Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Evanston and the surrounding area
A full kitchen remodel in Evanston typically runs $34,000 to $58,000 keeping the layout and $68,000 to $110,000 for a gut that removes a wall, and takes six to ten weeks on site. Permits are issued by the City of Evanston Community Development Department at 2100 Ridge Avenue. What makes Evanston different from the villages north of it is that a large share of the housing is condominium or a converted two-flat, so board approval and a certificate of insurance run alongside the permit and frequently take longer to obtain.
Evanston holds more kinds of kitchen than anywhere else we work. A frame Victorian near the lake has a rear service kitchen behind a pantry. A brick bungalow west of Ridge has the small four-door rear kitchen familiar from Wilmette. A 1920s courtyard building has a galley off a back hall, shared stacks, and a board. A 1950s ranch at the north-west edge has a kitchen closed off from a family room by a wall that probably is not carrying anything.
Two questions decide the job. In a house it is structural: which wall carries the floor above, and can the services move. In a flat it is procedural: what the association needs, how long they take, and whether the shared riser allows the sink to move at all.
Both are ordinary work. They just have to be started at different times. A structural question is answered with a ceiling open in week one. A board approval should be lodged the moment the scope is settled, because in this city it is more often the critical path than the permit.
Evanston is five housing stocks in one city, and the kitchen question changes completely between them.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890–1915 — frame Victorians and foursquares | A rear service kitchen behind a pantry, a back stair beside it, cast-iron waste, plaster on lath, and a service never designed for modern appliances. | Gut with the pantry absorbed, a sized beam where the wall carries, and a service upgrade. | $76k – $110k |
| 1915–1935 — brick bungalows and two-flats | A small rear kitchen with a back door, a basement door, a dining room opening and a window, leaving almost no continuous wall. | Doors rationalised to create a run of cabinetry, and a wide cased opening to the dining room. | $68k – $98k |
| 1920s courtyard buildings, now condos | A galley off a back hall, a shared stack, limited depth in the floor, and a board that has to approve the scope. | Gut in place. The sink stays near the riser and the room is won back with full-height cabinetry rather than by relocating services. | $38k – $62k |
| 1950s–1965 — ranches at the north-west edge | A kitchen closed off from the family room by a wall that usually carries nothing, dropped soffits hiding ducts, copper supply already in place. | Open to the family room, lose the soffits, replan around an island. The best value in the city. | $34k – $56k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Evanston. We price around them rather than discovering them.
In the houses this is the first question and the biggest cost. Removing a bearing wall means a sized beam, posts down to a bearing point and an engineer’s letter with the permit. It is routine, but it is not a decision made from one side of the plaster.
In a courtyard building or a converted two-flat the waste stack serves the units above and below. Moving a sink across the room needs a horizontal run inside a floor that rarely has the depth. We check the ceiling below before drawing a layout that depends on it.
Boards here want the scope, the working hours and a certificate of insurance naming the association. We supply all three, but the approval sits with your board, and it is worth lodging as soon as the scope exists.
A kitchen wired for one light and an icebox will not carry an induction hob, a dishwasher and a microwave. In older houses and flats alike the panel is often the real constraint, and we check it at the first visit.
Rear-stair-only access, a shared gangway and permit parking are normal across much of the city. Cabinetry routes and delivery windows go into the schedule we give you rather than being dealt with on the day.
Interior work is unaffected anywhere in Evanston. A new window over the sink, a rear door or an exterior vent on a property in the Lakeshore or Ridge districts goes through preservation review, and that should be started early.
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.
New cabinetry, stone, backsplash, appliances, lighting and flooring with the services staying put. The right project when the layout already works.
A structural opening with a sized beam, services rerun within what the building allows, a service upgrade where needed, and a full-height cabinetry package.
Kitchen, adjoining dining space and often a rear hall or powder room taken together, with the plumbing and electrical rerun for the floor. Priced after an engineer has been.
Cabinetry is the largest single line in almost every kitchen we build. This is how a full project divides up.
Based on an $78,000 project, the midpoint of what we actually build here. In a flat the structural share falls away and the labour share rises, because every delivery and every bag of waste goes up and down a shared stair.
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.
Including a structural engineer where a wall is coming out, so the beam is sized before the price is set rather than after.
Submitted to the City of Evanston Community Development Department at 2100 Ridge Avenue. We prepare and lodge it, and we tell you which route your project is on before you commit.
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.
Cabinets set and scribed to walls that are rarely square, stone templated on site after the boxes are in, then appliances, backsplash and lighting.
We walk the room with you, write the list, and close it out before the final invoice.
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.
Keeping the layout and replacing cabinetry, stone, appliances and finishes generally runs $34,000 to $58,000. A gut that removes a wall and reworks the services is usually $68,000 to $110,000. Whether you are in a house or a flat moves the number as much as the finish level does, because a flat limits what can be relocated.
A written scope, the hours we intend to work, and a certificate of insurance naming the association as additional insured. We provide all three. Approval timelines vary by board, so it is worth submitting as soon as the scope is settled — in Evanston it is more often the critical path than the city permit.
In a house, usually yes, with a sized beam and an engineer’s letter if it carries the floor above. In a flat it depends on the building as well as the wall, and the association has to approve structural work in any case. We establish which situation you are in before pricing.
Yes. The City of Evanston requires a building permit for kitchen work altering plumbing, electrical or structure. Applications go to Community Development at 2100 Ridge Avenue and the work is inspected at rough-in and at completion. We prepare and lodge it.
In a house, usually. In a flat, often not far. The waste riser is fixed and a horizontal run has to fit inside the floor depth, which in a 1920s building is limited. We check the ceiling below before a layout depends on it.
Frequently not, in anything that has not been upgraded. An induction hob, a double oven and a dishwasher need dedicated circuits and spare capacity. We look at the panel on the first visit, because a service upgrade should be priced before you choose appliances, not after.
Six to ten weeks for a full remodel, plus whatever your board takes to approve it. Cabinetry lead time is the main driver once work starts, so that order is placed before demolition.
Evanston is where our North Shore and Chicago work meets. Wilmette, Winnetka and Skokie-side suburbs to the north, and Rogers Park, Lincoln Square and Lakeview to the south, are all regular ground.
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