Combining Units

A lot of people would put in a washer/dryer, if that is allowed

Yes.

1. Turned kitchen into laundry and extra storage. In another case, turned the old kitchen into large walkin closet for master bedroom.

2. The bank will return escrow upon capping water and gas, mid construction. Can't speak to whether DOB will care about appliances when signing off on job. Look into whether architect will sign off w/o DOB.

How about a 2nd bathroom? Maybe have one bathroom with a kick-ass walk-in shower, and the second one with the "requisite" tub.

Laundry room would be great, but many pre-war co-ops do not allow. Don't know if you fall into this category of apartments.

Is it possible to put a toilet in the space that was once the kitchen? Doesn't sewage have to go through a special pipe, not just that sink drain pipe?

went through this recently. Turned the extra kitchen into study/guest bedroom. You would never know it used to be a kitchen.

roykirk,

Most of the projects where we combined units the we have taken one kitchen and turned into a bathroom. I think as long as you cap everything you should be fine. I think at the very least you should turn it into an office instead of just leaving it as useless space

Hi

Thanks for the feedback!

The 2nd apt is a studio we plan to use as our new master bedroom. It would be nice to expand the bath room, as it is small, but that's probably more work than it is worth.

The lady of the house would LOVE to have washer dryer there, but the coop board does not allow. We are thinking walk in closet or office.

What should I do with the kitchen stuff? The previous owner renovated about 2 years ago, so there is granite, "new" cabinets and stainless steel appliances. Used for sure, but not old. Unfortunately, none of their appliances would fit in our kitchen

We were actually looking forward to having an extra kitchen until we found out about this requirement. Arrrgh. We also talked about combining the kitchens (they share a wall) but ... no idea what is that wall (water, gas, electric for sure). Has anyone done that before?

Dwn Twn, good to know. We were worried that there would be no way to hide the pipes and stuff. Did you have to do anything special to cover them up?

Depending on the structural issues, you might be able to do an eat-in kitchen with some kitchen equipment in the "extra" kitchen. If you don't have a stove in the extra kitchen it might not be considered a kitchen for NY purposes. Years ago, I would think a contractor/architect would be helpful here.

Sorry, "years ago" I think that a sink was considered basic kitchen for CofO purposes

Is that who I would ask, an architect? I did want to know what constituted a "kitchen". I would like to keep the fridge if possible. Need a place to put all the big packs of food we get at Costco.

Roykirk,

I would think you should be able to keep the fridge as far as the other stuff i would either donate it or give it away

There are probably regulations online - the entire building code is online.

I would recommend getting a good architect, designer or contractor involved in the process early on. Also, you may want to see if others in the building have done this same combination and you may be able to get ideas from them. Based on your questions, my sense is you will have a much better and efficient outcome if you can get a professional on board who can help get you through the process both in terms of helping you achieve your goals for the space and getting through the DOB, management company and board approval process.

I'm not saying it's a good idea but if they don't allow W/D you might just turn the extra kitchen into a hugh aquarium. It should be big enough for those medium size sharks.
How cool would that be!

How to handle the kitchen in an apartment combination is a very interesting challenge. The comments concerning the CO doesn't affect the DOB alone, it also involves the Department of Taxation & Finance. The city views your apartment(s)as two separate dwellings. Officially merging them requires the complete removal of a kitchen (this may be loosely interpreted, for one could maintain a laundry or wetbar in the area). Removing the appliances involves opening the walls and capping the connections. The most costly aspect to this, beyond the demolition, is the capping of a gas line to prevent future leaks/accidents.

I've seen apartments that have combined simply by joining the spaces through a closet or other non-structural wall. In that case, the owner maintains two complete apartments each with a door to the common hallway. In a combined unit, you will have one tax bill, one kitchen, and one official door to the hallway. How you configure the space post combination will largely be affected by the building's rules for wet over dry, plumbing risers, and building codes for light/accessibility.

Best of luck with your research. Feel free to contact info@hirshsondesign.com should you have further questions.

P.S. with the aquarium it's still wet over wet.

I second the aquarium. And I would retrofit an old fridge into an aquarium.
Acrylic fridge doors shouldnt be too hard. Or even an oven.

BTW, this is the worst. Apocolypse. Ever.

Hirshon: as far as co-ops go, there is no D of Finance involvement or C of O change.

roykirk1, everything was capped. Walls sheet rocked, new wood floor, new ceiling, service door covered over. Ending up putting a wall treatment, but room could have easily just been painted. It is a legal bedroom from a DOB perspective by the way given it had a window and we were able to put in a good size closet. An architect can figure out how to do this.

http://realestateqa.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/too-many-kitchens-in-the-apartment/