Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Highland Park and the surrounding area
A full kitchen remodel in Highland Park typically runs $38,000 to $64,000 keeping the layout and $75,000 to $120,000 for a gut that removes a wall, and takes seven to eleven weeks on site. Permits are issued by the City of Highland Park at 1707 St Johns Avenue. The era of the house decides almost everything here: a pre-war Colonial means a pantry to absorb and a bearing wall to beam, while a mid-century ranch means dropped soffits full of ducts and a wall that usually carries nothing.
Highland Park divides at Green Bay Road. East and central, around the downtown and Ravinia, the houses are pre-war: Colonials, Tudors and shingled houses with a rear kitchen behind a pantry and a service stair. West, the stock turns over to 1950s and 1960s ranches and split-levels, plus a notable run of mid-century modern houses.
In the pre-war half the job is a combining exercise and it is structural: the pantry usually comes out easily, the wall behind it usually does not. In the post-war half the floor area is already generous and the problem is different — a wall between the kitchen and the family room, and a ring of dropped soffits built to hide ductwork and a 1960s ceiling.
The soffits are the part people underestimate. Some are empty and come down in an afternoon. Some carry heating ducts that have to be rerouted before a single wall unit can go to the ceiling. We open one and look before the design assumes anything, because that finding can move the drawing as much as the budget.
Highland Park is split down Green Bay Road, and the two halves need completely different work.
| Era and style | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910–1935 — Colonials, Tudors and shingled houses | Rear kitchen behind a pantry, a service stair beside it, cast-iron waste, plaster on lath, and a 1920s electrical service. | Pantry absorbed, a sized beam to the dining room, a service upgrade, and fitted cabinetry scribed to out-of-square walls. | $80k – $120k |
| 1950s–1965 — ranches and split-levels | A kitchen closed off from the family room, a full ring of dropped soffits, copper supply, and the waste run in a slab or shallow crawl. | Wall opened to the family room, soffits stripped and ducts rerouted, and a replan around an island or peninsula. | $44k – $75k |
| 1955–1975 — mid-century modern | Wide glazing, a low-pitch roof with no ceiling void, exposed structure that cannot be boxed in, and original detailing worth keeping. | Careful gut that respects the ceiling line, with extraction and services solved without dropping a bulkhead across the room. | $52k – $95k |
| 1995–present — rebuilds and infill | Open plan already in place, adequate service, engineered joists with room for services, finishes that have dated. | Finish upgrade, with the island, stone and appliances driving the number. | $42k – $78k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Highland Park. We price around them rather than discovering them.
In the pre-war half, which of the two walls carries the floor above sets both the design and the price. One often comes out in a day; the other needs a sized beam, posts to a bearing point and an engineer’s letter with the permit.
In the ranches, the soffit above the wall units is rarely empty. Where it carries heating ducts, taking cabinetry to the ceiling means rerouting them first. We open one and look before the design commits to anything.
A 1920s kitchen was wired for a light and an icebox; a 1960s one for a single oven and a percolator. Neither will carry an induction hob, a double oven and a dishwasher. We check the panel on the first visit, not at rough-in.
In the ranches the waste run is often cast into a slab or sits in a crawl with very little fall. Moving a sink to an island can mean cutting and repouring concrete, so the route is established before a layout depends on it.
The mid-century houses have shallow roofs and almost no ceiling void, so a hood over an island is a design problem rather than a purchase. Getting a proper duct to outside air is planned in or it does not happen at all.
Interior work is unaffected. On the ravine side of town the approach, the skip position and any exterior penetration have to be planned around the grade and the city review that comes with it.
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 room is already the right shape.
A structural opening with a sized beam or a soffit run stripped and ducts rerouted, services reworked, a service upgrade where needed, and full-height cabinetry.
Kitchen, family room and often a rear hall taken as one, with plumbing, heating and electrical rerun across the whole area. 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 $92,000 project, the midpoint of what we actually build here. In the pre-war half the structural share carries the budget; in the ranches it is the mechanical work behind the soffits. Same finishes, very different invoice.
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 Highland Park at 1707 St Johns 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 $38,000 to $64,000. A gut that removes a wall is usually $75,000 to $120,000. The era of the house moves the number more than the finish level does, because it decides whether you are paying for a beam or for rerouting ductwork.
In a 1960s Highland Park ranch, often heating ducts, sometimes plumbing, occasionally nothing at all. It matters because taking wall units to the ceiling requires whatever is in there to be rerouted first. We open one and look before the design assumes it can come down.
In the ranches it usually carries nothing and comes out easily. In the pre-war houses the equivalent wall generally does carry the floor above and needs a sized beam, posts to a bearing point and an engineer’s letter with the permit. We establish which you have before pricing.
Yes. The City of Highland Park requires a building permit for kitchen work altering plumbing, electrical or structure. Applications go to 1707 St Johns Avenue and the work is inspected at rough-in and completion. We handle the filing.
Sometimes, but it is a concrete job. The waste run is cast into the slab with a fixed fall, so relocating a sink means cutting, re-routing and repouring. A peninsula off the existing wall is often a better answer, and we say so rather than selling the island.
Yes, and it is worth the extra care. The ceiling line, the glazing and the original millwork are why these houses are valued. We solve extraction and services without dropping a bulkhead across the room, which is the usual damage done to them.
Seven to eleven weeks for a full remodel. A structural opening adds about a week for the beam and its inspection; rerouting ducts behind soffits adds a similar amount. Cabinetry is ordered before demolition so it is not the thing holding the job up.
Highland Park is in the middle of our densest area. Glencoe, Winnetka, Lake Forest, Deerfield and Northbrook are all regular ground for the same crews.
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Office: (773) 345-6358