I remember when you first posted and wanted help on designing your kitchen. I remember your being upset when we mentioned the layout you had was not a good one. Now look! What a stunning looking kitchen. And a perfect layout to work with too. Congratulations.

Wow! From Part A/Part B skinny, scrunchy galley to check-it-out-we-can-cook-in-here! Nice job! Love the marble, especially the backsplash.

Great re-do! And now no cabinets in front of windows or refrigerator in another room! Looks terrific!

What a long road it took to get here. It looks fantastic. I love the lights.

Beautiful!! I especially love the gorgeous tall cabinet - it just feels right. I have the k-hellos too, nice to see them with the corum pendants. Your before pictures definitely felt like a kitchen in a 1 bedroom apartment; your after pictures reflect a high end kitchen.

I went to check the background details; what an amazing journey - you are a GW posterchild:) I'm sure this plan will be appreciated, studied and re-used many times.

Please do post more pictures of your home - I'd love to see more. Best, oldbat2be

My gosh! I cant believe that's the same space! Really well done! Congratulations!!!

It looks fantastic.

The cable lights are brilliant! It all looks great. You must be sooo pleased!

So happy for you - it's perfect! And I know there were bumps along the way but you worked everything out! Kudos!

What a change, love it! You've done a great job transforming the space and dealing with all the issues so effectively! I'm so glad the bumps of the last few weeks were worked out so quickly. OB2B worded it perfectly, you're a GW poster child!

Looks great. Congrata

Impressive transformation!

Wow! It looks awesome! What a change. It's so open and even though you used dark cabinets it doesn't seem closed and small like your former kitchen. Remarkable difference.

Very Sexy kitchen! Love it!

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Love it!

Gorgeous!

Very sleek! Love it. Enjoy!

Are you freekin' kidding me?

That's Fantastic!
Great job!

Absolutely spectacular transformation. It's amazing to see what you accomplished, especially when you take into account all the hurdles you faced. I really love it!

Congrats, Katrina! The new kitchen is gorgeous. Hope you and hubby enjoy it for many, many years.

What a terrific result! I think you've set the standard of a wonderfully functional, space-conscious kitchen in a NYC apartment, very well done.

Outstanding job! TOTALLY can see the transformation and soooo much easier on the eyes, and I bet on the feet.

Looks really nice and very spacious and open. Love your island and pantry. Great idea for the pendants. Beautiful floor and no more tunnel effect in the kitchen.

homepro01 I am sure you helped me decide on the lighting. Thanks for pointing me to the kable system. All these pesky rules made the lighting choices a challenge.

cpartist Hah! Yes, I was all too excited about my initial plan which turned out was not even functional.

oldbat2be It was a long road but I'm glad it's basically over and turned out well. the bathroom photos are here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4212390/reveal-nyc-bathroom#18497551

raee_gw zone 5b-6a I love the kable lights but honestly they were out of necessity since we cannot drill into the ceilings. I'm glad we didn't go with track lights or a monorail. These lights are so much better! Despite all the drama (http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4190308/no-overhead-kitchen-lights-transformer-issue-dimmer-and-kable-lights) I do love the kable lights.

bbtrix A friend thought we didn't have a GC. I still cannot believe how much work it took to manage this project, even with a GC. I love it but cannot imagine doing it again. We are never moving. lol

ghostlyvision Neighbors keep trying to peek in but I'm not doing tours. lol Well, one tour for the neighbor who helped arrange the summer sublet.

Russ I cannot even tell you how much more comfortable it is to cook now. I didn't even realize that would be a new feature.

Karenseb Thanks! I've always wanted an island with pendants but didn't think it was doable in this space. The pantry was an ordeal due to the kitchen designer screw up, but luckily the carpenter made it work and we moved everything over slightly. Details are here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4177457/ikea-cabinet-install-help-does-this-look-strange We also made the island work by adding a column - details here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4087490/running-electric-along-concrete-floor-for-outlets-on-island

It's absolutely beautiful, Katrina! I'm not around GW much since school started, but today I realized I needed to check up on you. You did a wonderful job. I'm sincerely so happy for you.

Im curious how the bedroom changes are working out for you with the new door and the bigger closet, etc. was there room to fit a little sitting area in there?

I tried posting last weekend when you did your reveal, but my iPad wasn't cooperating. Been looking forward to your reveal after watch the design process. Stunning result! Not only will you enjoy your new kitchen, but I'm sure your property value has risen immensely! Thank you for sharing your entire experience!

I can not believe the difference. Actually, I can't even figure out the change in floorplan as it looks like it was always there. Beautiful functional space.

benjesbride The space is so much more functional than we ever imagined. There is a place for everything. It seems a lot bigger although we didn't gain space. We have not added a seating area but we do have the room. I love having an open area for guests with a more private closet and bedroom area where we can lock ourselves away.

nhbaskets I pulled some comps and yes, the value has gone up tremendously. We definitely will get all of our investment back if we sell.

We'd love to see pics of the entire space! This has been an epic build and a wonderful example of the power of this community!

Forgot to add these photos of what the contractor would have loved to leave as filler. It caused quite an argument since he tried to cram an 8-week project into 5 weeks (lots of missed days) but in the end we have no filler.

Our project should finally be closed out this week.

Base cabinet peg board

Pullout spice rack

Lower cabinet used for baking sheets

Such incredibly smart use of space, I'll bet you're really loving using your kitchen, Katrina.

Truly incredible how you managed to utilize the space. How about the rest of the rooms?

Katrina, I'm pretty sure I'm in the same co-op as you and I'm just starting a big reno. Would so much appreciate being able to chat for a minute about doors, electric, layout, GC, etc.? thank you, josephnyc@gmail.com

wow! beautiful. I'm in the process of designing an IKEA kitchen and have 6" of filler next to the stove but would love to do something with it. How did you make your narrow pullout and tray cabinet as they don't seem to be standard IKEA cabinets?

Such a dramatic transformation I had to show my husband. He actually jumped a little and said holy crap! I particularly love your last photo. It's the only one where I can see how the new kitchen relates to the old one. It's just incredible. Fabulous job on everything. I'd consider myself fortunate to have your kitchen in my Texas house! Beautiful.

Awesome!!! Could we have a picture of the space between the stove and the island? Standing with your back against the sink and looking into living room? I'd love to see how much room you have to navigate there and compare it to the space I have.

@Joseph S Sent you an email. I would not recommend my GC and haven't recommended him to neighbors. I had to be on top of them every single day and found something wrong each time from small things like using the wrong paint color in the bathroom (and asking me to pay for replacement paint (I refused), to using drywall in the shower instead of cement board). Luckily we didn't move far away so I was able to catch mistakes before they were covered up in the walls. He tried to cram an 8-week project into 5 weeks (lots of missed days) and near the end tried to force me to make changes that would satisfy his timeline rather than my design. The final straw was his nasty text message trying to force me to use filler in the kitchen so he could move on to his next project. I pulled out the contract and reminded him of the $100 per day penalty clause (I wrote our contract) and that his crew had missed almost 3 weeks of work.

@diditoo The narrow cabinets were cut down by the carpenter. We used the smaller 5" drawer fronts (vertical) for the base cabinets and the upper door was cut down from a larger piece. The unfinished side of the upper cut down door front is against the pantry and not visible.

@zellycat2 That space is 36" from pantry to island. The countertop makes the space 35" so if we have to move anything through that space it could only be 35" wide.

For spatial reference, the kitchen window before, during & after. Also, the stove was not moved. We were not allowed to relocate the gas line.

@diditoo,

I documented how we created a 5.5" base cabinet from a 12" Ikea base here:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3933482/should-i-hack-a-55-cabinet-for-my-leftover-space

It was not too difficult and definitely worth the effort.

@katrina tate, your kitchen looks great!

cpartist All the rooms turned out amazing. I especially loved the larger bathroom space. http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4212390/reveal-nyc-bathroom

Thanks! Much easier to visualize. Really amazing job!

Katrina, looks great. What contractor did you use? I'm in the early stages of planning for my new apartment and need NYC contractor recommendations.

Thanks!

We did not use him but check with C & M Home Improvement (Matt). I wish we had used him.

I cannot recommend our contractor. Not only was it a chore managing the GC and his team because they screwed up something almost every day from little things like using the wrong paint color in wrong rooms (and asking us to pay to replace paint, which we did not); to installing items incorrectly (drywall in shower instead of cement board); and using the wrong type of glue for our hardwood floor installation (thankfully, I caught that early & forced them to buy the correct glue per my flooring retailer recommendations); as well as trying to complete an 8 week project in 5 weeks (missed a lot of days due to other jobs booked).

In the end, the GC tried to force us to make design changes to accommodate their schedule. We didn't. Instead, I pulled out the contract and reminded him of the $100/day penalty for them not completing the project on time & I had a record of all days that the workers didn't show up since we only moved down the hall on the same floor.

The added frustration was using Google translate to communicate with the workers when the GC wasn't around. Only the plaster guy spoke English. I had to call/text the GC when there was an issue and he would call & translate to the workers or come by to translate. I resorted to using Google translate.

Months later when it turned out they incorrectly installed an item, he suggested my husband fix it. This wasn't the first time that happened. During the renovation, the GC suggested my husband make adjustments although we were paying the GC for that work. We refused each time. A couple of weeks ago, he sent his dad to reinstall the item after the vendor sent us a free replacement & installation paperwork. A 10-minute installation job took an hour & 4 attempts since the directions, instead of being used, were strewn on the floor and upside down.

I wish I did have his tile guys contact info. He did a great job and we gave him a cash tip. He took his time & our bathroom tile came out amazingly well, just as I pictured.

If you need hardwood flooring installed, I recommend:

Celso at Shine Star Floors

shinestarfloors@gmail.com

Office assistant is Lorrany

http://shinestarfloors.com

109 Jersey Street, Harrison, NJ 07029

Tel.: 973-736-1346

Fax: 973-736-2096

They came with a crew of 5 to get the job done in 1 day but our GC wasn't ready so we ended up not being able to use him. However, I was pleased with everything from communication and customer service despite them not actually doing our floors. When we had an issue after the GC finished, Ceslo told us to buy a humidifier to stop the weird snap, crackle, pop noise we were hearing due to the building heating system drying out the floors.

Thanks for recommendation! Would you mind letting me know who your GC was so I know not to work him?

I'd rather not post that information on a public forum as it could be construed as defamation. I won't say don't work with him, but I do not recommend him & have not given neighbors his information when asked. His perception is likely that I was a difficult client although my architect and management office would agree it was the GC that caused problems/delays.