For almost twenty years, Laura and Tim’s 1929 Queens townhouse served because the backdrop for elevating their household. However whereas wealthy in historical past, the house’s getting old galley kitchen was cramped, crumbling, and affected by water injury. What started as a vital replace quickly developed right into a transformative imaginative and prescient: not simply transforming the kitchen, however extending the rear of their house completely, searching for a vivid, trendy area that seamlessly blended improved stream and storage with the dwelling’s interval character.
A household reenergizes the again of their house—and provides an extension
- Owners: Almost a few a long time after they purchased their house, Laura and Tim posted their galley kitchen rework on Sweeten
- The place: Rego Park, QueensNew York
- Major renovation: Including sq. footage to the again of a townhome and updating an ill-organized kitchen
- With: Sweeten normal contractor
- Our function: Sweeten matches house renovation tasks with vetted normal contractors, providing steerage, instruments, and assist—free of charge.
“After” photographs by Pixy Interiors for Sweeten
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Time for a change
In 2001, Laura and Tim purchased and moved into their first house—a 1929 brick townhouse in Queens. The one-family house measures 1,360 sq. toes on two flooring, plus a completed basement. Having raised their household there, the pair had been lastly able to sort out a number of the points that had plagued their charming, however problematic, home.
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The galley-style kitchen was falling aside and had additionally suffered water injury from a leaking bathe upstairs. A kitchen rework with new cupboards, flooring, and wall therapies had been the preliminary plan. They’d lately bought new home equipment however the remainder of the area had gotten “previous and grungy,” based on Laura.




A full-extension challenge
They wished to create a “cozy, trendy kitchen that also matched the interval really feel in the remainder of the home whereas offering extra storage and higher stream.” The kitchen additionally had a drafty door to the patio, which they by no means used due to its impractical location. An inside designer buddy, Suzy Leon of Suzy Leon Design, Ltd., made ideas, and one factor led to a different—taking the owners from a kitchen rework to a full-blown townhouse extension challenge. Laura and Tim posted their challenge to Sweeten to be related with vetted transforming companies who labored in her Queens neighborhood. They then selected their Sweeten contractor to carry out the townhouse kitchen extension challenge.
At Sweeten, we’re specialists in any respect issues normal contractors. Right here’s how Sweeten works: We pre-screen them for our community, rigorously choose the perfect ones on your transforming challenge, and work intently with lots of of normal contractors on daily basis.

Reorganizing the area
On account of the townhouse extension, the previous patio grew to become a part of the kitchen and eating area, and skylights had been added to the brand new ceiling to herald extra mild. The kitchen is now a fantastically organized and cheerful area for the household. Because it remained a galley format, the owners selected easy textures and light-weight colours to distinction a wide-plank darkish wooden ground with some grain and character.
A vivid and trendy really feel
The cupboards have Shaker-style fronts in a minty inexperienced, which “matches the texture of the previous home however can also be clear and trendy on the similar time.” A tall pantry cupboard opens to disclose a column of drawers for optimum meals storage. The white quartz countertop lightens up the area, and an unlimited sink means there’ll be sufficient room for even the biggest pots. The outsized undercounter sink has an prompt sizzling faucet, disposal, and chrome steel end to match the home equipment. At one finish, a wine fridge offers further area for drinks subsequent to the fridge.
“The kitchen extension got here out fantastically! We love the brand new stream, the sunshine, and the additional area.” Laura stories that the extension is a stunning addition to the home the place company naturally gravitate, and the skylights add mild and recent air. Transferring the doorway between the eating room and kitchen improved the stream to the basement.

Getting issues to code
As a result of domino impact usually seen in renovations, the basement additionally needed to be introduced as much as code—with updates to the lavatory and boiler. In addition they took the renovation as a possibility to put in mini-split methods in the entire home in order that they’d not should take care of inefficient window models. The owners love their new area, and are happy with having addressed their lengthy listing of damaged or less-than-perfect issues in the home.
Thanks, Laura and Tim, for sharing your own home!
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Submit your challenge on Sweeten free of charge and make your dream kitchen a actuality. Sweeten places you in charge of your renovation, from discovering the right contractor and gathering design inspirationto utilizing value guides to plan your finances properly.
Townhouse Kitchen Extension Renovation Supplies
- Design marketing consultant: Suzy Leon Design
- Kitchen cupboards: customized.
- Cupboard paint in #466 Backyard Path; inside paint in Chantilly Lace: Benjamin Moore
- Schaub and Firm Northport {hardware} in brushed bronze: Construct.com
- Flooring in Deerfield Seashore: PID Flooring
- Kohler Prolific 33” sink: Kohler
- White quartz slab counter tops: Marble Methods
- Sliding patio door: Andersen
- Photo voltaic-powered “Recent Air” skylights: Velux
- Park Harbor Summerlake ceiling mild fixture in vintage brass: Construct.com
- Acrylic Tiffany counter stools, Parsons desk (customized peak): Room & Board