Cabinet doors that stick, one outlet that works, and a counter you would not set a hot pan on.
Kitchen remodeling in Chicago is mostly a plumbing and electrical job wearing nice cabinet doors, and the old housing stock here proves it the minute the drywall comes off. We gut, rewire, re-pipe and rebuild kitchens across the city, bungalows and two-flats included. What I care about is the part nobody photographs: a level floor before any cabinet goes up, blocking behind every upper, a hood vented to the outside instead of back at your face.
A kitchen redesign gets priced by its layout, so moving the sink, the slab size and the installed cost of quartz countertops with their seams and edges are what move the number.
Below is how the work runs, what shapes the price, and the questions people ask first. Call us at (773) 377-9135 and we will come stand in your kitchen.
Kitchen Reno
A full kitchen reno is the whole room coming apart, cabinets out, soffits down, flooring up, and in a lot of older two-flats here, a surprise behind the sink wall that nobody drew on any plan. That's where the schedule moves. Rerouting a gas line or shifting the vent run costs more than swapping doors, and so does stone with a lot of movement in it, because slabs get matched and seams get planned.
Order matters too. We don't template counters off a drawing. Boxes get hung and shimmed dead level first, then countertop services come in and measure the real room, which is how you avoid a seam landing over the dishwasher.
I've seen kitchen contractors skip that step to save a week. The customer lives with it for twenty years.
Plenty of our kitchen remodeling customers have us back later for Chicago Bathroom Remodeling.
Kitchen Redesign
A kitchen redesign is the part that happens before anybody swings a hammer: where the sink lands, which wall the range ends up on, whether that peninsula wants to be an island. We measure, draw it, and tell you which walls are hiding the stack or holding up the bedroom above.
Shifting a sink across the room in an older bungalow means opening the floor to re-run drain and vent, and that drives kitchen remodeling costs far more than the cabinet doors you've been agonizing over.
Countertop services come after the boxes are set and shimmed level, never before. We template on installed cabinets, put the seam where you won't be chopping onions, and get steel under any island overhang. The installed cost of quartz countertops moves with slab thickness, edge profile, cutouts for sink and cooktop, and how many seams your layout forces.
Kitchen Bath Remodeling
Plenty of the kitchen bath remodeling we do here is one project, not two: a kitchen gutted while the hall bath behind it gets new supply lines, because the walls are already open and the shutoff is already off. Doing both at once means one dust wall, one round of patching, one inspection.
On the kitchen side, countertops are where the job shows. Granite countertop installation lives or dies on the template and the cabinet run being dead flat, since stone doesn't flex and a hump under a seam turns into a chip by the second year. Laminate countertop installation cost moves with the edge profile and the number of miters, not the slab itself.
Old Chicago bungalows with plaster and cast iron stack add time to any kitchen remodeling, and I'd rather find that on day one than week three.
Kitchen Bath Renovation
A kitchen bath renovation done together is the one scheduling trick that actually saves you something, because the same plumber, same tile setter and same inspection window cover both rooms instead of two separate mobilizations months apart. What pushes the number up is movement: relocating a sink wall, opening a bearing wall in an old two-flat, or going from a thirty-inch range to a slide-in that needs new gas and venting.
Countertops are where people change their minds last. Granite countertop installation happens after the boxes are set and leveled, because we template off the real cabinets, not the drawing, and I place the seam where your eye won't land. Laminate countertop installation is quicker and forgiving, though it will scorch near a cooktop and the edges swell if water sits.
Good kitchen remodeling plans the counters before demolition, not after.
Budget Kitchen Renovation
A budget kitchen renovation usually means keeping the plumbing and the gas line exactly where they are. Move a sink to the other wall and you're opening the floor, rerouting drain and vent, and that single decision does more to the bill than any faucet you pick. So we keep the layout, reface or paint solid cabinet boxes, swap the doors and drawer fronts, and put the money into the two things you touch every day: counters and hardware.
Stone is where people expect to get soaked. Granite countertop installation on a remnant slab often lands under the installed cost of quartz countertops for the same run, and remnants are plentiful if your kitchen is galley-sized.
What I won't do on a tight kitchen reno is laminate over a water-damaged sink base. It swells by spring and the new door hangs crooked.
Small Kitchen Remodel
A small kitchen remodel is its own puzzle, because shrinking the floor space doesn't shrink the trade list. You still need a plumber, an electrician, a tile setter and a countertop crew, all taking turns in a galley you can touch both walls of.
Most of what moves the price in a tight kitchen is whether the sink and range stay put, whether we pull the soffit to run cabinets to the ceiling, and what the plaster behind them looks like once it's open.
Countertops are the other lever. People ask about quartz countertops cost per square foot like it's one number, but edge profile, slab thickness and how many seams your layout forces all pull on it, same with granite countertop installation.
Badly done, cabinets get screwed to an out-of-plumb bungalow wall without shims, and every door sits crooked forever.
Kitchen Makeovers
Not every kitchen needs gutting, and that's what kitchen makeovers are for: same footprint, same plumbing, but new doors and drawer fronts on sound boxes, new counters, a tiled backsplash, a deeper sink and lighting that actually reaches the cutting board. In a lot of bungalow kitchens the cabinet boxes are better built than anything at a big box store, so tearing them out is spending money to go backwards.
The part worth getting right is countertop installation. We template off the finished cabinets after they're shimmed dead level, because stone doesn't bend to meet a sagging run, and an unsupported overhang will crack right at the sink cutout.
When people ask about quartz countertops cost per square foot, the answer moves with slab thickness, edge profile, how many seams your layout forces, and the cutouts. That's true of kitchen remodeling generally: the layout decides the number.
Basement Kitchen
A basement kitchen is a different job from the one upstairs, mostly because of what's under the slab. If there's no drain stub where you want the sink, we're either cutting concrete and tying into the ejector pit or we're putting the sink where the pipe already is. Ceiling height decides the rest.
Ducts, the main stack and gas lines usually run right where you wanted upper cabinets, so we box what we must and furr down only where the mechanicals really sit, not across the whole room.
Moisture is the other one. I won't set particleboard cabinet boxes straight on a slab that's been damp since the last big storm off the lake. Plywood boxes, a sealed floor, and a dehumidifier line roughed in.
Laminate countertop installation cost down here rides on corners, sink cutouts and whether we're cutting around a lally column.
Luxury Kitchen Remodel
A luxury kitchen remodel is mostly the stuff you never see again once the backsplash goes on: a hood actually ducted out through the roof instead of recirculating grease back at you, blocking in the wall for a double oven, panel space for induction. Then the stone. We template after the boxes are set and level, lay the slab out so the veining runs the length of the island, and keep the seam away from the sink cutout.
Granite countertops installed price shifts with thickness, edge profile, cutout count and whether you want a waterfall end. Cabinet lead time drives the calendar harder than our labor does; inset doors and a custom finish can sit at the shop for weeks. Clients pairing this with a kitchen bathroom remodel get both stone packages templated on one trip.
What the job involves
Most kitchen remodeling runs the same order, and demo and rough-in take the first two or three days: cabinets out, flooring up, and a look at what the last guy left inside the walls. In a lot of older two-flats here that means galvanized supply lines or a vent stack sitting exactly where you wanted the new sink.
Moving plumbing or gas is the single biggest thing that swings a budget kitchen renovation one way or the other, along with cabinet construction and how square the room actually is.
Then cabinets get set and shimmed level, countertops are templated off the installed boxes, and backsplash and trim close it out. Laminate countertop installation cost moves with linear footage, corners and whether there's a solid substrate under it. Set tops on a bowed floor and you'll see the gap behind the backsplash by spring.
What it costs
What it costs for kitchen remodeling in this city comes down to four things: the size of the room, whether we're moving the sink or the range, what shape the floor and the walls are in once the cabinets come off, and how fancy you go on the finishes. The price to install quartz countertops swings on slab choice and edge profile more than square footage.
Older two flats and bungalows tend to add a little, because once we open a wall we often find knob and tube or supply lines that have to go before anything new gets set.
We do kitchen and baths every week, so I can usually tell you over the phone what's likely to drive your number, then pin it down in person. Call us at (773) 377-9135 and we'll talk through your room.
When kitchen remodeling is the wrong fix
Sometimes kitchen remodeling is not what you need, and I'd rather say so before anybody signs anything. If your boxes are solid maple, the layout works and you just hate the counters, that's a countertop swap. Ask me about the granite countertops installed price and keep your cabinets. Tearing out good boxes to get new stone is paying demo money for nothing.
If you're listing the house in the spring, paint, new hardware and a decent faucet will do more for you than a gut.
And if the basement floods in a heavy August storm, a basement kitchen is the wrong order of operations. Water first, drain tile, the ejector pit, whatever the plumber says. Otherwise your new cabinet bases wick it up and swell at the toe kick inside a year, and then you're paying twice for the same lower run.
Why choose us for this
You've got a kitchen you quit liking years ago, and what you actually want out of kitchen remodeling is to hire one outfit, stay out of their way, and not think about this room again for ten years. That's a reasonable thing to want.
Here's where the low number usually hides. The price to install quartz countertops gets guessed off a sketch, then the template crew shows up, finds cabinet boxes out of level and an old wall that bows, and the invoice grows change orders like weeds in an alley. I measure and level first and price it after, so my figure tends not to be the smallest one on your counter.
I don't set stone over cabinets that aren't shimmed dead flat. It telegraphs at the seams and cracks around the sink cutout inside a year.
The estimate costs you nothing, and looking isn't booking.
Frequently asked questions
How much of my kitchen remodeling can be done without gutting the room?
More than people expect. If the boxes are solid plywood and the layout works, we can reface doors, add drawer hardware and set new counters without touching plaster or plumbing stacks. Moving a sink or a range is what turns a two week job into a six week one, because now we're opening walls and floors.
Should I reface the cabinets or replace them?
Reface when the boxes are square and dry. Replace when the bases are swollen at the toe kick from an old leak, or when the face frames have pulled loose. Refacing a rotten box just hides it for a year.
Will the dust get into the rest of the house?
We seal the openings with zipper walls and run a negative air machine during demo, which is the messiest stretch. Hardwood and stair treads get covered before any cabinet comes down.
Contact Bathroom Remodeling Chicago Pros now
Call the bathroom remodeling Chicago pros now and ask about kitchens, because the same crew that takes a tiled bath down to the studs handles your kitchen remodeling. Before we talk, have three things in your head: how many cabinets you want to keep, whether the sink or the range is moving, and what the floor under that old vinyl is doing.
Relocating plumbing and gas in a hundred-year-old two-flat is what stretches a schedule, far more than the door style you saved on Pinterest.
A small kitchen remodel in a Logan Square bungalow galley is a different planning problem than a wide-open rehab, and photos never show me the out-of-square wall that eats a filler strip.
Reach me at (773) 377-9135, weekdays nine to five, and we'll set a time to measure.