Before & After - A Pharmaceutical Cabinet to Hold China

I found this pharmaceutical cabinet years ago at a junk shop in Connecticut for $300. It's from the 1870s, I believe, and came from an old pharmacy on Greenwich Avenue. There are actually two pieces to it: a glass cabinet on top with three bays and a base with six. Both were in pretty bad shape. The interior surfaces of all the bays were caked in peeling yellow paint, but on closer look, I realized they had actually been lined in zinc to prevent pharmaceutical chemicals from rotting the wood. The old wavy glass was still in tact, plus it had all its original brass and copper hardware. I knew there was going to be a ton of work involved, but I really thought it had potential to become something great.   

With my Grandfather's help, and over the course of a good month and a half, we stripped all the yellow paint, then cleaned up the hardware, realigned the doors and polished the wood with butcher's wax. Check out the final result!   

Now that the paint is gone, the zinc really shines through. There's a beautiful, industrial quality to it that I love, especially paired with the rich mahogany veneer of the wood. And even though this cabinet looks quite large, it's actually only twelve inches deep. Just the right size for my New York City apartment!

It really is the perfect piece for holding so many of my collections, including glass compotes, French porcelain soup tourines and stacks upon stacks of beautiful ironstone platters. I even keep all my antique linens neatly folded in the drawers. That way, whenever I'm setting a table, everything I need is close at hand. So until I have a house of my own with a proper butler's pantry, this cabinet will do just fine.

Comments

[kitchen cabinets michigan]

I love the kitchen cabinets! Just gorgeous!

[Kindle aka Redesign Diva]

Aha! Now I know the history of this cabinet...I was wondering about it. Good to know it is only 12 inches deep. I received a top like this. It is newer. A furniture dealer on CL, gave it away for free, because the glass in one of the panels was broken. It is huge, but small on the inside, I thought. I am definitely going to use it in my kitchen...YEAH!

[kay*]

this is absolutely stunning. i love it.

[Andi]

Oh my gosh! I am in love with that cabinet. I saw you on Martha's Blogging episode yesterday and I had to check out your blog. You and your Gpa did a great job refurbishing those pieces. I also love the small bar cabinet that was shown on the Martha show. I'll definitely be a regular reader now. I'm so inspired, I'm heading to my flea markets this weekend.

[Kate F]

I'm sorry to comment a few times on different posts--you know how it is when you're reading a new blog and catching up on old things! I'm charmed by your love of butler's pantries--one of the things that sold me and my husband on our apartment was that it was one of the only ones in the building that hadn't been muddled, so we still have the original pantry and butler's pantry. The efficiency of the walk-in pantry for storing food and the butler's pantry for dishes is unparalleled. I'm spoiled; I doubt I could ever go back to using kitchen cabinets! (I tried to link to some photos but it didn't work--if you want, click on my name, and from the upper right-hand column of my blog there is a link to apartment before-and-after pictures!)