160 West 66th Street Apartment Renovation

The apartment before the work

A high-floor apartment with two exposures, parquet flooring throughout and radiator enclosures running under every window. The layout worked. What did not work was everything attached to it: a galley kitchen with oak fronts and dark floor tile, a primary bathroom finished in beige marble from the tub deck to the walls, and lighting that amounted to a handful of wall sconces and some recessed cans in the hallway.

The brief covered the two wet rooms, the millwork and the lighting, and left the plan alone. No walls were moved. The one structural option on the table, demolishing the wall between the kitchen and the living space, was priced and declined.

The two rooms that carried the real work look like this at the start.

What the crew did, in order

1. Protection first, then demolition

   Hallways and common areas were re-cleaned at the end of every day, with vents, exhaust access and radiator connections taped off throughout. Then the kitchen and primary bathroom came out: cabinets, countertops, sinks, faucets, the radiator, every appliance, the ceiling lighting and all of the tile.

2. Both wet rooms taken back to the risers

   This is the part that does not show in a photograph. In the kitchen, new hot and cold lines and new waste and vent lines were run as branch replacements all the way back to the building risers, with new shut-off valves at two points, check valves, water hammer arrestors and code pipe insulation. The primary bathroom got the same treatment plus a new two inch drain line to the riser for the shower stall and a new lead pan under it.

3. Electrical moved where the old positions were not legal

   The microwave hood circuit was relocated because the existing one sat too low to meet code. Kitchen switches and outlets were replaced with GFCI devices, and the fridge side of the kitchen was rewired in low voltage for LED under-cabinet lighting.

4. Walls opened to brace for grab bars

   Three locations in the primary bathroom were opened up so that grab bars could be blocked and fixed legally rather than screwed into tile. A niche was framed in the shower once demolition showed where it could go, and a waterproofed ledge was framed along the long wall at the tub.

5. Waterproofing, then a new subfloor

   A new mud-job subfloor went in to take the tile. Floors were waterproofed with Laticrete 9235 and carried eight inches up the walls, full height inside the shower.

6. Soffits framed for the lighting

   Rather than cut into the existing ceiling, new soffits were framed along the long wall and the wall shared with the kitchen. Power was pulled from the existing wall sconce circuits, so no new home runs were needed. Three recessed cans went into the shared-wall soffit and six into the long wall, both on switches that already existed.

7. Tile, stone and cabinetry

   Wall tile full height through the shower and half height elsewhere, floor tile and saddles, then the vanity, the medicine cabinets and the kitchen cabinetry. Countertops came with installation included, so that was the one trade MyHome did not carry.

8. Millwork, moldings and paint

   Built-in seating at both living room windows, a bookcase along the east wall, and closet-style built-ins in the bedroom nook. Two hundred and fifty six linear feet of new sanitary base molding, caulked and sealed, then the whole apartment painted.

The kitchen

The footprint is unchanged. What changed is every surface and every line feeding it. Lower cabinets are Lauriermax in Almi Silver, with a garbage pull-out under the sink on the right. The uppers are the same maker in a grey-beige Tossini Elm melamine, and the tall run that hides the refrigerator carries the same face.

Counter and backsplash are one material, Caesarstone 4120 Raven with an eased edge, which is why the backsplash reads as the counter turned up the wall rather than as a separate element. The sink is a Blanco Precis 24 in Silgranit, Coal Black, and the faucet is a Hansgrohe Focus HighArc two-spray pull-down in matte black at 1.75 gallons per minute.

Appliances were bought by the client and installed here: a panel-ready Bosch refrigerator, a Bosch stainless gas range, a Bosch microwave hood and a panel-ready Miele dishwasher. Under the cabinets, five Richelieu Atom LED puck lights at 4000K run off a single 24 volt dimmable supply. The GFCI outlets on the backsplash are black; the ones serving the appliances are white and sit out of sight.

The primary bathroom

The interesting decision here is what was kept. A Manhattan bathroom this size usually loses the tub to gain a decent shower. This one kept both, which meant two complete thermostatic valve assemblies rather than one.

The tub is a Kohler Underscore, sixty by thirty, right drain, set in an alcove, with a Kohler Clearflo slotted overflow drain in brushed nickel. The shower stall runs on Infinity Drain components: a cast iron clamping drain and floor drain under a matte black four inch cover.

Shower and tub each get an AXOR One thermostatic module with a two-function trim in brushed nickel. The shower carries an AXOR One 75 showerhead at 1.75 gallons per minute; both get a handshower on a forty nine inch metal hose with its own holder and outlet. The tub spout is an AXOR Uno straight. The lavatory faucet is an AXOR One single-hole at 1.2 gallons per minute, set in a Lacava Kubitop solid surface top over a Lacava Kubista vanity.

Above it, two Robern M Series Reserve medicine cabinets, both surface mounted: a thirty by thirty over the sink with the electric upgrade, which brings interior lighting, USB charging, outlets and a sliding magnification mirror, and a twenty four by thirty over the toilet. Three Robern Tenor fluted lights in polished nickel sit left, center and right of them. The toilet is a Toto Aquia IV with an integrated Washlet S7, which is why electric was run to it.

Tile is Akdo Mason twelve by twenty four in Steel Soft on the walls, an Akdo Aplomb Mini Dots accent in white matte, and a Daltile one inch hex in matte ebony on the floor. Grout was specified three ways to match: Mist on the field, Bright White on the accent, Raven on the floor. The shower curb, the room saddle and the shelf over the tub are all Caesarstone Raven, the same stone as the kitchen counter.

The powder room

The powder room was the one wet space not taken back to the studs. It got a decorative rebuild instead: Cole and Son Acquario wallpaper in black and multi, carried onto the closet door as well, a silver leaf ceiling supplied by the client, and trim paint matched to the wallpaper rather than chosen first.

Bedroom, hallway and living room

Outside the wet rooms the work was millwork, lighting and electrical. In the bedroom, power was run for electric blinds, a built-in went in at the window to give seating, up to two outlets were relocated, a wall sconce was moved, and a linen-style wallcovering went on the long wall only.

The living room got built-in seating under both windows and a built-in bookcase along the east wall. The radiator enclosures were rebuilt in white and topped with Caesarstone Vivid White, three pieces in total, two in the living room and one in the bedroom, with satin aluminum grilles.

Lighting across the apartment is twenty two WAC Lotos four inch adjustable recessed fixtures in the new soffits, selectable from 2700K to 5000K, plus seven Lithonia WF4 units replacing existing cans in the hallway and bedroom one for one. Switching is Lutron Maestro, thirteen dimmers across the living areas and bedroom. Two change orders moved parts of that package from white to gray and then to slate.

Three door handles were replaced with Emtek round knobs on disk rosettes in satin nickel, the coat closet got a custom mirror, and the laundry closet a primed shelf and brackets.

Materials and finishes

Kitchen

Primary bathroom

Powder room

Apartment

Two materials change orders were issued during the job, on 25 April and 7 May 2024. Both were switch and outlet finishes: part of the Lutron package moved to gray, then to slate, and a towel bar and seven further recessed fixtures were added.

The result

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