Crying out for a floor plan to go with this article.
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I love the marble gray tiles and the hardwood floor.
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They missed the most obvious space saver, namely an induction cooktop. The glass cooktop is usable counter space, even while you are cooking. And your kitchen and cookware will be far cleaner without all those hydrocarbons lurking around. Make the switch and you’ll never go back.
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Does anyone know the make and/or model of the exhaust hood? Looks very cool. And I wonder if it's ducted into the existing ductwork...and if that's allowed per code.
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This is a beautiful kitchen. I love the marble tiles and hope that they came in panels or strips ; I'm assuming that they did not have to be applied one by one. Even so the grouting on a vertical surface is quite a back and neck straining. For the person who notes that you cannot wash a turkey roaster in that smallish sink : This, to me, is a very odd American obsession. I have seen many Househunters International episodes in which quite beautiful, light filled, 2 bath, well located apartments are rejected for issues relating to the difficulty of cooking a turkey. As I got older and had more orthopedic issues I found that the better grocery stores-Sprouts, Whole Foods ( yes expensive but it is Thanksgiving ) will sell parts of a turkey in manageable pieces. Even in my pretty roomy American kitchen repeatedly hoisting that roasting pan out of a standard range had become painful and perhaps dangerous. Cook the turkey in pieces in smaller pans. Problem solved. That sink is tiny though. I live in an older house and deal with a single basin sink. I have resorted to a large countertop plastic bucket for either rinsing or sudsing as to mimic the functionality of a double sink. They may do this as well. Beautiful room. Great job !
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“American obsession”.....what??...what’s your point really?
SMEG refrigerators are cute but get terrible reviews. For $3,000, there are much better options.
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@A They probably bought it because it looks stylish (which is does).
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Didn’t know they got bad reviews, anyhow, if you’re on a tiny budget, how can they justify spending so much on a fridge?
I installed ceiling rack in my small galley kitchen, to hang the pots and pans from. It sure saved a lot of cabinet space, plus it added some real style to the room, becoming a visual accent.
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Great design choices all around, not just for looks but for the intelligent and thoughtful use of space, materials and the appliances (love the Smeg fridge!).
Small can be beautiful.
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Please, NY Times, do a favor mentioned by many: POST BEFORE PICTURES! Seeing the afters just don't have the same impact since the 'before' pics add the context. Why is this not done?
It's a beautiful design, pleasing palette and nice, calm feel. I love the tiles, marble, colors, but as much as I love marble, I'd worry about staining and as other mentioned, keeping those tiles cleaned.
But in general? It's stunning, like you'd see in a design magazine.
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Tiny kitchen to me connotes one of the kitchenettes (originally called serving pantries) in buildings like Tudor City or the Master Apartments, or the foyer/kitchens found in many NYC apartments. Even some of the prewar buildings in the Art Deco district have smaller kitchens. The renovation is beautiful; it would be interesting to see before photos.
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Frankly...you can live without a range if you must....have a microwave and hot plate and an Instant Pot...but you can't live with a REFRIGERATOR. That's a TINY refrigerator! leaving no room for frozen foods. I think that's a bad choice. Assuming money is no object, I'd pick a full size fridge that is "counter depth" (does not stick out). The new type with french doors seem like they'd work better in a tiny space. Then get an apartment size range -- they make some decent ones -- or build in a small cooktop. An oven can be tucked under or even put in another room -- most people do not bake all that often. We do not see the dishwasher, but if it is half size (or so low you must bend way down to use it)....again, it's a false economy. You use a dishwasher DAILY. With only 2 people I still manage to fill it once a day! You really need a standard, full size unit. I'd cut out other stuff, even storage, to have this.
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How did people ever get along without a dishwasher? My wife and I, married for forty years (+ 3 kids), have never owned one and we get along just fine without one.
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I know plenty of people who barely have any food in their fridge. For them that tiny fridge would suffice. People have different lifestyles and different needs. While I enjoying cooking and baking, I can do without a dishwasher. I grew up with one and my family almost never used it. Yeah, who knew that you could wash dishes by hand? Stranger yet that some people (like myself) prefer to do that.
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That looks like a 600mm standard size Smeg fridge-freezer, which would be considered perfectly normal in Europe for a family. Why would they need a bigger fridge-freezer for 2 of them?!?
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That sinks looks pretty narrow. Maybe too narrow for me to do the dishes, or clean a big pot or pan. Also, everything is too white, it will look dirty in seconds.
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My kitchen is 5x5'--less than half the size of your example--and contains an 18" dishwasher, a stove, a microwave sits on the window sill and the sink hugs the corner. Unfortunately, the fridge had to be put just outside sharing a coat closet, but it works.
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I'm sorry, 67 square feet is not a tiny kitchen, not in NYC. My second apartment in the city, a very big 2 bedroom on Riverside Drive, had a kitchen that was maybe 40 square feet. A friends 2 bedroom on West 77th has a kitchen that's smaller than that. 6 x 12 is a pretty reasonable size kitchen in the city.
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they're in Miami Beach. and while I'm sure you and your friends have minuscule kitchens in NYC, the average is probably still small, compared to, oh, LA.
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I just noticed a nice plus in this kitchen - the window can be opened from the top - which could be helpful when cooking/frying/accidentally burning the toast smells occur. Also, fresh air is always a welcomed feature in a kitchen for me.
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@Marge Keller, open windows in Miami? Maybe for a few days in January. Maybe screened in our critter world.
Instead of a range hood, wouldn't a microwave be more useful?
I, too, bought my appliances from IKEA. Great bargains and 5 year warranty.
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you really can't make a French omelet in a microwave. I have a cabin in the southern New Mexico mountains with a kitchen about this size, and while we don't actually *live* there yet, I can do just fine without a dishwasher and microwave, because I have a double sink and a range/oven. my dream is to retire there. if my husband ever actually retires.
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Are the $3,000 fridge and that very nice looking stove included in the total $12,000 renovation cost?
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No -- obviously not. That quote is just cabinetry & construction costs. With appliances, this is closer to $20K AND they did the backsplash tiling THEMSELVES -- so figure in labor if you are not an expert tilesmith.
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I think it's terrific! Great tips on solving kitchen renovations on a budget.
I only wish the article had included "before" photos.
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Lovely remodel! I can relate to putting in a wall of small tiles - tedious and exhausting. I only worry about the sink next to a painted wall with moisture soaking in over the years. "Before" photos would have been a bonus!
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Nice project, nice article, and did not involve hundreds of thousands of dollars! Thank you.
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Beautiful and serene. But I wouldn't want to clean all of that grout. And I'd feel claustrophobic using a sink to close to a wall.
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And how would you ever wash the turkey roaster?!
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a) don't have turkey, or b) buy one that is not big enough to feed a battalion.
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Real Estate columns are my escape from the buffoon-esque court and other world calamities.
The Fix would be an even more enjoyable read with pictures of the "before"...
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Any idea on brand of stove? Agree this is a great looking kitchen!
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The space is visually lovely, and the owners are, I am sure, very happy with it. However, 2 points: I can see myself standing at the sink, scrubbing a pot, and having my right elbow hitting the wall. I also feel that the amount of dust and airborne grease that would attach to the open shelves - and everything on them - will require too-frequent maintenance.
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They probably have weekly cleaners.
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Agreed. That's also the reason I don't like "open plan" layouts. Cooking smells, airborne grease that acts as glue for dust and grime...all over the place instead of contained in the kitchen. But the renovation looks great and makes sensible use of the limited space.
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Either you clean your upper cabinets (sometimes with glass doors, duh) or you clean the shelves. They are not that bad, especially if you use them for actual stacking of things you use and wash all the time. And the open appearance is wonderful if you like that look. I've had all three. Love the open shelving.
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Open shelves, while spacious in appearance, collect dust and grease, which dissolves in steam during cooking and condenses on nearby surfaces. Frequent cleaning of the shelves and objects stored there will be necessary.
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I would probably have a much keener appreciation for this DIY overhaul if "before" as well as "after" photos had been included. I struggle with the ability to view something abstractly. What I do know for certain is anytime a window is cleared of any blockage so light (and possibly sunlight) is allowed in, that space has automatically been improved and upgraded 100%. Natural light is key on so many levels.
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Also a floor plan -- before & after -- with a 67' square space, this should be easy to produce and make the renovation much more understandable.
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Is was intrigued by the relocation of the range hood. Does it now vent directly into the building's ventilation system? I have never seen such a thing in NYC. Can that generally be done?
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Is it legal? I thought it was required that the vents go to the outdoors.
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Maybe it’s just a recirculating hood? Sounds like that bulkhead houses the a/c pipes.
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Maybe it's a re-circulating hood? Sounds like that soffit is just for the a/c.
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Reasonable price/cost? I don't think so. We completely redid our kitchen here in Italy last summer for a total cost of $4,000. That included a new fridge, stove and oven. And many cabinets, drawers, etc. Totally customized to exactly fit our space. There is a company here in Italy that specializes in custom kitchens. Even cheaper than Ikea. Just great.
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That's genuinely amazing. The fridge here is a specialty imported model, that is extra narrow and cost $3000 -- but my daughter in law just bought a new Whirlpool fridge at Lowes....it's nice, with French doors, and it cost $1700. That blows a pretty big hole in $4000! I've never even seen raw uninstalled cabinetry for $4000, honestly and that leaves nothing for counters, sinks, faucets, or installation costs. I'd love to SEE this Italian kitchen and how it could possibly cost 1/3 the cost of plain "warehouse store" kitchens in the US!
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Love the marble herringbone tile and the open shelves!
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"Small kitchen"? Maybe by Miami standards....this New Yorker would be overjoyed with that space. I'm thinking there are some NYC bedrooms smaller than the kitchen shown.
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Tiny? That kitchen is around 3 times the size of the kitchen I had in my first post-college apartment in West Philadelphia.
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Nice looking kitchen, and reasonable pricing. Just one complaint: if you really cook, the grout joints in the mosaic backsplash will be impossible to keep clean behind the stove and sink, even if the joints are sealed.
Epoxy grout, which is expensive and difficult to install, might help keep the staining to a minimum, but it would still be hard to wipe down.
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The grout that my tile guy used for my marble backsplash has not stained at all in the two years it's been there. It was sealed and I just wipe it down with water with a bit of Dawn and then rinse it. I don't even have to do that very often. And yes, my backsplash also goes all the way to the ceiling next to the stove where there is a pot rack installed on top of the marble.
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It would not have worked in this case, but there is black grout if it goes with the colors in the kitchen. After having hexagonal tiles in the kitchen and having to clean the grout each morning of any drip of coffee when the house was on the market made me swear that I would never have small tiles with light colored grout again.
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Getting rid of overhead cabinets for open shelving seems like an effective way to give the illusion of wider kitchen. I want to follow suit.
However, I'm afraid that herringbone back splash will look dated in ~5 years or so...it's very trendy à la AirBnB. I would either go retro (in the same vein as their fridge) or super minimalist instead.
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Anything anyone does in a kitchen today will look dated in 5-10 years since kitchen design became "fashion". At least this kitchen is done in classics - honed marble, white countertops, light gray cabinets. It is fresh and clean looking an very much a minimalist look. Retro would have looked kitschy. It's a lovely kitchen and it will look good for a long, long time.
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They have a great kitchen no doubt about it, but from a frugal standpoint I'd rather invest in a classic aesthetic that will age well. I believe the rose gold / brass fittings don't fit the bill, though they are beautiful. Even a swath of semigloss cream paint ages better than ANY pattern, their marble herringbone included. But I would rather under-spend and forgo the "wow" factor that they have achieved.
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