12 Details from a High-End NYC Apartment Renovation

A High-End apartment renovation is defined by the quality of the craftsmanship and materials used throughout the home. For example, high-end renovations use custom cabinetry and top-of-the-line appliances to create a truly luxury home. Quality is everything when discussing luxury residential interiors. 

Design is very subjective, but quality is not. Of course, we all have our own opinions on design, but building well with good materials and craftsmanship is essential to a high-end home renovation.

I am Jorge Fontan, an architect in New York and owner of Fontan Architecture, a Manhattan-based architecture firm. At our firm, we work on various project types, including high-end residential interiors. In this post, I will walk you through a few details from one of our renovation projects on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. 

 

Wide Plank Floors

The floors are one of the most critical parts of a home. You will walk on them every day and see them throughout the apartment. I put high-quality wood floors on my list of essentials for a High-End renovation. I specifically like to use wide plank floors in our residential projects.

Wide plank floors have a luxurious look that thin planks do not. In the picture below, you can see an eight-inch wide plank wood floor. The size of the planks works well with the proportion of the space, and it helps elevate the overall quality of the home.

 

Stone Slab Kitchen Backsplash

The kitchen backsplash is a prominent aspect of the kitchen design. Using a slab is a very nice option for a backsplash in a high-end kitchen. Slabs are large pieces of stone that can come in sizes up to ten feet by five feet, depending on the material and supplier. The most significant advantage of using a slab backsplash is avoiding or reducing seams, as seen in all the grout lines of a tile backsplash.

In the kitchen below, the backsplash is one large piece of marble. This marble slab backsplash achieves an exquisite look consistent with an appropriate standard for a luxury home.

 

Custom Cabinets 

Cabinets have a vast range of quality and pricing. High-quality custom cabinets are going to provide the best craftsmanship. I will give you a warning that not all custom cabinetry is made to the same standard. Custom cabinetry or millwork will allow you freedom of design to do whatever you like.

In the picture below, you can see the cabinet doors in this custom kitchen. These have a curved beveled detail with brass finger pulls. This unique custom detail makes the overall kitchen design more luxurious. These white oak cabinets were made locally in a small carpentry shop. The craftsmanship is top quality, and so is the service provided by the contractor. I expect better quality craftsmanship and service from smaller custom shops regarding millwork.

 

Custom Details

A theme you will notice in this post is that I will mention custom a lot while discussing high-end interiors. Custom details are what separates a luxury renovation.

Below, you will see the kitchen island with a little custom detail that runs the perimeter of the countertop and waterfall. This little step design is a nice touch, making this kitchen slightly more unique. It is subtle and tasteful.

 

Top-of-the-Line Appliances

You have to use top-of-the-line products, appliances, fixtures, and materials to consider a home high-end. Purchasing good quality products is crucial for quality design.

In the photo below, you will see high-end wall ovens from Gaggenau. These appliances are high quality and stylish. Also, you can notice the brass light fixture with alabaster orbs. All these items are top-quality. 

 

Recessed Baseboards

Baseboards exist to protect the bottom of your wall. They also hide imperfections around the perimeter of your floor. A recessed baseboard is a modern baseboard option to achieve a sleeker aesthetic.

In the photo below, we have a recessed baseboard with a reveal. The baseboard and wall are flush. This detail is more work than installing a typical baseboard and will be a little more expensive. A recessed baseboard is optional for high-end residential projects, but it can be an excellent way to add a modern touch to your home. 

 

Custom Entertainment Center

Custom millwork is one of the most critical points in defining high-end interiors. This point goes for the entertainment center as well.

This entertainment center has white oak custom millwork with brass pulls and a travertine top over the drawers. The quality of fabrication is what makes this high-end. This entrainment center was made by the same millworker as the kitchen.

 

Textured Walls

There are many ways to finish walls; paint, wallpaper, paneling, and specialty finishes are a few options. Adding a little texture to a wall can create some detail that distinguishes the space from a typical painted surface.

The walls in the foyer have a textured plaster finish with some deliberate irregularity. This type of finish is more work than just painting a wall. You will often find textured walls in luxury homes, but of course, this look is not for everyone.

 

Custom Curved Powder Room Vanity

Another item you can have custom-made is the bathroom vanity.

We have a custom curved vanity in the powder room with a curved onyx top. This curved detail is a very unique feature of this powder room.

 

Custom Marble Sink

You can buy a sink, but you can also make one. Sinks can be custom-made from marble slabs. A custom marble sink is a great look and allows us to design it however you want.

The photo below is of a double marble sink we had custom-made for this primary bathroom.

 

Marble Slab Bathroom

Making a bathroom out of slabs is much more high-end than using tiles. Slabs are large pieces that significantly reduce the number of seams and grout lines in your bathroom. Slabs are more elegant and more luxurious.

The picture below shows that the back wall of the primary bathroom is made of slabs, including the niche. Slabs are a great look for high-end interiors. It does not get more elegant than this.

 

Seamless Shower Niches

Bathroom niches are a great convenience for your bathroom and can be made in many ways. High-quality artisans will be able to make a bathroom niche seamlessly.

Here, you can see niches recessed in a marble slab wall. These miter-cut pieces of marble installed continuously create a very high-end aesthetic.

 

Luxury Apartment Renovations 

Luxury renovations are all about the quality and details. Craftsmanship, materials, and design combine to make an elevated home remodel.

 

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Thank You for Reading Our Blog Post on this New York High-End Apartment Renovation.

I hope this was helpful. Contact us at Fontan Architecture directly if you want to speak with an architect about a potential project.

 

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