Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Lakeview and the surrounding area
A full kitchen remodel in Lakeview typically runs $35,000 to $60,000 keeping the existing layout and $70,000 to $120,000 for a gut with a wall removed, and takes six to ten weeks on site. Permits are issued by the Chicago Department of Buildings, and in a condo or a converted two-flat the building’s association approval and certificate of insurance usually take longer to obtain than the permit does. The two things that decide the budget here are whether the wall between the kitchen and the dining room is load-bearing, and whether the sink can move away from the existing riser.
Lakeview was built out between about 1890 and 1930, and it shows in the floor plans. Greystones, brick two-flats and three-flats line most of the side streets, and a large share of them were converted to condominiums between the 1970s and the 2000s. The result is a city neighbourhood where the housing is old but the ownership structure is modern, and both matter to a kitchen project.
The kitchen in these buildings is almost always at the rear, next to the back porch, at the end of a long railroad-style plan. It is separated from the dining room by a wall that may or may not be carrying the floor above, and it is served by a plumbing riser shared with the units above and below. Those two facts — the wall and the riser — set the ceiling on what is possible far more than the budget does.
Opening the wall is usually achievable and is what most clients want. It requires a structural engineer’s letter, a beam sized for the span, and a full Chicago building permit rather than the Easy Permit Process. Moving the sink is a different question, and the honest answer in a stacked building is often that it moves a few feet, not to the other side of the room.
The age and type of the building sets the ceiling on a Lakeview kitchen before anyone opens a catalogue. These are the ranges we actually quote.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1890–1915 — greystones and brick two-flats | Kitchen at the rear by the back porch, a bearing wall to the dining room, a shared waste stack, and often a 60 to 100 amp service. | Gut with a sized beam and an engineer’s letter, a service upgrade, and the layout finally opened to the dining room. | $72k – $115k |
| 1915–1930 — courtyard buildings and six-flats | A small galley off a rear hall, plaster throughout, and shallow joists that limit where a horizontal drain run can go. | Gut in place. The sink stays near the riser and the space is won back with full-height cabinetry rather than by moving services. | $42k – $68k |
| 1970s–1990s — condo conversions | A previous remodel already moved things once. Drywall, a modern panel, and laminate-era cabinetry near the end of its life. | Straight replacement, and occasionally a non-structural half-wall comes out to open the sightline. | $36k – $55k |
| 2000s–present — new construction and duplex-downs | Adequate electrical service, an open plan already in place, engineered joists with room for services. | Finish upgrade. An island, stone and appliances drive the number; there is rarely anything structural to solve. | $44k – $75k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Lakeview. We price around them rather than discovering them.
In a two-flat or three-flat the party walls are masonry and the interior wall between kitchen and dining room frequently carries joists. Removing it means a properly sized beam, posts down to a footing or a bearing point, and an engineer’s letter with the permit application. It is routine work, but it is not a same-week decision.
Your kitchen stack is shared with the units above and below. Relocating a sink across the room means a new horizontal run inside the floor, which in a building with limited joist depth is sometimes simply not available. We check what is in the ceiling below before we draw a layout that depends on it.
Most Lakeview buildings require the association to approve the scope, and require the contractor to file a certificate of insurance naming the association. We supply it as a matter of course, but the approval itself sits with your board and it is worth starting the moment you have a scope.
Like-for-like cabinetry and finishes can go through Chicago’s Easy Permit Process. Anything structural, or anything that changes the plumbing or electrical layout, needs a full permit with drawings. We tell you which route your project is on before you commit.
Rear-stair-only access, a shared gangway and permit parking are normal here. Cabinetry comes up the back stairs or through a window, and the delivery has to be planned around the building rather than the other way round. It is a real line in the schedule.
A kitchen built for one outlet and a gas range will not carry an induction cooktop, a dishwasher and a microwave. In older buildings that have not had a service upgrade we often find the panel, not the kitchen, is the constraint, and we check it at the first visit rather than at rough-in.
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, countertops, backsplash, appliances, lighting and flooring with the sink, range and refrigerator staying on their existing services. The right project when the layout already works.
Structural opening to the dining room with a sized beam, relocated services within what the risers allow, new electrical, and a full-height cabinetry package. The classic Lakeview two-flat project.
Kitchen, adjoining dining space and often a powder room taken together, with the plumbing and electrical rerun for the whole floor. Priced individually after an engineer has looked at it.
Cabinetry is the largest single line in almost every Lakeview kitchen. This is how a full gut divides up.
Based on an $85,000 gut with the dining-room wall removed. Leave the wall standing and the structural share disappears, the permit route simplifies, and the same kitchen lands in the $40,000s.
Work completed by Revive 360 Renovations in this area. Every project links to its own page and photos.
Complete Kitchen & Flooring Renovation
View projectWe look at the wall, the ceiling in the unit below where we can, and the electrical panel. You get an honest read on what can move and what cannot.
Including a structural engineer’s review where a wall is coming out, so the beam is sized before the price is set rather than after.
We prepare the scope in the format boards ask for and file the certificate of insurance. This runs in parallel with the permit.
Easy Permit where the scope qualifies, full review with drawings where it does not.
The beam goes in, services are rerun, and everything is inspected before it is closed. Any 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 a snag list we close out.
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 existing layout and replacing cabinetry, countertops, appliances and finishes generally runs $35,000 to $60,000. A full gut that removes the wall to the dining room and reworks the services is usually $70,000 to $120,000. Taking the whole rear of the floor together starts above that. The structural opening and the riser constraints are what separate one band from the next, not the finish level.
Usually yes. In a Lakeview two-flat or greystone that wall often carries the floor above, so it needs a structural engineer to size a beam and a full Chicago building permit rather than the Easy Permit Process. We arrange the engineering as part of the scope so the cost is known before you sign, not discovered during demolition.
Yes. The Chicago Department of Buildings issues it. Replacing cabinetry and finishes in place can often go through the Easy Permit Process. Anything that moves plumbing or electrical, or that removes a wall, requires a full permit with drawings. We identify which route applies at the consultation and handle the filing either way.
Most Lakeview associations want a written scope, the working hours you intend to keep, 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 — it is more often the critical path than the permit is.
Sometimes, and it is the question we get asked most. In a stacked building the waste riser is fixed and the horizontal run has to fit inside the floor depth, which in a 1910s joist bay is limited. Moving a sink a few feet along the same wall is usually straightforward. Moving it across the room needs checking against the ceiling below before it goes into a drawing.
Six to ten weeks for a full remodel. A structural opening adds roughly a week for the beam and its inspection. Cabinetry lead time is the other main driver, so we place that order before demolition. We can usually set up a temporary kitchen with the refrigerator and a sink elsewhere in the unit.
Yes, and we plan it up front. Rear-stair access, gangway sharing and permit parking are the norm in Lakeview. Cabinetry routes and delivery windows are part of the schedule we give you rather than something dealt with on the day.
Yes — Lincoln Park, Lincoln Square and Roscoe Village are all regular ground, and the building types and the permit route are much the same across them.
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Office: (773) 345-6358