A basement you can work in
The advantage over the courtyard neighbourhoods. A drain runs at proper fall to an island or a relocated sink, and it is easy to verify from below before anything is drawn.
Albany Park
Kitchen Remodeling in Albany Park, Chicago
An Albany Park bungalow kitchen is a small rear room with too many doors and a full basement underneath. The second of those is what makes a real layout possible.
Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Albany Park and the surrounding area
In Short
A full kitchen remodel in Albany Park typically runs $31,000 to $51,000 keeping the layout and $59,000 to $95,000 for a gut that opens the plan, and takes six to nine weeks on site. Permits come from the Chicago Department of Buildings. Most of this housing is single family or a two-flat you own outright, so there is no board to satisfy, and a basement with a usable ceiling means a drain can run at proper fall to wherever the sink should be.
Layout kept
$31k – $51k
Gut with the plan opened
$59k – $95k
Time on site
6 – 9 weeks
Permits issued by
Chicago Dept. of Buildings
Kitchen Remodeling
What an Albany Park kitchen remodel actually involves
Albany Park wraps around the North Branch of the river and was built out between about 1910 and 1930: brick bungalows, two-flats and courtyard apartment buildings, with the larger houses of the Ravenswood Manor landmark district along the water on the southern edge.
The bungalow kitchen here is the familiar one — a small room at the rear with a back door, a basement door, a dining room opening and a side window taking three walls out of four.
What it has that the flats to the east do not is a basement directly underneath. A drain runs at proper fall to an island, a non-structural wall comes out without ceremony, and nobody has to approve the scope before work starts. The ambitious layouts are ordinary here.
Your House
Find your building, and you will find your project
Albany Park repeats a small number of buildings, which makes the ranges tight.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910–1930 — brick bungalows | A small rear kitchen with four openings, cast-iron waste, galvanised supply, a 1920s panel and a full basement below. | Doors rationalised into a continuous run, a wide opening to the dining room, and a sink that can genuinely move. | $60k – $90k |
| 1910–1930 — two-flats | A kitchen at the rear off a back porch, a stack shared with one other unit, and a basement with room to work. | Gut with the services replaced, and the brief settled first on whether the building stays two homes or becomes one. | $56k – $88k |
| 1915–1930 — courtyard buildings | A galley off a rear hall, a shared stack, shallow joists and a board where converted. | Gut in place, storage-led, with the sink kept near the existing run. | $34k – $56k |
| 1900–1925 — Ravenswood Manor houses | Larger plans, a rear service kitchen, original joinery worth keeping and a landmark district outside. | Service zone combined with a sized beam, joinery retained, and a proper island because the fall is available. | $72k – $95k |
On Site
What is specific to remodelling here
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Albany Park. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Four doors and no continuous wall
A back door, a basement entry, a dining room opening and a side window. Rationalising them is worth more than any upgrade in finish, and it is the standard project here.
The wall to the dining room
Carrying the floor above in some of these houses and not in others, and not obvious from either side. Where it carries, the opening needs a sized beam, posts to a bearing point and an engineer’s letter.
A 1920s service and galvanised supply
A kitchen wired for a light and an icebox will not carry modern appliances, and a house never re-piped is on galvanised steel that closes from the inside. Both are checked on the first visit rather than at rough-in.
Two-flats, and what you want them to be
Many owners here are deciding between keeping the rental income and taking the building back as one home. That decision changes the kitchen brief entirely and belongs before the design.
Ducting a hood out through brick
Short but it has to be planned. Where nobody plans it a recirculating hood gets fitted and the problem stays.
Budget
What drives the number in Albany Park
Ranges, not a single number. Where a project lands depends on the scope, and we say which band we think you are in before you commit to anything.
Cabinetry and finishes, layout kept
$31,000 – $51,000
New cabinetry, stone, backsplash, appliances, lighting and flooring on the existing services.
Gut with the plan opened
$59,000 – $95,000
Doors rationalised, an opening to the dining room with a sized beam where the wall carries, the sink relocated because the fall is there, and a service upgrade.
Kitchen and the rear of the house
From $95,000
Kitchen, rear hall and an enclosed porch or mudroom taken together, with services rerun for the whole rear.
Where It Goes
Where the money actually goes
Cabinetry is the largest single line in almost every kitchen we build. This is how a full project divides up.
- Cabinetry 28%
- Labour and project management 26%
- Countertops and backsplash 11%
- Structural work and openings 9%
- Appliances 9%
- Plumbing and electrical rough-in 8%
- Flooring and finishes 6%
- Permits, engineering and protection 3%
Based on an $72,000 project, the midpoint of what we actually build here. The plumbing share sits a little above the city average here, and it buys the thing the flats nearby cannot have: a sink that goes where you want it.
Process
How the job runs
Consultation on site
We look at the wall, at the ceiling below it where we can, and at the electrical panel. You get an honest read on what can move and what cannot.
Scope, drawings and a fixed price
Including a structural engineer where a wall is coming out, so the beam is sized before the price is set rather than after.
Permit filed for you
Submitted to the Chicago Department of Buildings. We prepare and lodge it, and we tell you which route your project is on before you commit.
Demolition, structure and rough-in
Any beam goes in, services are rerun, and everything is inspected before it is closed. A change to the price happens here, with the wall open, not at the end.
Cabinetry, stone and finish
Cabinets set and scribed to walls that are rarely square, stone templated on site after the boxes are in, then appliances, backsplash and lighting.
Snag list and final inspection
We walk the room with you, write the list, and close it out before the final invoice.
Planning a kitchen remodeling project in Albany Park?
Tell us about the property and what you want to change. We will walk the space, look at what is behind the walls, and come back with a written scope, a schedule and a price.
FAQ
Kitchen Remodeling in Albany Park: Common Questions
How much does a kitchen remodel cost in Albany Park?
Keeping the layout and replacing cabinetry, stone, appliances and finishes generally runs $31,000 to $51,000. A gut that rationalises the doors and opens the plan is usually $59,000 to $95,000.
Can we have an island with a sink in it?
In a bungalow or a two-flat here, usually yes. There is a full basement below with room to run a drain at proper fall, which is exactly what the courtyard buildings a mile east do not have. We confirm it from underneath before it goes into a drawing.
My kitchen has four doors and nowhere for cabinets.
The standard Albany Park project. The basement entry can usually be moved, the back door rehung or relocated into a rear porch, and the dining room doorway turned into a wide cased opening. Any one gains a run of cabinetry; together they transform the room.
We are thinking about deconverting our two-flat. Does that change the kitchen?
Completely, so settle it first. Deconversion changes which kitchen survives, where the stair goes and what the second kitchen becomes. It is also a different permit and a different budget from a remodel.
Do I need a permit?
Yes. The Chicago Department of Buildings issues it. Like-for-like finishes can often use the Easy Permit Process; anything structural or anything that moves services needs a full permit with drawings. We handle the filing.
Will our electrical service cope?
In a house that has never been upgraded, usually not. Modern appliances each need a dedicated circuit and there has to be capacity to add them, so we check the panel on the first visit.
Do we need association approval?
Only in the courtyard buildings. In a bungalow or a two-flat you own outright there is no board and no certificate of insurance to file, which typically takes weeks off the start date.
Which other neighbourhoods do you cover?
Albany Park sits beside Lincoln Square, Irving Park, North Center and Uptown, all regular ground for the same crews.
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