Park Slope Kitchen Reno: An Introduction

A long-time Park Sloper approached us recently eager to share the process of renovating his kitchen. Below is his introduction along with a few photos of how the kitchen looked before demolition began at the beginning of the month.

We purchased our Park Slope brownstone nearly twenty years ago. A thoughtful renovation was done by the owners who sold the house to the family from whom we bought the house. It seems as if they did their renovation, divorced and sold. The only part of the renovation that, in our view, left a little to be desired, was the kitchen. Using mass-produced cabinetry and countertops made of laminated particle board, it had a limited life span. We raised two kids in our home, as well as four dogs. Now that our kids are in college and grad school (and are home for only 50 or 60 days a year), it was clearly time to do a gut kitchen renovation.

Last spring, we interviewed a number of Brooklyn- and Manhattan-based architects but, ultimately, decided that the extra expense of an architect was unnecessary. We found Jonathan Schippers, a young real estate developer and design-and-build contractor on these pages and were impressed both with his portfolio and with his ideas for our kitchen, many of which we shared.

We negotiated a contract with Jon, reviewed and adjusted his renderings and began to choose materials, appliances and finishes. The original renovators of the brownstone had the good sense to build the kitchen around a 1940s-era Chambers gas stove (see photo) and we knew we wanted to do the same. We also had the Loftmen, Brooklyn-based carpenters, do two prior jobs for us and knew we wanted them involved in construction of cabinetry.

The ultimate design we developed might be termed a modified-Shaker style kitchen, with very simple, linear definition. We decided upon cherry for cabinetry, natural stone for the floors, a radiant heating system, since our forced hot-air heat seems to deliver minimal BTUs to the kitchen, granite countertops, counter seating and a in-the-wall pantry. We decided to keep the small but often-used bathroom.

More photos on the jump…