Projects › Lower Manhattan › 308 Mott Street
Completed project · Nolita, New York, NY
A 400 square foot studio on the sixth floor of an early 1900s Nolita walk-up, with the kitchen and the bathroom done together. A freestanding cast-iron tub came down six flights and a shower went in where it had stood. The kitchen kept its layout and gained a filed electrical upgrade, from a fuse box to a permitted circuit breaker panel. Every appliance, tile and fitting below is the one that was specified and installed.
Job record
- Project
- Studio kitchen renovation, bathroom tub-to-shower conversion and a filed electrical upgrade
- Location
- 308 Mott Street, Nolita, Manhattan, NY
- Building
- Early 1900s studio condo, sixth-floor walk-up, joist-construction floors and ceilings
- Apartment
- 400 sq ft
- Completed
- 2025 to 2026
- Kitchen layout
- Unchanged. Cabinets went back on the same layout at a similar height
- Bathroom layout
- The tub became a shower on the same footprint; the sink moved to a new wall
- Electrical
- Major permit and load letter filed, new circuit breaker panel, original fuse box retained as a splice box
- Scope
- Kitchen renovation · Bathroom renovation · Tub-to-shower conversion · Electrical upgrade · Plumbing branch replacement · Waterproofing · Soundproofing · Floor and wall tile · Cabinetry · Stone · Painting
- Design
- Materials lists last updated 25 November 2025 · Designer Preston
The starting point: metal cabinets and a cast-iron tub
The kitchen was white metal wall cabinets fixed to exposed brick, a 20 inch freestanding range, and a counter with room for one thing at a time. The bathroom still had its freestanding cast-iron rolltop tub, a wall-mount sink, a tank toilet and white tile with a black band running through it at chest height. Both rooms worked. Neither had been touched in a long time, and the apartment was still on a fuse box.
What the crew did, in order
Get everything up six flights
There is no elevator. Every cabinet, the stone, the appliances and the tile went up six flights by hand, and the cast-iron tub came down the same way. On a walk-up this sets the schedule more than anything that happens in the apartment.
Strip both rooms
The kitchen lost three wall cabinets and two base cabinets, the countertops, the sink, faucet, shut-off valves and branch lines, the ceiling light, the above-counter quad outlet and switch, a 20 inch freestanding gas range and a 24 inch recirculating hood. The bathroom lost its floor and wall tile, the freestanding cast-iron tub, the wall-mount sink, the toilet, a recessed tall medicine cabinet, a surface-mount cabinet, the ceiling light and the hot, cold, waste and vent branch lines.
File the electrical permit
This is the part of the job that took the longest and shows the least. A major electrical permit was pulled with a load letter, and inspections and sign-offs were coordinated. A new circuit breaker panel went into a code-compliant location nearby, and the original fuse box stayed in place as a splice box rather than being ripped out.
Run the new circuits
Dedicated lines went to the refrigerator, the range hood, two above-counter GFCI duplexes and a quad, with an added outlet near the fridge and a gas ignition outlet. One more dedicated line was run the length of the apartment to a 20 amp GFCI duplex beside the bathroom sink.
Replace the branch lines
New shut-off valves, check valves and water hammer arrestors went in, with hot, cold, waste and vent lines run back to the risers. The bathroom sink was going to a new position beside the shower, so its supply and waste had to be re-run rather than reconnected.
Waterproof, then tile
A Laticrete waterproof membrane went down on the bathroom floor and up the walls six inches, with membrane on the shower enclosure walls as well. Acoustical underlayment went down before any tile. The floor took Tilebar Cascais in White Ornate at nine inches, the shower floor took Daltile penny round in Arctic White, and the walls took Daltile Arctic White 3 by 6 to roughly eight feet in the shower and four feet outside it.
Build the shower where the tub was
A lead pan and curb were set in the tub’s old footprint and cement board went up in the enclosure. The walls were resurfaced where they needed it first.
Set the cabinets and the fittings
Fabuwood Illume Tuscany went in in Azul Marino, on the same layout as the cabinets that came out and at a similar height. The Caesarstone Blizzard counter and backsplash were templated to it. Every visible fitting in both rooms is matte black, and the same Arctic White 3 by 6 tile with matte black Schluter trim runs in the kitchen backsplash and the bathroom.
The kitchen
The bathroom
Materials and finishes
Kitchen
| Element | Specification |
|---|---|
| Cabinetry | Fabuwood Illume Tuscany, shaker door, in Azul Marino |
| Cabinet hardware | Top Knobs M1017 Pennington bar pull in flat black, 5 1/16 in centres |
| Countertop and backsplash stone | Caesarstone 2141 Blizzard, 3 cm |
| Backsplash tile | Daltile Color Wheel 019036MOD1P4 in Arctic White, 3 by 6 in, with Schluter A80MGS trim in matte black |
| Sink | Blanco 443050 stainless steel in satin polish, 20 by 16 by 9 in, with a 440007 strainer |
| Faucet | Delta 16879-BL-DST in matte black |
| Ceiling light | Kuzco KUZ2615206 Arnold CCT LED five-light track in matte black, 35.13 in |
| Switches and outlets | Lutron Claro in white: CAR-15-GFST-WH GFCI, CARS-15-TR-WH outlets and an ST-PRO-N-WH Sunnata Pro dimmer |
| Appliances | Refrigerator, gas range and range hood, all client supplied and installed in their existing positions |
| Grout | Laticrete Permacolor Select NS 60 in Dusty Grey |
Bathroom
| Element | Specification |
|---|---|
| Wall tile | Daltile Color Wheel 019036MOD1P4 in Arctic White, 3 by 6 in, with Schluter A80MGS trim in matte black |
| Floor tile | Tilebar Cascais in White Ornate, 9 by 9 in |
| Shower floor tile | Daltile Color Wheel 0190PNYRDMSGL penny round in Arctic White, 1 in |
| Corner shelves | Schluter SES2D5MGS pentagon corner shelf in matte black, 8 1/4 in, two |
| Shower valve and trim | Delta R10000-UNBX body with Trinsic Monitor 17 Series T17059-BL trim in matte black |
| Showerhead | Delta RP103694BL modern single-setting raincan, 10 in, on an RP46870BL 16 in arm with an RP6025BL flange, all matte black |
| Basin | Nameek’s Scarabeo 5002 Teorema rectangular ceramic basin in white, 23.62 in, wall hung in a new position beside the shower |
| Basin faucet | Delta Trinsic 559LF-BLLPU in matte black at 1.2 gpm, with an RP101632BL push-pop drain and a Kingston Brass KPK400 trap and supply kit in matte black |
| Toilet | TOTO CST775CEFG#01 Drake two-piece, round front, 1.28 gpf, with a THU808#01 actuator and SS113#01 seat in Cotton |
| Medicine cabinet | Fleurco MCHS1936-14 in sandblasted aluminium, 19 by 36 in |
| Ceiling light | AFX Lighting AFX2222385 in black, 20 in |
| Stone saddle | Caesarstone 2141 Blizzard, 3 cm |
| Accessories | Delta Trinsic 759240-BL towel bar and towel ring in matte black |
| Switches and outlets | Lutron in Snow: SCR-20-GFST-SW 20 amp GFCI and an ST-PRO-N-SW Sunnata Pro dimmer |
| Soundproofing | SoundControl QTSCU 4005 acoustical underlayment, 5 mm |
| Paint | Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace OC-65, Aura Bath and Spa on the walls, matched to the existing paint |
| Grout | Laticrete Permacolor Select NS 60 Dusty Grey on the walls, 9 Frosty on both floors |
The result
More MyHome projects in Lower Manhattan
Questions people ask about renovating a small pre-war apartment
Can you replace a fuse box in a pre-war apartment?
Yes, and it is a filed job rather than an afternoon. A major electrical permit was pulled here with a load letter, and inspections and sign-offs were coordinated before anything was closed up. The new circuit breaker panel went into a code-compliant position nearby and the original fuse box was left in place as a splice box, which is normally cheaper and less destructive than chasing every old run back to a new location.
What happens to a cast-iron tub in a sixth-floor walk-up?
It comes down the stairs. A freestanding cast-iron rolltop tub is the single heaviest thing in a bathroom like this, and in a building with no elevator the removal is a scheduled piece of work in its own right. Everything that replaced it went up the same six flights.
Can a bathroom sink be moved to a different wall?
It can, provided the supply and waste can reach the risers. This sink moved to a new position beside the shower, so new hot, cold, waste and vent lines were run rather than reconnected. That is what makes moving a fixture a different job from replacing one, and it is why the answer depends on where the risers are rather than on how far you want to move it.
Does a 400 square foot studio need a full gut?
This one did not. The kitchen cabinets went back on the same layout at a similar height, and both rooms kept their footprints apart from the tub and the sink. What was replaced was everything behind the finishes: the branch lines, the electrical service and the waterproofing. In a small apartment that is usually the better trade, because a changed layout costs space you do not have.
Why use one finish across a whole small apartment?
Every visible fitting in both rooms here is matte black, and the same Arctic White 3 by 6 tile with matte black trim runs in the kitchen backsplash and the bathroom. In 400 square feet you see two rooms at once from most of the apartment, so a single finish reads as deliberate where a second one reads as a seam.
