Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Styles & brands we work with
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterHow Much Does Kitchen Remodel Cost in Los Angeles?
A full kitchen remodel in Los Angeles typically costs between $16,520 and $53,100 in 2026, with most mid-range projects in neighborhoods like Sherman Oaks, Mar Vista, and Silver Lake landing around $28,000 to $38,000. A smaller, cosmetic refresh (refacing cabinets, new countertops, a backsplash) can run $10,620 to $23,600, while a down-to-the-studs renovation with a layout change, structural work, and premium finishes pushes toward the top of that range and sometimes beyond.
Those numbers come from the bids we write every week at Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles, not from a national cost calculator. LA pricing is its own animal: earthquake code requirements, older housing stock, and permitting costs in the City of Los Angeles all shape the final number. Here’s how that breaks down line by line.
Kitchen Remodel Cost Breakdown (2026)
Every kitchen remodel has the same underlying structure. What changes from house to house is the size of the room, the condition of what’s behind the walls, and the cabinet line you choose. Here’s what homeowners in Los Angeles should expect at each stage of the job.
| Line Item | Typical Cost Range (Los Angeles, 2026) | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Design & planning | $750 to $3,200 | Layout drawings, material selection, permit-ready plans when required |
| Demolition & disposal | $1,800 to $4,700 | Tearing out cabinets, counters, flooring, and old appliances; haul-away fees |
| Cabinetry | $4,720 to $15,340 | Stock, semi-custom (KraftMaid), or custom (Wellborn) cabinets, including hardware |
| Countertops | $2,360 to $7,670 | Quartz (Cambria, Silestone, Caesarstone), granite, butcher block, or laminate; cutout and install |
| Backsplash | $945 to $2,950 | Tile, grout, and labor for a standard 30-square-foot area |
| Flooring | $1,500 to $5,300 | Tile, hardwood, or LVP for a 200-square-foot kitchen; includes subfloor prep |
| Plumbing | $800 to $3,500 | Moving sink lines, installing faucet and disposal, code-required updates |
| Electrical | $900 to $4,200 | New circuits, under-cabinet lighting, moving outlets, hood wiring |
| Lighting fixtures | $400 to $2,100 | Recessed cans, pendants, under-cabinet LEDs |
| Appliances | $2,500 to $12,000 | Refrigerator, range, dishwasher, hood; ranges from mid-tier to pro-style |
| Paint & finishing | $600 to $2,200 | Walls, trim, ceiling; drywall repair after demo |
| Permits | $800 to $3,000 | City of LA building permit, electrical, plumbing; cost varies by scope |
What drives the number up or down more than anything else is whether you’re keeping the same layout or moving plumbing and gas lines. A kitchen where the sink, range, and fridge stay put is a fundamentally cheaper job, sometimes by $4,000 to $8,000. Move the sink to the other side of the room and you’re now paying to relocate the drain line, the water supply lines, and possibly the vent stack, all of which require a plumbing permit and an inspection.
The other big lever is the cabinet line. Stock cabinets from a home center will land at the bottom of the cabinetry range. Semi-custom KraftMaid cabinets add about 40% to that, and full custom from Wellborn can double it. We install all three, and we’ll walk you through the trade-offs honestly: sometimes a stock cabinet with good hardware and a well-built box is the right answer for a rental, and sometimes a custom pantry wall is the whole reason you’re doing the remodel.
What Affects Kitchen Remodel Pricing in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is not one housing market; it is dozens. A kitchen remodel in a 1920s Spanish bungalow in Highland Park costs differently than a remodel in a 1970s tract house in Westchester or a 2005 condo in Playa Vista. Here’s what moves the number in this city specifically.
- Age of the house and what’s hiding in the walls. LA’s pre-1960 housing stock is full of surprises: knob-and-tube wiring, galvanized plumbing that has corroded from the inside, and plaster walls that crumble when you open them. Bringing a pre-1960 kitchen up to current code can add $3,000 to $9,000 to the job, and you won’t know until the drywall comes down.
- Earthquake and seismic code requirements. The City of Los Angeles requires seismic strapping on water heaters and several structural fasteners when you open walls on an exterior-facing kitchen. These are not optional, and they add real cost that homeowners in other states never see.
- Layout changes and plumbing relocation. As noted above, moving the sink or gas range means rerouting supply lines, drain lines, and vents. In a slab-on-grade home (common in the Valley), you may not be able to move the sink at all without breaking concrete.
- Cabinet grade and material. Frameless European-style cabinets run about 20% to 30% more than framed American-style boxes, and plywood construction costs more than particleboard. If your kitchen is the one room you cook in daily, that difference is usually worth it.
- Countertop material. Laminate countertops run $25 to $40 per square foot installed. Quartz from Cambria, Silestone, or Caesarstone runs $70 to $120 per square foot. Natural stone like marble can hit $150 and up, and marble etches with lemon juice and red wine. For a busy LA kitchen, quartz is the material we recommend most.
- Permit expediting delays. The LA Department of Building and Safety is better than it used to be, but plan review can still add two to six weeks to a project timeline. If you’re in a historic district like Hancock Park or Angelino Heights, expect additional review layers and extra cost.
Kitchen Remodel Cost by Style of Remodel
Not every kitchen remodel means gutting the room. Here are the three most common scopes we price in Los Angeles, with real ranges for each.
Cosmetic Refresh: $10,620 to $23,600
This is the “I like the layout, I hate the finishes” remodel. Cabinets stay in place and get painted or refaced, countertops are replaced, a new backsplash goes in, and the hardware, faucet, and lighting get updated. No walls move, no plumbing shifts, and the kitchen is out of commission for about a week and a half. In neighborhoods like Atwater Village and Culver City, where the original Spanish or mid-century footprint already works, a cosmetic refresh gets you a dramatically different room for half the price of a full remodel.
Full Remodel, Same Layout: $16,520 to $38,000
Everything comes out: cabinets, counters, flooring, appliances, sometimes drywall. New cabinets, counters, flooring, lighting, plumbing fixtures, and appliances go back in, but the sink, range, and fridge stay in their current positions. This is the most common kitchen remodel we do in Los Angeles, and it is where the bulk of that $16,520 to $53,100 range sits. A typical 200-square-foot kitchen in a Los Feliz or Brentwood home falls around $26,000 to $34,000 at this scope, depending on cabinet line and countertop choice.
Full Remodel with Layout Change: $38,000 to $53,100+
Now you’re moving the sink, relocating the range, knocking down a wall between the kitchen and dining room, or adding a kitchen island where there wasn’t one before. Kitchen island installation alone runs $3,540 to $11,800 in Los Angeles, and that assumes the plumbing and electrical are already in place. Structural changes bring in a structural engineer, and that cost starts around $1,500 for the consultation and letter. This is the remodel where a written price up front matters most, because it ensures the number you’re given on day one is the number you’re still looking at on demo day.
How to Save on a Kitchen Remodel in Los Angeles
There are honest ways to bring the number down that don’t involve cutting corners on the things that keep your kitchen safe and functional.
- Keep the layout. This is the single biggest lever. A full remodel with the same layout can cost $10,000 to $15,000 less than the same remodel with a plumbing relocation.
- Choose a mid-tier cabinet line. KraftMaid semi-custom cabinets with a good paint finish and soft-close hardware will serve most kitchens for 20 years or more. You do not need custom European cabinetry to get a kitchen that works beautifully.
- Install quartz, not marble. Cambria, Silestone, and Caesarstone quartz all carry manufacturer warranties, and they don’t need sealing the way natural stone does. You save on the material, on the installation, and on the maintenance forever.
- Do the demo yourself, but carefully. We’ll always recommend our crew handle demolition, but if you’re comfortable taking out the old cabinets and counters, and you know how to cap a water line, that can save $1,500 to $3,000. If you’re not sure how to cap a water line, don’t touch it. That’s a job for someone who does it every week.
- Phase the work. If the full scope is out of budget this year, do the cabinets and counters now, and save the backsplash and new lighting for next spring. A phased plan written at the start keeps you from paying twice for the same prep work.
The best way to know what you can actually save on is to talk through the scope with someone who writes real numbers. Call (213) 277-6578 and we’ll walk your kitchen line by line, free. There will be no estimate range, just a written number you can hold us to.
FAQs – Kitchen Remodel Cost
How much does a kitchen remodel cost per square foot in Los Angeles?
In Los Angeles, expect to pay $165 to $265 per square foot for a mid-range kitchen remodel in 2026. A full remodel of a 200-square-foot kitchen at that rate lands between $33,000 and $53,000. Open the walls on a 1920s house, move a plumbing stack, or go with custom cabinets and you’ll push past the top of that range. Call (213) 277-6578 and we’ll give you a written price for the specific square footage of your kitchen.
How much does a small kitchen remodel cost in Los Angeles?
A small kitchen remodel in Los Angeles, defined as roughly 100 to 150 square feet, typically runs $10,620 to $23,600. These are the galley kitchens in the Valley, the condo kitchens in West LA, and the bungalow kitchens in Highland Park. The range is wide because a $10,600 small kitchen gets painted cabinets, laminate counters, and a simple backsplash, while a $23,600 small kitchen gets new semi-custom cabinets, quartz counters, and new appliances.
Is it cheaper to repair or replace a kitchen?
If your cabinets are structurally sound and your layout works, a cosmetic refresh is the cheaper play, typically $10,620 to $23,600, and it gets you 80% of the transformation for less than half the cost of a full replacement. If the cabinet boxes are swollen, the drawers won’t close, or you have water damage under the sink (we see this in Los Angeles rental stock constantly), replacing those base cabinets rather than continuing to patch them is usually the better use of money. Replacing individual cabinet runs runs $4,720 to $15,340 depending on how many boxes are involved.
How long does a kitchen remodel take in Los Angeles?
A cosmetic refresh typically takes 1.5 to 3 weeks. A full remodel with the same layout takes 4 to 7 weeks. A full remodel with a layout change and a structural wall removal takes 8 to 12 weeks. In Los Angeles, permit review can add a few weeks to the front end of any project, and material lead times, especially for custom cabinet lines like Wellborn, can add three to six weeks. We’ll give you a scheduled arrival window in writing before we start, and our crews show up in uniform, background-checked, every job.
Do I need a permit for a kitchen remodel in Los Angeles?
Yes, in most cases. The City of Los Angeles requires a building permit for any kitchen remodel that moves plumbing, changes electrical circuits, removes or adds walls, or alters the gas line for the range. A cosmetic refresh that stays within the existing footprint and doesn’t change plumbing or electrical usually doesn’t need one. We handle permit drawings and submissions for every project, and we’ll tell you in the first meeting whether your specific scope triggers a permit requirement. If it does, the permit cost is in your written price, not added on later.
How much does countertop installation cost in Los Angeles?
Countertop installation in Los Angeles runs $2,360 to $7,670 for a standard kitchen, including material, fabrication, and install. Quartz counters from Cambria, Silestone, or Caesarstone land in the $4,000 to $7,000 range for a typical 50 to 60 square feet, and each carries a manufacturer warranty in addition to our own 365-day guarantee on the install. If your countertop is the only thing that needs replacing, this is one of the fastest kitchen upgrades available.
How much does a kitchen island cost to add in Los Angeles?
Adding a kitchen island in Los Angeles typically costs $3,540 to $11,800, depending on whether it needs electrical and plumbing run to the island, which stone or quartz you choose, and whether the island includes seating. A built-in island with a sink and disposal sits at the top of that range once the plumbing line is run through the slab. If you’re adding an island to a kitchen that never had one, call (213) 277-6578 and we’ll measure the space, the walkway clearances, and the venting, and write you a number.
Choosing a Kitchen Remodel Contractor in Los Angeles
You’ve probably already met the contractor who gives you a verbal number, disappears for two weeks, and comes back with a different number. That is not how we work. Penhallow Remodeling operates under the Kingswell standard, the same standard the Kingswell family of companies has used since 2004, and it comes down to three things: say the price before the work, show up in the window we gave, and leave the place cleaner than we found it.
Every kitchen remodel we price in Los Angeles gets a written price on paper before any work begins. Not an estimate range, not a ballpark. A written number on a document with our name on it. And every install carries our 365-Day Done Right Promise: if something fails inside that year because of our workmanship, we come back and fix it, free of charge, no service call, no re-inspection fee. That promise is also in writing, on the same document as the price.
We install cabinets from KraftMaid and Wellborn, counters from Cambria, Silestone, and Caesarstone, and fixtures from Kohler, Moen, Blanco, Delta, Toto, and Grohe. Those brands stand behind their products. We stand behind our install. Between the two, you’re covered from the day the last drawer is hung until long after the first dinner party.
If you’re ready to get a real number for your Los Angeles kitchen, call (213) 277-6578. A live person answers, any hour, any day. We’ll talk through your kitchen, your budget, and your timeline, and we’ll give you a free estimate with a written price you can keep.
Ready to Price Your Los Angeles Kitchen Remodel?
Read more about Kitchen Remodel in Los Angeles or head back to our home page to see the full scope of what Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles does. When you want a number, not a guess, call (213) 277-6578. The estimate is free, the price is written, and the guarantee covers the work for a full year.
Pricing reflects the Los Angeles market as of 2026. Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles offers free estimates – call (213) 277-6578.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner at Penhallow Remodeling Los Angeles, writing kitchen remodel prices for Los Angeles homeowners since 2004.
What Our Customers Say
"Primary bath remodel. They gave me a schedule and hit it, called me for every decision, and kept the dust contained with plastic. Beautiful tile work."
- Dana Monroe"Did our whole kitchen. The written estimate held, which after reading remodel nightmares online I did not take for granted. Showed up every morning on time and the crew was clean and polite."
- Warren Updike"Redid two bathrooms at once. The crew protected the floors and cleaned up every single day before leaving. Quote was detailed and there were no mystery charges at the end."
- Tricia Dawson
