This $53K Kitchen Renovation Is the Anti-HGTV Aesthetic

Vibrant colors and textures keep this small space in New York City feeling lively and inviting.

Mar 12, 2024 - 14:51

This $53K Kitchen Renovation Is the Anti-HGTV Aesthetic

Vibrant colors and textures keep this small space in New York City feeling lively and inviting.

When Masha Tsimring and Nicholas Hussong set out to renovate the kitchen in their Queens, New York, apartment, they encouraged architects Lane Rick and Can Vu Bui of the firm Office of Things to make it zanier. "I was really interested in it not being an HGTV-like home renovation," Nicholas says. But they were also aware of limitations. Rick says the team was guided by the question "How do you get the most you can from as little work as possible?"

The color-drenched New York kitchen of Nicholas Hussong and Masha Tsimring (and their cat, Watson) is an exercise in renovating for high impact with as little work as possible. They went for materials with texture, including Clé zellige tiles in Fired Opal on the backsplash and a sintered stone countertop, and their contractor painted Ikea cabinets with Benjamin Moore’s Racing Orange.

Masha and Nicholas, who are theater-industry designers, wanted to change many things in their 900-square-foot place. But Rick and Vu Bui recommended concentrating their efforts in order to stretch the budget. Uniting the generic galley kitchen (think white cabinets and faux-granite counters) and adjacent room (which the previous residents used as their primary bedroom) would get the couple more space to entertain and better natural light.