What does the quintessential Chicago-style kitchen look like? Alison Victoria’s so glad you asked. On Windy City Rehab, she combines historic elements and design motifs with contemporary layouts and amenities to suit 21st-century palates — and the spaces she serves up won’t spoil over time. If your own kitchen feels a bit bland, consider this a tasting menu of her very best work; then re-season to taste.

While renovating this 1890s Chicago townhouse, Alison focused on classic themes to preserve the home's traditional elements and vintage vibe. In the kitchen, however, she leaned into modern touches: a clean, white palette, stainless appliances and a streamlined look.

Corbels are architectural brackets typically extending out from a wall or vertical surface, designed to support the weight of structural pieces such as beams, headers, balconies or (in interior applications) shelves, mantels, etc. They're often found in Victorian, Gothic, Italianate and Romanesque architecture and ornately designed and crafted to add visual interest to spaces, inside or out. For this reno, Alison played off the kitchen's modern design by incorporating traditional corbels as decorative supports beneath the island's stone countertops. It's a functional and stylistic accent that honors the home's traditional roots.

Drawing further from the home's historic roots, Alison installed a heavy vintage-style door for the kitchen's pantry entrance. The piece not only brings in architectural interest, but the rich wood tone adds a warm, softening element in the predominantly white kitchen.