A Gourmet’s Guide to Remodeling a Manhattan Condo Kitchen

If you enjoy entertaining and making great food for your guests, but your Manhattan condo kitchen more closely resembles a closet than a gourmet kitchen, you can still prepare an elegant dinner and enjoy yourself in the process if you’re willing to rethink and remodel. A gourmet cook’s kitchen is their sanctum sanctorum, their refuge, their laboratory and their workshop. However, the constraints of a small Manhattan condominium kitchen can stifle the creativity of the most intrepid Escoffier and cause one to daydream of sprawling ranch-style homes with huge kitchens. Because a ranch-style house is out of the question for most Manhattan gourmets, one must pursue a creative approach to innovative solutions for space. To that end, here is a gourmet’s guide to remodeling the kitchen in a Manhattan condo.

A logical place to begin is the design of your new kitchen. If design is not your strong suit, make an appointment with a professional designer. The pros will tell you that a successful kitchen design couples function and aesthetics. Before the pros arrive to evaluate the space, make a list of wants and needs, but temper them with practicality. In addition, be optimistic! A different set of eyes will be able to see the potential of your space and how to make the most of it.

Before sitting down with the designer, have a remodeling budget in mind. Remember that for every dollar you spend on remodeling your Manhattan condo kitchen, you can expect between 75 and 80 cents back when it’s time to sell, so use that to inform your decisions. Don’t be afraid to indulge yourself a little on this as the kitchen is the center of any home and guests naturally gravitate towards the source of all those glorious smells!

Since your kitchen is a workspace to indulge and hone your creativity, select designs that fit your personality. Above all other considerations—including colors, fixtures and appliances—make sure that the usage of space is maximized, comfortable and intuitive to you. For example, if you’ve always wished that the sink was closer to the stove or that you had more cabinet space, now’s the time to assert yourself and have the designer indulge your ideas.

Buy the best appliances. They cost more upfront but will save you quite a bit of money over time through reduced energy usage and fewer visits from appliance repair technicians. Plus, they will be designed with the gourmet cook in mind and have features that make it easier for you to create great food. Just remember to leave plenty of breathing space for the fridge and freezer. Many designs have these appliances right up against the wall in enclosures that trap heat and shorten the life of the compressor. Leave room for airflow to protect your investment. If space is really tight in your Manhattan condo kitchen, many high-end appliance manufacturers also make several different styles of space-saving ovens, fridges, dishwashers and microwaves.

Make sure your new kitchen has plenty of counter space so that you have a comfortable amount of room to prepare food. Rather than relying only on counter space against the wall that is literally and figuratively confining, consider having an island prep station or a breakfast bar with a sink, stove, or both installed. A kitchen island creates an open feeling for you, your family and your guests, and affords plenty of counter space for friends and family to help you make dinner.

Buy a multi-basin sink that makes it easy to wash food while you’re preparing it and easy to wash dishes afterwards. Multi-bowl sinks come in an endless variety of configurations to fit in tight spaces. Look for one with a smaller basin with a drain for washing and holding vegetables, seafood and other food while you’re working on another dish. Also, look for fixtures for the sink that allow form to follow function. You may want a sprayer attachment on a flexible hose to make rinsing easier and/or an articulated faucet to fill pots on the stove with water. The basin and fixtures are expensive, but you are a gourmet and need the right tools for the right job!

Manhattan condo kitchens that are especially small look larger with a couple tricks, and neither is expensive. A mirrored backsplash is a very effective and inexpensive way to make a smaller kitchen appear more spacious. Another effective and inexpensive trick is to place LED lights under the cabinets. They’re not very practical while preparing food, but they transform the kitchen and give it a sharp look in the evening hours.

When thinking about remodeling the kitchen in your Manhattan condo, always remember that you will be the one spending most of the time there. It’s your workspace; make sure the design and function will work for you.

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Manhattan House is an active participant in the New York Condo Lifestyle scene. www.manhattanhouse.com

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