Serious Eats
In Design: A Kitchen Renovation
A few years ago, my husband and I bought the apartment next door with the intention of joining the two to make one large apartment with a new kitchen at its core.
Since then, we’ve been saving up to do it right, and it appears as though this winter we will finally be moving forward on our plans. So, over the coming months, interspersed with standard posts about kitchen gadgetry, tableware, and one-off design ideas, I will be sharing with you the trials and tribulations of planning, sourcing, and construction, as well as the general thought processes behind our choices for everything from flooring to lighting.
Although our apartment is blessedly large by New York City standards, at 10 feet square, the room that will become our kitchen is fairly “cozy” (to put it in brokerese). Because of this, much of our cursory planning has focused on using the space to its utmost while avoiding heft and clutter.
Two doorways and a large window will keep the space open and airy, and smooth, simple, monochromatic finishes will preclude visual clutter.
A tall, narrow refrigerator (instead of the relatively short, squat standard), upper cabinets that rise to the ceiling, and a band of cabinets along the top of one wall will all capitalize on the height of the space. And special inserts and pull-outs in the lower cabinetry will maximize work and storage space below.
As of now, however, these are all just ideas—no commitments have been made. We have yet to officially decide whether that tall, skinny refrigerator will be a Northland or a Liebherr, where precisely the stove will be placed, or whether the counter tops will be made of marble, zinc, or epoxy. There are still many decisions to be made, lots of research to be done, and—I’m apprehensively sure—countless obstacles to be overcome. In the months to come, you’ll get to read about it all.
Related: Easy Meals During a Kitchen Renovation, from Talk.
About the author: Amanda Clarke is a recovering restaurant pastry chef with a background in architecture. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she writes, tests, and develops recipes and works on freelance food-styling gigs between walkings and feedings of her two dogs and husband.