Before & After: A Brooklyn Kitchen Lightens Up

After 10 months of searching, Alison and Jovito purchased the home of their dreams: a charming 100-year-old brownstone in Brooklyn’s Ocean Park. There were lots of things that needed updating all over the house, but they decided to focus first on the most egregious spots: the upstairs bathroom and the very, very, brown kitchen.

We’ll leave it to Allison to describe the extent of the former kitchen’s ickiness:

The kitchen needed a gut renovation. The walls were covered with dark wood paneling and cabinets, and there was a dropped ceiling with fluorescent lighting, cracked floor tile and beat up Formica countertops and backsplash. The existing soffit ran in front of the kitchen window, cutting a good 8 inches off the top, and a lot of daylight along with it. It had a less-than-optimal layout and it had definitely seen better days.

Looking at these photos, we’d say ‘seen better days’ was a bit of an understatement.

In their search for a contractor, Allison and Jovito turned to Sweeten, a New York area resource that connects homeowners with architects, designers, and contractors. They were matched with Sweeten Expert Pedro, who helped make their dreams of a non-brown kitchen a reality.

Post-renovation, the kitchen seems like a competely different space. To save money, Allison and Jovito went with IKEA cabinets and Ceasarstone quartz countertops, also ordered from IKEA. In keeping with their home’s style, they chose a more traditional door style, painted a medium grey.

The lack of upper cabinets (and the new bright white backsplash tile) contributes to the new kitchen’s open, airy feel. Allison and Jovito chose to forego upper cabinets just for this reason: they decided that they already had enough storage for posts and pans, and, additionally, removing the drop-in ceiling left enough height for a hutch next to the refrigerator, which is formed by two rows of cabinets stacked on top of each other.

The hutch is a perfect spot to display their collection of vintage serveware and glassware…

And for the cat to chill out.

The brushed brass faucet is a favorite of Allison’s — it maches the brass pulls throughout the kitchen. And the wood-look porcelain tile on the floor, laid by Pedro’s team in a herringbone fashion, is the perfect finishing touch: a nod to tradition, but with a modern twist.

Read more about Allison and Jovito’s renovation, and find sources for all the items pictured above, on the project page at Sweeten.

– Re-edited from a post originally published 9.22.2014 – CM