Before & After: Casey & Kumar’s Clinton Hill Kitchen
When they bought their co-op apartment in Brooklyn, Casey and Kumar had a particularly ambitious project in mind: transforming a one-bedroom to meet the needs of a family of four people. Doing so involved some pretty clever solutions along with a full-scale overhaul of the unit’s very small, very outdated kitchen.
Since space in their small apartment was at a premium, Casey and Kumar wanted the kitchen to flow seamlessly into the rest of the living area. Because of this they wanted a kitchen with a fairly minimal look, one that would harmonize visually with the rest of the space.
The transformation of the kitchen involved more than just tearing down the walls that separated the kitchen, dining room, and living room. To give the new kitchen a minimal, unobtrusive feel, Casey and Kumar opted for just one wall of traditional kitchen cabinets, flanked on the left by a wall of built-in cabinets that provide ample storage but almost disappear into the wall.
Opening the cabinet on the left reveals drawers that keep dishes — the kind that would usually be stored in a kitchen’s upper cabinets — within easy reach.
A butcher block slides out from the middle of the cabinets, to provide extra prep space when needed.
The refrigerator is also concealed, in a bank of cabinets directly across from the kitchen. A pantry cabinet sits to the left of the fridge.
Opening the kitchen up to the rest of the living area makes for a much easier flow between rooms — and a much more spacious feel. Concealing the extra storage and the refrigerator cuts down on visual clutter, and natural wood cabinetry and a beautiful stone countertop give the kitchen’s one bank of cabinets an elegance that belies its functionality. It’s a perfect fit for Casey and Kumar’s simple-but-still-sophisticated look, and a perfect solution for a young family that loves to cook and entertain.
Casey and Kumar found their contractor, Kris, on Sweeten, an online resource that connects homeowners with local design and construction experts for home renovations. You can read more about the project, see more photos, and find sources on the Sweeten blog.