Photos by Rebecca Droke, Post-Gazette Impala Black granite covers the peninsula, counter tops and backsplash in the kitchen of Bernie and Cheri Feinman's house in Highland Park.

By Kevin Kirkland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Bernie and Cheri Feinman bought the Highland Park house they call "the old lady" because she had "good bones," a few of them broken.

A new roof and furnace got her back on her feet, and the couple touched up her plaster, woodwork and other Craftsman-style features, even tidying up her toiletries. But they mostly stayed out of her kitchen -- for eight years.

	Cheri Feinman with the peninsula she chose to replace a large cupboard that filled the wall behind her. Click photo for larger image.

"The basics of the house were of utmost importance," said Mrs. Feinman, 59. "When we bought it in 1997, I said I would live with the kitchen for a while. It was something we needed to research thoroughly. I certainly did that for eight years."

They initially planned to expand the kitchen by enclosing the back porch and adding a powder room. But the price -- twice what they wanted to spend -- killed that idea. They decided finally to keep the 15-by-15-foot space intact but give the old lady a whole new wardrobe, with cherry cabinets, granite counters and a small butler's pantry besides.

Now this centenarian is really ready for her close-up -- and an award. The Feinmans were one of two runners-up in the small project category of the Post-Gazette's first home renovation category.

For the contest, small renovations were defined as $50,000 or less. That's about what they ended up spending and close to the national average for a mid-range major kitchen renovation, $43,900 in 2005, according to Remodeling magazine.

The Feinmans started with almost a blank slate: an old fridge and stove, a few built-in cabinets, a cupboard and 4 square feet of counter space. But one piece was hard to let go -- the original pine cupboard, 7 feet wide and 10 feet high, reaching to the ceiling.

"We really tried to save it in the kitchen, but it just wouldn't work," Mrs. Feinman said sadly. "It's in the basement. We would like to put it somewhere because it belongs here."

The cupboard's old space is now the kitchen's only open wall, decorated with artwork and shelves bearing bowls, rooster figures and other country items. Jutting from that wall is a hard-working peninsula with gas burners set into its granite top, cabinets and drawers on one side and three stools arranged around the other two sides. The peninsula eliminated the need for a table or island in the 225-square-foot kitchen.

Most of the other walls are filled with red-stained cherry cabinets by National Forest Products and more than 40 square feet of Impala Black granite that extends across the counters and clear up the backsplash. It's an idea she got from the Washington, D.C., kitchen of her daughter, Lori Feinman Coscia.

"I liked the clean look of it, and the contrast with the cabinets," Mrs. Feinman said.

Shiny stainless steel covers the fridge, convection wall oven, convection microwave and other appliances. The matching corner sink is a space-saving idea the couple got from carpenter friend Terry Cyphers.

Installer John O'Leary put in the Shaker-style cabinets and glass-fronted Craftsman-style cabinets that, along with the granite, tie the pantry in with the kitchen. The wavy-glass doors and the square clay tiles on the floor are the only pure Craftsman elements in the kitchen. If there were any doubt about its modernity, a small color television hidden in one of the upper cabinets erases it. The TV's linked to the satellite dish.

During the seven-month kitchen renovation, the Feinmans moved to their houseboat in O'Hara. They agree it was the most difficult part of their nine-year house renovation, which included replacing most of the windows (except the stained glass), the soffit and fascia and parts of the wide front porch.

They also refinished woodwork and opened up three fireplaces, adding new tile surrounds on two and installing a period mantel found in an antique store. All that's left on their to-do list is one bathroom and some odds and ends.

"I used to tell people we move every 10 years, whether we need to or not," said Mrs. Feinman, a Realtor in Howard Hanna's Shadyside office.

"Now my husband looks at me and says, 'No, we're not!' "

Mrs. Feinman says she grew up in a "post-war ranchy thing" in the North Hills and her husband, a 59-year-old optometrist, in a similar house in White Oak.

"Neither of us were brought up in old houses, but the old appealed to both of us," she says.

Now they and the old lady can grow old together, gracefully.