New Life Spaces home
Contact Us
Get a Project Estimate

Living design · Upstate New York

Kitchen remodeling, designed for gathering

A place where family and friends naturally gather, with counters that invite people to stay, warm wood, and light that shifts from busy mornings to quiet evenings.

Start a Project See the work
A kitchen with thick butcher-block counters, blue upper cabinets and stainless appliances.

The service

The kitchen is where a home gathers.

Rather than treating a kitchen as a separate utilitarian room, we design it as part of the home's social center, a place where someone can cook while others eat, work, study, talk, or simply stay nearby.

That shapes every decision: where the counter goes and who it invites to sit, how storage is built around the structure you already have, how the lighting changes between a busy morning and a quiet evening, and even how cooking air leaves the room.

What a kitchen remodel can include

  • New layouts planned around how people gather
  • Custom islands and counters, including butcher block
  • Cabinetry and built-ins designed around columns and beams
  • Custom tile backsplashes
  • Open, built-in and live-edge shelving
  • Layered lighting: recessed, pendant and task
  • True exterior-vented range hoods
  • Barn doors and woodwork that tie the kitchen to the rooms around it

Featured project

Bright Garden Apartment Kitchen

Troy, NY · Kitchen

As part of a full apartment remodel in Troy, we built a brand-new kitchen with custom tiling and warm woodwork, including a kitchen island and double barn doors that enhance the natural tones of the space.

From design to execution, we curated every detail, using reflective surfaces and bright, layered light to make a once-dim space feel open and warm.

Drag the handle on any photo to compare before and after.

The old kitchen: cream cabinets, laminate counters, a yellow wall and a white refrigerator. Before
The new kitchen: white shaker cabinets, a blue subway-tile backsplash and a butcher-block peninsula with wooden stools. After
The old kitchen: cream cabinets, laminate counters, a yellow wall and a white refrigerator. The new kitchen: white shaker cabinets, a blue subway-tile backsplash and a butcher-block peninsula with wooden stools. Before After
A dated galley became a bright kitchen with a butcher-block peninsula.
The kitchen mid-demolition, with a new range waiting and the floor torn up. Before
The finished sink wall: white cabinets, blue tile, a stainless dishwasher and a view through to the living room. After
The kitchen mid-demolition, with a new range waiting and the floor torn up. The finished sink wall: white cabinets, blue tile, a stainless dishwasher and a view through to the living room. Before After
Sink wall: opened through to the living room.
Before: a cooktop peninsula with white laminate counters against a yellow wall. Before
After: a white island with a butcher-block top, a stainless range and microwave, and open shelving. After
Before: a cooktop peninsula with white laminate counters against a yellow wall. After: a white island with a butcher-block top, a stainless range and microwave, and open shelving. Before After
Cooking zone: new range, island and open shelving.

See the full apartment

How we approach a kitchen

  1. 01

    Designed for gathering

    A custom counter built to span existing support columns turned an awkward structural condition into a long communal perch, with integrated power for dinner, homework or morning coffee.

  2. 02

    Designing with what's already there

    Columns, beams and mechanical systems become part of the design language: an antique cabinet rebuilt around a column to read as an intentional built-in, with butcher block carried around it.

  3. 03

    Continuity in the woodwork

    Custom-stained butcher block, built-in and live-edge shelving and warm natural wood let old, new, custom and found pieces belong together.

  4. 04

    Light for every hour

    Bright recessed lighting for cooking and cleaning; softer pendants and lamps at counter height to carry the room into evening.

  5. 05

    Beauty that supports health

    True exterior ventilation at the range moves cooking exhaust outside rather than recirculating it. Air quality is part of good design.

The finished Japandi apartment kitchen: a butcher-block counter spanning pale green columns, with a ribbed pendant lamp.

In the Japandi apartment

A kitchen designed for gathering

The living room doesn't end at the kitchen. It flows into it. In a relatively compact space, that meant thinking carefully about how people gather.

A custom Amish-built counter was designed specifically to span the existing support columns, transforming an awkward structural condition into a long communal perch. Comfortable stools invite people to settle in rather than simply pass through.

See the kitchen

A kitchen in warm wood: butcher-block counters, live-edge shelving, solid-wood cabinetry and a lamp lighting the counter.

Light, mood and the psychology of home

A kitchen has different jobs at different hours

Instead of flooding the entire room from overhead, lower sources (Japanese-inspired pendants over the coffee bar, a small lamp beside the range) create intimacy and help the kitchen move from an active daytime room into a quieter evening space.

Good residential lighting isn't simply about seeing. It helps tell the body what kind of space it has entered.

Living materials

More from our kitchens

A butcher-block counter running to a bar edge, with blue cabinetry and a tiled backsplash. A kitchen run in white cabinetry with a butcher-block counter and a white tiled backsplash. The coffee bar: an antique cabinet cut and rebuilt around a support column, painted black, lit by Japanese-inspired pendants. A breakfast nook with a butcher-block table, framed landscape photograph and doors to the garden. Interior design philosophy by New Life Spaces.

How it works

We design for the day we finish, and for the years after

The people who design your space are the same people who build it, so nothing gets lost in a hand-off. You work directly with the owners, not a rotating crew of salespeople and subcontractors, and we take on a limited number of projects so each one gets focused attention. And we don't stop at completion day: we design for what the space will become.

  1. 01

    Consultation

    We start in your home with your goals, preferences and budget: what works, what doesn't, and how you want the space to feel and function day to day.

  2. 02

    Scope of work & detailed estimate

    We outline a detailed scope of work and a transparent estimate, so you have a clear picture of the timeline, costs and deliverables from the start.

  3. 03

    Design & selections

    Layout, materials, fixtures and lighting are worked out before anything is torn out, and we can help with the finishing layer too: furnishings, mirrors, decor and art.

  4. 04

    Construction

    Our craftsmen build it with precision and care, with open communication throughout and work areas left clean at the end of each day. We walk the finished space together, and we stand behind the work after we hand it back.

  5. 05

    What it becomes

    Plants mature, wood takes on character, and the space fills with the life it was built for. That's the part we design for.

In the Japandi apartment

From red steel columns to a kitchen people linger in

See how a bare basement corner (concrete floor, steel columns, open joists) became a warm kitchen with custom butcher block, a rebuilt antique coffee bar and lighting designed for evening.

See the kitchen

Other services

Bathroom Remodeling Spa-inspired bathrooms built around light, natural materials and the way you actually use the room. Explore Additional Dwelling Units & Basement Remodeling Basements and accessory apartments turned into bright, complete homes: kitchen, bath, bedrooms and all. Explore

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can you work around columns, beams and other structure?

Yes. In our Japandi apartment we built a butcher-block counter to span the existing support columns, and we rebuilt an antique cabinet around another column so it reads as a built-in.

Do you design and build, or just build?

Both. We are a design-build studio, so the same team designs your project and builds it, from the first conversation to the final walkthrough.

Who will we actually work with?

The owners. You work directly with them throughout the project, not a rotating crew of salespeople and subcontractors, and we take on a limited number of projects so each client gets focused attention.

What areas do you serve?

Albany, Troy, Saratoga Springs, Lake George, Ballston Spa, Ticonderoga, Plattsburgh and the surrounding communities in Upstate New York.

How do we get started?

Fill in our project estimate form or call (518) 401-5992. We follow up within 48 hours, and we usually begin with a conversation in your home.

Can we meet virtually?

Yes. You can meet us in person, talk on the phone or show us your space on video. Just choose a virtual consultation on the estimate form.

What does a remodel cost?

It depends on scope and materials. Most full remodels fall in the $40k+ range, and smaller projects are welcome, especially when design and craftsmanship are part of the goal.

Can you help with furnishings, art and finishing touches?

Yes. We can help you choose furnishings, mirrors, decor and art, and we have created original artwork for clients' homes.

Every kitchen slowly fills with family dinners. Let's design yours.

Tell us how your household cooks, eats and lives. We'll start with a conversation in your home.

Start a Project

Or call (518) 401-5992