SoCal Kitchen Remodeling
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Kitchen remodeling contractors across the Los Angeles area

Planning a kitchen in Los Angeles, Ventura or north Orange County? This site explains what actually moves the price here, and connects you with a provider covering your area.

Planning a kitchen?

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Describe the kitchen and what you are hoping to change, and you will be connected with a provider covering your area.

Two quotes on the same kitchen can be tens of thousands of dollars apart, and the reason is almost never the cabinets you can see. It is what is behind the wall, and whether anything is moving.

The one question that sets the price bracket

Keeping the sink, the range and the refrigerator where they are keeps the plumbing, the gas line and the venting where they are. That is a finish project: cabinetry, counters, flooring, appliances, lighting. Move any one of the three and the project opens a wall or a floor, which changes the trade mix, the permit position and the schedule.

Removing a wall goes further again. If it carries load, the work needs a structural calculation and a header sized for the span. That is not an addition to a kitchen quote; it is a separate scope that happens to be taking place in a kitchen.

The supply pipe is easy to move. The drain is the one that decides the price. Move any one of these three and the plumbing, gas or electrical moves with it. That single decision usually explains more of the price difference between two quotes than the cabinets do.
Kitchen plan showing supply and drain runs, with a section showing the drain fall A kitchen plan. Pressurized supply runs inside the walls in straight orthogonal runs to the sink and range; the refrigerator takes only a quarter-inch cold water line for its ice maker, and no drain at all. The drain runs separately from the sink back to the soil stack, which is fixed. Below the plan, a section shows the drain falling about a quarter inch per foot towards the stack. load-bearing wall? island supply: pressurized, runs anywhere in the wall stack does not move Point 1: the sink 1 Point 2: the range 2 Point 3: the refrigerator. A cold water line for the ice maker, and no drain 3 in section: the drain has to fall the whole way sink fall ≈ ¼ in. per foot stack floor

Nothing here moves on screen. Hover a number to see what feeds it.

  1. 1 The sink. The one fixture with a drain, which is why moving it costs more than moving anything else.
  2. 2 The range. Gas and a vent path, but no drain. Easier to relocate than it looks.
  3. 3 The refrigerator. A cold water line for the ice maker, and nothing else to reroute.
Each step adds trades, a permit position and time — not just cost. The same kitchen at three levels of scope. Almost every quote you receive is answering one of these three questions, and two quotes that look far apart are frequently answering different ones.
The same kitchen drawn at three levels of scope Three plans of an identical kitchen. In the first, the sink, range and refrigerator stay where they are and only surfaces change. In the second, the sink has moved to the opposite run, so plumbing has to be re-routed. In the third, the wall between the kitchen and the next room has been removed and replaced by a beam. Level 1: Finishes only 1 Finishes only nothing moves Cabinets, counters, flooring,appliances, lighting. Level 2: Layout change 2 Layout change plumbing or gas moves Opens a floor or a wall.Permit territory. Level 3: Wall removed 3 beam Wall removed structural Structural calculation, asized header, inspection.

Hover a level to isolate it.

Why the age of the house matters more than its size

A kitchen built in the 1920s was wired for a light and a refrigerator. One built in the 1950s was wired for a fraction of what a current kitchen carries. Bringing the circuits up to code (dedicated appliance circuits, ground-fault protection at the counters, sometimes a panel upgrade) is real work that is easy to leave out of a headline number and impossible to skip once an inspector is involved.

Older housing also hides things. Original wiring, galvanized supply lines and framing that was never meant to carry an opening all turn up after demolition rather than before. The useful question is not whether that will happen, but who carries the cost when it does.

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