Marketplace in Massachusetts. Her husband questioned why they needed another oversized piece of furniture with no immediate purpose, but they brought it home and left it in their garage until their kitchen renovation began.
When the project moved forward, the couple took the hutch apart rather than installing it as one enormous cabinet. They removed the solid-door upper section, separated the glass-front portion from the drawers, and rebuilt the remaining pieces into a wall of kitchen storage with dark stained wood, brass hardware, and glass doors above the counter.
The original hutch had three sections stacked together
The cabinet combined four solid raised-panel doors at the top, four glass-front doors in the middle, and multiple rows of drawers below. A small pull-out writing surface interrupted the center of the lower section.
Its wood showed worn patches, scratches, and variations in color. The glass doors had narrow wooden muntins dividing each opening into rectangular panes, a detail the couple wanted to preserve.
The upper solid-door section was removed, leaving the glass-front cabinet and lower drawer unit for the kitchen.
The lower drawers became a separate cabinet
Once the sections were separated, the long drawer cabinet could be worked on without the weight of the glass-front hutch above it.
The original drawer fronts, paneled ends, and long wooden top remained. The restoration also exposed the drawer interiors and the condition of the old hardware before refinishing.
Sanding removed the worn finish without replacing the drawer structure
The lower cabinet was moved outdoors for sanding. With the drawers removed, the wooden framework and individual drawer openings were exposed.
An orbital sander worked across the broad top, while the edges, corners, and drawer faces required separate attention. The couple stripped away the uneven surface finish before applying the new stain.
The cabinet received a dark Java stain
Inside the house, the lower cabinet received its new finish over protective floor coverings. The couple used General Finishes Java stain, replacing the faded brown surface with a deeper wood tone.
The drawer openings remained exposed during this stage, allowing the cabinet frame and drawer fronts to be finished before reassembly.
The glass doors were rebuilt from individual wooden pieces
The restoration required more than sanding the cabinet exterior. The couple removed the glass doors, hardware, and narrow wooden strips holding the panes in place.
Those strips were laid out separately for refinishing. The glass-door frames retained their original grid pattern, preserving one of the most recognizable features of the antique.
Reassembling the doors meant fitting the wooden strips back around the glass
A nail gun secured the narrow wooden pieces inside the frames during reassembly. Each strip had to fit around the glass panes without changing the door’s original proportions.
The finished doors retained their multiple glass openings, with the restored wood carrying the same dark finish as the lower cabinet.
The wood grain became more prominent after staining
The new finish brought out long grain patterns across the cabinet top and drawer fronts. Darker lines remained visible against the brown stain instead of disappearing beneath an opaque paint color.
The drawers were finished as separate pieces, allowing the new stain to cover their exposed faces and edges.
The old furniture became two sections of kitchen cabinetry
The restored glass-front cabinet was mounted above the lower drawer unit, leaving an open section of white subway tile between them.
The upper doors received square brass latches, while brass cup pulls replaced the worn drawer hardware. The dark wood contrasts with the white tile behind the cabinets, making the original glass panes and drawer fronts stand out.
The open space between the two sections also provides a countertop area for dishes, books, and decorative pieces.
The finished cabinets still reveal their antique origins
Four glass-front doors now sit above a long cabinet with three columns of drawers. The upper section holds dishes, books, glassware, and decorative objects, with the contents visible through the original divided panes.
Below, brass cup pulls run across the restored drawer fronts. The long wooden countertop remains between the drawers and wall cabinets, framed by white subway tile.
Instead of covering the wood grain with paint, the Java stain preserves the patterns across the doors, frame, and drawers. The kitchen combines antique furniture construction with the arrangement of fitted cabinetry.
The before-and-after reveals how much of the original survived
The comparison shows the missing upper cabinet section, the separation between the glass doors and drawers, and the change from worn brown wood to a dark stained finish.
Miriam had purchased the hutch long before the renovation, and the couple kept it in storage without knowing when it would be used. Once the kitchen project began, the oversized antique supplied both upper and lower storage.
The transformation preserved the original glass doors, drawer fronts, and much of the woodwork while changing how the furniture occupied the wall. What began as one tall antique hutch became two coordinated sections of kitchen cabinetry.
Image credits go to @lamphotography , and @eighteenthcenturystephens