NYKB Review

Setting the right mood for the customer’s design presentation is a major part of New York Kitchen & Bath’s business approach. NYKB, which has showrooms in New York City, has specially designed areas in their showrooms for clients to view their kitchen and bath renderings.

“Our showrooms have beautifully appointed viewing rooms where we present designs, illustrate estimates and view video clips from various television programs that have featured NYKB,” said Ted Pratt, marketing director for NYKB. “This comfortable and informative environment helps customers make informed choices and helps demonstrate NYKB’s expertise in full-service kitchen and bath renovation.”

A core goal of NYKB is to provide customers with a clear vision of what their remodeled kitchens and baths will look like. To illustrate this, the company uses PowerPoint presentations of full-color 20/20 renderings.
“It gives clients an amazing glimpse into what their finished project will look like,” Pratt commented. “Home renovation is an arduous task enough without having to worry about what it will look like. We give customers life-like renditions.”

NYKB’s designers have all been trained to use Google SketchUp, an online tool that allows designers to create sketches using three-dimensional product illustrations. “It’s a powerful tool, and part of its charm is its speed and ease of use,” explained Pratt. “Some designers find Google SketchUp particularly helpful when sitting down with clients and hashing out ideas, because a sketch can be altered as fast as a mouse can be clicked. The application not only provides wonderful talking points for the designer in the design phase, but also helps a client feel more closely involved with the project.”

“NYKB has been featured on television as a leader in New York City’s kitchen and bath design,” Pratt continued. “This is great, but what’s really terrific is that we can play these aggregated clips on DVD in our sidewalk window display and connect the same clips online to play for customers in our viewing rooms. Potential customers see examples of our work, before and after, and are duly impressed. It certainly helps us in our business.”

About NYKB - NYKB, with two Manhattan showrooms, is New York City’s leading one-stop remodeling design/build firm. The broad range, talent and experience of NYKB’s trusted professionals make it the ideal resource for busy New Yorkers who are interested in superior home renovation. With an extensive background in the intricacies of Manhattan service-oriented work, NYKB creates affordable and unique kitchen/bathroom designs for clients. By staying current with the latest trends in traditional, transitional and contemporary styles, NYKB provides clients with an exceptionally talented team of designers. NYKB works with clients on a personal level, designing kitchens and bathrooms that meet their specific needs. Visit NYKB’s website at http://www.nykb.com.

Event Celebrates 63 Years of QuakerMaid Brand Excellence

New York, NY – March 20, 2009

Are you looking for a cabinet style that’s balanced, proportional, and substantial? A cabinet style that can be contemporary or rustic? Well if you are, go to NYKB!

This progressive, full-service remodeling firm is now introducing what may be the perfect design solution for kitchens and baths. Designed with European inspiration, the Koln Style, by QuakerMaid is remarkable in its versatility.

At NYKB, the design professionals can create exactly the concept and look you want for a kitchen, bath, media area, or playroom. All of the QuakerMaid cabinetry is handmade, full custom, in any color you desire. What even adds to the excitement is the NYKB QuakerMaid brand celebration that offers factory authorized savings of 15% through April 30th.

Life has just gotten so much simpler for everyone whose involved in home improvement… one source, that’s NYKB! One style, that’s Koln by QuakerMaid. One event, that’s the NYKB brand celebration!

About NYKB - NYKB, with two Manhattan showrooms is New York City’s leading one-stop shop remodeling design/build firm. The broad range, talent and experience of NYKB’s trusted professionals make it the ideal resource for busy New Yorkers who are interested in superior home renovation. With an extensive background in the intricacies of Manhattan service-oriented work, NYKB creates affordable and unique kitchen/bathroom designs for clients. By staying current with the latest trends in traditional, transitional and contemporary styles NYKB provides clients with an exceptionally talented team of designers. NYKB works with clients on a personal level, designing kitchens and bathrooms that meet their personal needs.

Web Site=http://www.nykb.com

For more information, visit NYKB, or contact Perry Hiiman, 1504 2nd Ave (at 79th St); or 8 W. 25th St (at Broadway), Phone (212) 737-5600.

Setting the right mood for the customer’s design presentation is a major part of New York Kitchen & Bath’s business approach. NYKB, which has showrooms based in New York City, has specially designed areas in their showrooms for clients to view their kitchen and bath renderings.

“Our showrooms have beautifully appointed viewing rooms where we present designs, illustrate estimates and view video clips from various television programs that have featured NYKB,” reports Ted Pratt, marketing director for NYKB. “This comfortable and informative environment helps customers make informed choices and helps demonstrate NYKB’s expertise in full-service kitchen and bath renovation.”
A core goal of NYKB is to provide customers with a clear vision of what their remodeled kitchens and baths will look like. To illustrate this, the company uses PowerPoint presentations of full-color 20/20 renderings.
“It gives clients an amazing glimpse into what their finished project will look like,” Pratt offers. “Home renovation is an arduous task enough without having to worry about what it will look like. We give customers life-like renditions.”

NYKB’s designers have all been trained to use Google SketchUp, an online tool that allows designers to create sketches using three-dimensional product illustrations. “It’s a powerful tool, and part of its charm is its speed and ease of use,” offers Pratt. “Some designers find Google SketchUp particularly helpful when sitting down with clients and hashing out ideas, because a sketch can be altered as fast as a mouse can be clicked. The application not only makes wonderful talking points for the designer in the design phase, but also helps a client feel more closely involved with the project.

“NYKB has been featured on television as a leader in New York City kitchen and bath design, which is great,” Pratt continues. “But what’s really terrific is that we can both play these aggregated clips on DVD in our sidewalk window display and connect the same clips online to play for customers in our viewing rooms. Potential customers see our examples of our work, before and after, and are duly impressed. It certainly helps us in our business.”

Perry Hiiman’s vision of high tech kitchen design at NYKB is duly recognized at Kitchen & Bath Design News, a leading publication in home design.

“Our showrooms have beautifully appointed viewing rooms where we present designs, illustrate estimates and view video clips from various television programs that have featured NYKB,” reports Ted Pratt, marketing director for NYKB. “This comfortable and informative environment helps customers make informed choices and helps demonstrate NYKB’s expertise in full-service kitchen and bath renovation.”

When New York City’s favorite local news outlet, NY1 News, wanted to do a piece on today’s trends in kitchen and bathroom remodeling they called NYKB - and we opened our showrooms for a double feature in today’s latest looks.  The stories aired on Feb. 12th & 13th and can visitors can go to NY1’s website or an NYKB showroom to view more video. 

Reporter Shazia Khan interviewed a host of NYKB designers for the story. More on kitchens: “Back then you used to just use island for prep area, these days you are actually putting appliances in your island. You can put a cook top, you can put an oven, a wine cooler,” says Mairav Gargano of New York Kitchen and Bath.

Hood design has also reached new heights over the past few years. You now have the option to downsize or even hide your hood.

“For clients who want an integrated hood, this is a great feature,” says New York Kitchen and Bath interior designer Ali Swidler, demonstrating a hood that slides out from a glass panel. “It covers the cooking surface and you can’t really see it. It’s hidden in the cabinet.”

This is from NY1’s bathroom segment: “The new trend in the toilet bowls is the tank being hidden in the wall – it’s like the tankless look,” says New York Kitchen and Bath interior designer Steve Babus. “So that the toilet looks more like a furniture piece and it’s really trendy in these open floor plans of bathrooms. The concept here is that the button for the flusher is mounted basically on a tile, but in this case you know we are showing the internal view of it and you would just see the bowl itself separate, so it’s like a free-standing piece.”

Special thanks to NY1’s Shazia Khan, whose professionalism and kindness put the whole showroom at ease.   

Here is the story, about replacing built-in metal hampers in older, 1950s-era kitchens.   

Steve Babus, a designer at New York Kitchen & Bath, recommends removing old metal hampers because their narrow configuration can make them difficult to use. “It’s a great concept, but it’s only so deep and it’s very hard to get things in and out of there,” he said. “No one’s come up with anything really modern that works in that space.”

Mr. Babus prefers to replace hampers with custom recessed cabinets. The added space should let you clean out your existing vanity, where you can hide a laundry basket like Umbra’s Crunch can, above ($21 to $26.50, from 800-387-5122 or umbra.com), which can be adjusted in height.

New York Kitchen & Bath (800-780-8700 or nykb.com) will build a custom cabinet for a hole occupied by a hamper for about $800. The company can also increase the height of the hole to fit a larger cabinet for a total cost of between $1,500 and $2,000.

For those who have pedestal sinks or are looking for a more sophisticated solution, Mr. Babus suggests borrowing space from an adjoining closet and installing a recessed linen tower with a pull-out hamper basket. “It’s not a huge remodeling thing,” he said. “You basically cut a hole and slide the linen tower in. We do that a lot. You lose a bit of closet space, but most of the time people are using that closet for their linens anyway.” The cost, he said, is about $1,800.

It’s a cinch for pros like Steve and other designers at NYKB.

Terrific article here for kitchen designers in New York and elsewhere.

… To simplify the work processes in the kitchen, it’s important to be cognizant of the value of energy management. Each person has a finite amount of energy depending on physical heritage, age and general health. Minimizing the efforts needed to cook in the new room is possible if you are familiar with the research and ask the right questions when you first interview your client.

Designing expressly for a client’s needs.  That’s a key ingredient in creating a happy customer base. 

The reason so many customers choose a contractor in manhattan is because of people like Mairav Gargano, whose talent and knack for design make her an NYKB favorite, not to mention her warmth and sense of humor. 

On Monday, October 29th, Mairav became a mother for the first time, giving birth to Alessia.  Both mother and child are doing well and everyone at NYKB sends Mairav the very best.

October, thanks to our friends at NKBA.org, is National Kitchen and Bath Month.  It’s wonderful that someone thought enough to enact this month of recognition. Anyone thinking of kitchen remodeling in New York should really should get to NYKB showrooms and see what we’ve got to offer. Start with our simply gorgeous showrooms and go from there.

NYKB officially recognized National Kitchen and Bath Month with a press release, put out today.  We’ll put up a link later.  It touches on a few industry pointers that consumers should think about when mulling over the prospect of home renovation.