Small galley kitchen

This actually sounds like a pretty good idea. Anyone do this? Share pics?

Just be careful - many co-ops prohibit "wet over dry" renovations, meaning you can't put anything with a water line over a "dry" area in an apartment. I am sure somene else has a better definition. We ran into this issue when we wanted to enlarge a studio that had a tiny kitchen with a "mini" fridge. Our architect had drawings that would have put the a regular size refrigerator into the dining area against a wall. The architect who reviewed the plans for the board vetoed it, citing "no wet over dry" and there was no arguing the point. Your broker (or the sellers) could probably get a quick answer from the managing agent (or at least find out if it would be a no go for this reason).

Thanks for the insight. Did your proposal include an ice maker in the fridge? I didn't think an ordinary no ice maker fridge would qualify for "wet over dry."

renee

I did a kitchen extension similar to what you are talking about. I opened up the doorway to the kitchen (into the dining area), and extended the counter top and cabinets a few feet into the dining area. I then bought a banquette to fit in the dining area. We have a wine fridge in the "dry" area under the counter top, and the coop was fine with that. I am not sure if we tried to relocate the full refrigerator if that would have been allowed. I love the way it turned out. We did run into some electrical issues since electrical wiring was running through the doorway we removed.

I don't see why a refrigerator would be considered wet unless it has a waterline to dispense ice/water.

There are a lot of things that can leak out of a refrigerator.

renee454,

If this is indeed a co-op, speak with your building manager directly or the building architect regarding the wet over dry scenario. They are the gate keepers and each building will view this differently. I would not trust the broker/seller alone for this info. They want the sale.

As I recall our proposal initally had a referigerator with an icemaker. We then tried amending to not having an icemaker or waterline, but it didn't matter to the architect. The refrigerator itself (perhaps becasue of reason Matt above points out) qualified as "wet over dry." Perhaps the architect/board would be afraid that once a refrigerator was there, subsequent owner could try and replace with an ice /water dispensing model. We understood the position and simply remodeled the existing kitchen.