Kitchen Remodeling | Finesse Remodeling Call (818) 881-8333 Mon–Fri 9–5

Kitchen Remodeling Design, demo, and build — one crew, one schedule

Cabinets, countertops, flooring, lighting, and plumbing handled end to end. Fixed written price before demolition starts.

Licensed & insured · Free in-home consultation · Fixed written pricing

1989
Building here since
6
Remodeling services
12
Communities served
Free
In-home consultation
The service

Kitchen remodeling, handled end to end

A kitchen is the most disruptive room in the house to rebuild and the one that pays you back every single day afterward. Our job is to make the second part true without the first part turning into a season of your life.

Every kitchen we build starts with how the room is actually used rather than what looks good in a rendering. Where the groceries land when you come in from the garage. Which drawer opens first when you start cooking. Whether two people can pass behind an island without one of them turning sideways. We measure the space, ask those questions, and design around the answers instead of dropping a catalog layout into your footprint and hoping it fits.

From there it is one crew and one point of contact through the entire build. Demolition, framing, plumbing, electrical, cabinets, countertops, backsplash, flooring, lighting, and finish carpentry are all sequenced by us. That sequencing is the single biggest reason projects finish on the date they were promised. A kitchen does not usually run late because someone worked slowly. It runs late because the electrician showed up on a day the drywall was not ready.

Materials go on order before demolition, never after. Cabinets and stone carry the longest lead times of anything in the project, and ordering them early is what keeps a family from living out of a microwave for an extra month because a door style turned out to be backordered.

What older Valley kitchens hand us

Most of the housing stock we work in was built between the 1940s and the 1970s. That means original kitchens sized for one wall oven and a single dishwasher circuit, undersized service panels, galvanized supply lines that have narrowed with scale, cast iron drain lines, and the occasional unpermitted wall someone added in 1978. None of that is alarming in a house of that age. All of it is much cheaper to find during the walkthrough than during demolition.

Fixed written pricing

You get a fixed written price after we have seen the room, with allowances for tile, fixtures, and hardware broken out line by line. Change your mind about a faucet halfway through and you know exactly what it moves before you approve it. What we will not do is quote a kitchen over the phone.

You keep living in your house

The work zone gets dust-walled off, a temporary prep station goes into an adjacent room with your refrigerator and microwave, and the site is swept and cleared at the end of every day there is crew inside.

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Where to start

Signs your kitchen is due for a remodel

Not every dated kitchen needs a gut renovation. Some need better lighting, new counters, and doors. These are the situations where a full remodel is usually the right call rather than the expensive one.

  • You run out of counter space every time you cook. Almost always a layout problem rather than a square footage problem. The distance between sink, range, and refrigerator is working against you.
  • Cabinet doors no longer sit flush and the boxes are particleboard. Refacing only makes sense over structurally sound boxes. Swollen bottoms under the sink mean the boxes are done.
  • The breaker trips when the microwave and the kettle run together. A kitchen wired in 1958 was never intended to carry a 2020s appliance load.
  • There is water damage under the sink or a soft spot in the floor. This gets worse and more expensive every month it waits, and it is the one item on this list that is not cosmetic.
  • The kitchen is walled off from where everyone actually gathers. In a postwar ranch this is the single change that most transforms how the whole house feels.
  • You are planning to sell within two or three years. A dated kitchen is the first thing buyers price down, and they discount it by more than the remodel would have cost.
  • Lighting is one fixture in the middle of the ceiling. You are working in your own shadow at every counter in the room.

If you are somewhere between a refresh and a full remodel, say so at the consultation. We will price both and tell you honestly which one the room actually needs.

Scope

What is included in your remodel

Every full kitchen remodel covers all six of these. Anything outside this scope is listed separately on your quote.

Layout & design

Measured plans, cabinet configuration, and appliance placement built around how you cook.

Demolition & disposal

Old cabinets, counters, and flooring out. Dust walls up, debris hauled, site swept daily.

Cabinets & storage

Stock, semi-custom, or custom boxes set level and scribed to walls that are rarely straight.

Countertops & backsplash

Templated after cabinets are set, fabricated, and installed with sink and faucet cutouts.

Plumbing & electrical

Sink, dishwasher, disposal, gas, dedicated circuits, outlets, and under-cabinet lighting.

Flooring & finish carpentry

Flooring, trim, toe kicks, paint, and the punch list walkthrough before final payment.

How it works

The remodel, step by step

Seven phases from first phone call to final walkthrough. Plan check runs alongside your material lead times rather than after them, which is how a permitted kitchen and an unpermitted one end up finishing within days of each other.

Day 1 · 60–90 minutes

In-home consultation

We walk the kitchen, measure everything, open the panel, and look under the sink. This is where the constraints that change a design turn up: a load-bearing wall, a drain line that cannot move, a window nobody wants to lose.

Week 1 · 3–5 days

Design and fixed quote

A measured layout, material options at three price points, and a fixed written price with allowances broken out. Revisions are free until the plan is right, because changing a drawing costs nothing and changing framing costs plenty.

Ordering window

Materials ordered, permits filed

Cabinets and stone go on order first because they carry the longest lead times. If the scope needs a permit, plans are submitted in parallel. Your kitchen stays fully usable through this entire phase.

2–4 days

Demolition and prep

Dust walls go up, the temporary prep station gets set, and the old kitchen comes out. Debris is hauled the same day rather than sitting in a bin at the curb for a week.

1–2 weeks

Rough-in and inspection

Plumbing, electrical, and any framing changes happen while the walls are open. This is where galvanized supply lines and undersized circuits get dealt with. The inspector signs off before anything is closed up, and we are on site to meet them.

2–3 weeks

Cabinets, counters, and finishes

Cabinets are set level and scribed to the wall, then stone is templated against the installed boxes rather than off a drawing. Backsplash, flooring, lighting, and paint follow in order.

Final day

Punch list and walkthrough

We walk the kitchen with you and write down every last item, down to a drawer that needs adjusting and a caulk line that needs redoing. Those get fixed before final payment rather than after it.

Design

Kitchen layouts we build

Layout drives everything downstream: how much counter you end up with, where plumbing has to run, and what the project costs. Here is how each configuration actually performs in a real house rather than in a catalog.

Galley

Two parallel runs with a walkway between them. The most efficient layout per square foot and the cheapest to build, because plumbing and electrical stay on existing walls. It struggles when two people cook at once and it feels closed in unless one end opens to another room. Common in older Valley homes and worth keeping when the drain stack is not going anywhere.

L-shaped

Two runs meeting at a corner with the rest of the room left open. Flexible, forgiving of an odd room shape, and easy to add a table or a compact island to. The corner cabinet is the weak point. Specify a pull-out or a lazy Susan or you permanently lose that space to things you will never reach again.

U-shaped

Three connected runs. The most counter and the most storage you can get out of a given footprint, with a very short path between sink, range, and refrigerator. It can feel enclosed in a small room and it gives you two corners to solve instead of one. Best when the open side faces a dining area.

Island and peninsula

An island adds prep surface, seating, and storage, and it is what most people picture when they picture a remodel. It needs real clearance on every side you walk past, and forcing one into a room that cannot hold it makes the kitchen worse rather than better. Putting a sink or cooktop in the island means running plumbing or gas through the floor, which on a slab foundation is the single largest cost jump in most remodels. A peninsula anchored to an existing wall gets you much of the benefit without that trenching.

Opening it up

Removing the wall between a postwar kitchen and the living space is the change that most transforms how a house feels day to day. Whether it is straightforward or expensive comes down to one question: is that wall load-bearing, and does it carry plumbing, ducting, or electrical? We answer that at the consultation, before anyone falls in love with the idea, because a beam and the engineering behind it move a budget substantially.

Materials

Choosing cabinets, counters, and flooring

Cabinets and countertops account for most of a kitchen budget, which makes them the two decisions worth the most of your attention.

Cabinets

TypeWhat you getLead timeBest for
StockFixed sizes and finishes, off the shelf. Quality varies widely by brand — check whether the boxes are plywood or particleboard before comparing prices.Days to 2 weeksTight budgets, standard layouts, rental property
Semi-customStandard box sizes with real choice in door style, finish, and interior hardware. The sweet spot for most remodels.4–8 weeksMost full remodels
CustomBuilt to your exact dimensions. The answer for out-of-square walls, tall ceilings, and specific storage problems.8–12 weeksOlder homes and non-standard rooms

Scroll the table sideways on a phone.

Whichever tier you land on, plywood boxes and soft-close hardware are worth the upcharge. They are the difference between a kitchen that still feels solid in year ten and one that does not.

Countertops

SurfaceHolds up toWatch out forUpkeep
QuartzStains, scratches, daily abuseDirect heat — always use a trivetNone. Soap and water.
GraniteHeat, cutting, heavy useEvery slab is different — view yours in personSeal periodically
Porcelain slabHeat, UV, outdoor kitchensEdge detailing is limitedNone
Butcher blockKnife work, warmth underhandStanding water near the sinkOil regularly

Flooring and lighting

Luxury vinyl plank has become the default in kitchens for good reason: genuinely waterproof, comfortable underfoot, and forgiving of a dropped pan. Porcelain tile is the most durable option and the hardest to stand on for an hour. Engineered hardwood makes sense when the kitchen opens to hardwood living space and a transition strip would look wrong, but it is the least tolerant of water of the three.

Lighting is where a remodel either comes together or quietly falls short, and it is the line homeowners cut first and regret most. A finished kitchen wants three layers: ambient light overhead, task lighting under the cabinets aimed at the counters where you actually work, and accent light over an island or sink. One ceiling fixture leaves you chopping vegetables in your own shadow no matter how good the cabinets are.

Budget

What actually drives the cost

Two kitchens of identical size can differ enormously in price. These are the variables that move the number, roughly in order of impact.

  • Cabinets. Typically the largest single line on the quote. Stock to semi-custom is usually the most consequential budget decision in the whole project.
  • Whether plumbing or gas moves. Keeping the sink and range where they are costs a fraction of relocating them, and on a slab foundation that gap widens considerably.
  • Countertop material and square footage. Slab cost varies by multiples between tiers, and a large island can add meaningful material on its own.
  • Electrical scope. Older kitchens routinely need added dedicated circuits and updated outlets to meet current code before anything else can proceed. A panel upgrade is its own line.
  • Structural changes. Removing a bearing wall means a beam, engineering, and permits. It is the change most likely to move a budget past what was planned for it.
  • Appliances. Not usually in our scope, but choose them early. A counter-depth or panel-ready unit changes the cabinet order, and finding that out after the order is placed is expensive.
  • What is behind the walls. Galvanized supply lines, undersized wiring, prior unpermitted work, and water damage all turn up after demolition in houses of this age.
Plan for the unknown

Hold roughly 10 to 15 percent of your budget in reserve for what demolition uncovers, particularly in a house built before 1980. On most projects it goes unused and you keep it. On the ones where it is needed, it is the difference between a decision and a crisis.

We do not publish a price range on this page, and you should be skeptical of contractors who do. A number given without a walkthrough behind it is a marketing figure and it almost always climbs once someone actually sees the room. We price the job after measuring it, and that price is the one you pay.

Answers

Kitchen remodeling questions

What is included in a full kitchen remodel?
Layout and design, demolition and haul-off, cabinets, countertops, backsplash, flooring, lighting and electrical, plumbing, finish carpentry, appliance installation, and paint. Anything outside that scope is listed separately on your quote so nothing arrives as a surprise mid-project.
How long does a kitchen remodel take?
Most full remodels run 4 to 8 weeks on site. Cabinet and countertop lead times are the largest variable, which is why we place those orders before demolition rather than after. If the job needs a permit, plan check happens in parallel with the ordering window instead of after it.
Do I have to move plumbing to change my layout?
Often not. A large share of the kitchens we improve gain real working space from a different cabinet configuration, a relocated refrigerator, and a proper lighting plan without the sink moving an inch. Relocating drain lines is the expensive version, particularly on a slab, so we price both and let you decide which is worth it.
What does a kitchen remodel cost?
Cabinets and countertops carry most of the budget, followed by whether plumbing or electrical has to move and whether the panel can support the new load. A refresh that keeps the existing footprint costs considerably less than a gut with a relocated sink and a new island. We give you a fixed written price after measuring the space, not a range over the phone.
Can I live in the house during the remodel?
Yes, and most clients do. We dust-wall the kitchen off from the rest of the house, set up a temporary prep station with your refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker in an adjacent room, and clear the site at the end of every workday there is crew inside.
Do you handle permits and inspections?
Yes. Work that moves plumbing, gas, or electrical, or that alters walls, is permitted. In Encino and most Valley neighborhoods that goes through the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety; Burbank, Calabasas, and Beverly Hills run their own departments. We prepare the plans, file them, and meet the inspector on site.
Will my electrical panel need to be upgraded?
Frequently, in a house built before the 1970s. A modern kitchen carries far more appliance load than the original design allowed for, and induction cooktops in particular need dedicated capacity. We check the panel during the consultation so an upgrade is priced into the quote rather than discovered after demolition.
What warranty comes with the work?
Our workmanship is warrantied, and manufacturer warranties on cabinets, countertops, and fixtures pass directly to you. The terms are written into your contract before you sign anything.
Where we work

Proudly serving these areas

We remodel kitchens throughout Encino and the surrounding San Fernando Valley and Westside communities. Tap your city for local housing stock and permitting.

Not on the list? Call (818) 881-8333 — we travel outside our core area for the right project.

Our other services

Ready to remodel your kitchen?

Tell us what you are working with and we will walk the space, check the panel, talk through layout options, and put a fixed written price in front of you. No charge, no obligation.