A Fresh Start in Bayside: An Apartment Kitchen Opened Into the Heart of the Home

More than a kitchen

This Bayside apartment renovation was about more than replacing an outdated kitchen. It was about helping a homeowner begin a new chapter.

After losing a loved one, our client was left with an apartment filled with years of belongings, keepsakes and family memories. Clearing all of it at once would have been overwhelming, so we approached the project with patience rather than a schedule. We worked alongside her little by little, giving her the time and space to decide what she wanted to keep, donate or remove. Nothing was discarded without her approval.

That phased clearing happened over several visits before construction started. Only once she was ready did demolition begin.

Enclosed, dark, and full of memories

The original kitchen was narrow, enclosed and disconnected from the main living area. The aging built-in painted shelving offered limited, awkward storage, the finishes were worn, and a single dated ceiling fixture was doing all the lighting for the room. The dividing walls made the whole apartment feel smaller and darker than it actually was.

The cabinetry wall, before and after

Both views look at the same run — the awkward open shelving that became the new full-height cabinetry, quartz counter and matching backsplash. Drag the handle to compare.

Opened up and rebuilt

Once the space was ready, we completely opened and rebuilt the kitchen.

• Phased clearing of the apartment — sorted in stages, with sentimental belongings protected and nothing removed without approval.
• Complete demolition of the original kitchen, with dust containment and floor protection up throughout.
• Removal of the dividing walls to connect the kitchen to the living area.
• New structural support — a beam and bolted post carrying the load across the expanded opening.
• Updated electrical, lighting and plumbing, re-run into the reframed opening.
• Full-height cabinetry with substantially more storage than the original run.
• Large center island with seating and workspace, in waterfall quartz.
• Quartz countertops and a matching full-height backsplash.
• New flooring and finished walls throughout the connected area.
• Modern fixtures, appliances and recessed lighting on layered circuits.

Structure first

The dividing walls were carrying load, so the open layout was only possible with a new beam. We shored the ceiling, set the structural support, then tied the new electrical, lighting and plumbing into the reframed opening before any finish work started.

All of it — demolition, structure, rough-in and every finish — ran three weeks on site. That pace is possible because the crew is owner-supervised and the trades are ours rather than subcontracted out.

The new centerpiece of the apartment

The former enclosed kitchen is now a bright, open centerpiece of the apartment. Soft contemporary cabinetry, dramatic quartz surfaces, warm flooring and layered lighting give the space a refined but comfortable feeling.

The waterfall quartz island sits exactly where the dividing wall used to be, and provides room for cooking, dining and gathering. The beam above it was left exposed and finished dark — a deliberate marker of what was opened up rather than something to hide in a soffit. Opening the kitchen to the living area changed how the entire apartment feels: more spacious, more welcoming, and connected as one room instead of two.

Gallery

How the job ran

Scope & specifications

Thinking about opening up your kitchen?

Removing a wall in a Queens apartment or co-op is a structural question first and a design question second. Before any number means anything, someone has to determine whether the wall is carrying load, what has to span the new opening, and what your building or board will require in the way of drawings and approvals. We will walk the space, tell you honestly what the wall is doing, and give you an itemized fixed proposal — like the $68,000 written number on this job — rather than an hourly estimate that moves.

See kitchen remodeling in Queens for how we scope this work, the Bayside service area page for more local projects, or gut renovations in Queens for whole-home scopes. Two more case studies: our Whitestone kitchen remodel and the Malba shou sugi ban media wall.