The Insider: Precisely Fitted Kitchen Opens Up Cobble Hill Townhouse

Mar 21, 2023

Photo by Ty Cole

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A "terrible kitchen" was the jumping-off point for what turned into a more thoroughgoing renovation of a 19th century townhouse, said Long Island City-based architect Sarah Jacoby, who masterminded the project. A photographer/artist and her family had bought the building, in very good condition and with plentiful architectural detail, several years earlier, living in the upper triplex and renting out the garden floor. When they called Jacoby, they were ready to replace the boxed-in IKEA kitchen they had installed as a temporary measure.

"The kitchen was floating on linoleum in the middle of the parlor floor, with full walls that were not original," Jacoby recalled. In its place, she created a fully open kitchen with custom cabinetry and moldings restored to match, or at least closely approximate, existing vintage detail in the rest of the space. "They wanted a kitchen that felt like it belonged," Jacoby said.

Attention to detail throughout the process was extraordinary. The homeowner is an artist with "a very precise vision," Jacoby said. "Getting the proportions and symmetry correct so the kitchen feels integrated, though obviously new," was important. That extended to the parquet floor, which was replicated to match the original, even down to placement of the nail holes.

Jacoby also carried out a complete redo and reconfiguration of the primary bath on the second floor, along with its adjacent dressing room, bumping up the luxury quotient with custom millwork and top-of-the-line fixtures.

The chic modern furnishings were chosen by the homeowners. Jacoby spec’d the design-forward lighting.

The dining room is at the front of the house, with a lighting fixture from David Weeks.

Jacoby widened the opening between the kitchen and living room, replacing two little doorways with no molding.

Totally custom millwork from Avalon enabled "a lot of attention paid to symmetry and alignment," the architect said. Upper cabinets float a few inches away from the wall, concealing air conditioning duct work and a stove hood vent.

The countertops are Lincoln Statuario marble, the faucets from Dornbracht. The unique coiled cabinet pulls were sourced from Armac Martin, a century-old company based in Birmingham, England.

Not much was needed in the living room at the rear of the parlor floor, which has an unusual fireplace of brown marble and a chandelier from Menu, a Danish brand. Jacoby removed a long burled credenza added by previous owners from the wall and rehung it lower. "It was counter height, which was somehow wrong," she said.

Previous homeowners had added an 8-foot-deep enclosed sun room at the rear of the parlor floor, with decorative wrought iron window grills whose restoration was part of the project.

The primary bedroom, new bath and dressing area, and a home office occupy the second floor.

Extensive new built-ins from European Closet & Cabinet (actually based in Sunset Park), provide an abundance of clothing storage in a pass-through dressing area between the primary bedroom and bath.

Gowanus-based Tamer Restoration made the new bathroom's custom vanity. A freestanding tub from Blu Bathworks, Dolomiti marble countertops, and faucets from Watermark are among the fixtures and fittings.

Another long credenza was in place on the second floor when the current owners bought the house, in a room now used as a home office and TV-watching space. Jacoby used a slab of leftover marble from the kitchen to repair its damaged top.

A den with wall-hung Vitsoe shelving shares the top floor with the children's bedrooms.

[Photos by Ty Cole]

The Insider is Brownstoner's weekly in-depth look at a notable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.

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