Hello. I am surprised to see how many live in older houses. I live in two houses, one is an old cotton plantation (1850) deep in the country and the other on the outside of a small town (1853). Neither one had a kitchen in the house originally, as they were detached because of the fire hazard. The distance was not considered much of a problem as both had ample servants at that time. The kitchen was moved into the raised basement of the plantation in the 40's, and the original kitchen was used in the house near town until the late 1970's when it was abandoned and the kitchen moved into the old dining room wing.
As I am a great respecter and lover of period architecture, nothing has been done to either kitchen for convenience sake. Things are placed in respect for original windows or doors, fireplaces, etc. And yes, I have fireplaces in both of my kitchens. (I even have a fireplace in the bathroom at the plantation.)
It is quirky to be sure, but inasmuch as I have lived in them pretty much my whole life, it doesnt seem that unusual to me. The trade-off is that both houses are almost totally original, I have huge windows, period moldings and beautiful fireplace mantels, wonderful large rooms with great proportions and 13 ft ceilings in the house near town and 15 Ft in the country.
To me it is a fine trade-off, and certainly none of my friends has a kitchen with anywhere near as much atmosphere as either. I do have to be careful how many appliances I turn on at once as the wiring is still not heavy-duty in the kitchen area, although that is on the "Master Plan."
Another upside (not often needed, however) is that about once every 3-4 years when we have a terrible power outage in the middle of winter, and once during Hurricane Katrina, I have no problem cooking. The last big winter storm we were out for 8 days, and during Katrina it was 13 days. I just used the fireplace and it was no big deal.
Usually if I have some city folks coming I will make a fire in the kitchen fireplace just for the atmosphere for them, although I dont do that all that all the time for myself. A kitchen in an old house is different, but I just accept is as part of a total package, and see it as a better-than-fair trade-off.