Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Lincoln Park and the surrounding area
A full kitchen remodel in Lincoln Park typically runs $40,000 to $68,000 keeping the layout and $80,000 to $135,000 for a gut that removes a wall, and takes seven to eleven weeks on site. Permits are issued by the Chicago Department of Buildings, with landmark district review for anything exterior. Unlike the neighbourhoods north of it, the original plan is rarely the constraint here — most of these houses were gutted in the 1990s or 2000s, so the question is what that rehab did to the structure and the services, and whether it is worth keeping.
Lincoln Park is the oldest housing on the North Side — greystones, brick rowhouses and frame cottages built mostly between 1880 and 1905, much of it inside a landmark district. But it is also the most rebuilt. A very large share of these houses were gutted between 1995 and 2010, with a rear addition, a new stair and an open-plan kitchen already put in.
That changes the job completely. We are rarely opening an original plan here. We are looking at someone else’s beam, someone else’s drain run and a kitchen that was laid out around appliances nobody buys any more, and deciding what is sound enough to build on.
The good news is that the hard structural work has usually been done. The opening to the dining room already exists, the service has usually been upgraded, and a rear addition has often given the room its floor area. What is left is a fit-out question, which is why a Lincoln Park kitchen can be a far smaller job than its price band suggests — or a much larger one, if that rehab has to be undone.
In Lincoln Park what matters is less the original date than what the last rehab did, and how well.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880–1905 — greystones never fully rehabbed | The original rear kitchen behind a pantry, a bearing wall to the dining room, cast-iron waste, plaster on lath, and a service from another century. | Full gut with a sized beam, the pantry absorbed, a service upgrade, and fitted cabinetry. | $95k – $135k |
| 1995–2010 — gut rehabs with a rear addition | An opening already formed, a modern panel, a kitchen in the addition and a long drain run back to the stack. | Fit-out rather than structure: new cabinetry and stone, with the drain fall and the extraction corrected where the rehab cut corners. | $44k – $72k |
| 1990s–2010 — new single-family construction | Adequate framing and services, open plan already in place, and a kitchen laid out around appliances nobody buys now. | Replan and refit within the existing shell, usually without touching structure. | $40k – $68k |
| Converted two-flats and three-flats | A shared stack, a board that approves the scope, limited floor depth, and a kitchen at the rear off a back hall. | Gut in place with the sink kept near the riser and the room won back with full-height cabinetry. | $42k – $70k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Lincoln Park. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Most of these houses already have a structural opening from a previous rehab. Whether it can be widened, and whether it was sized correctly in the first place, is the first thing an engineer looks at — and it is the difference between a fit-out and a structural job.
A 1990s rear addition often moved the kitchen away from the original stack. The drain run back to it can be long and at minimal fall, and that is worth knowing before an island with a sink goes into a drawing.
Unlike the pre-war suburbs, a rehabbed Lincoln Park house usually has a modern panel with spare capacity. Where it does, an induction hob and a double oven are straightforward. Where the rehab skipped it, the panel is still the constraint.
Standard Chicago lots, a shared gangway, permit parking and often no rear alley access on the older blocks. Cabinetry routes and delivery windows are part of the schedule rather than something solved on the day.
A converted two-flat or three-flat needs the board to approve the scope and a certificate of insurance naming the association. A single-family greystone needs neither, which is why two similar projects here can start weeks apart.
Interior work is unaffected. A new window over the sink, a rear door or an exterior vent on a building in the Mid-North, Sheffield or Armitage-Halsted districts needs Commission 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 on the existing services. Often the right answer where a previous rehab already did the structure.
A new or widened opening with a properly sized beam, services rerun, a service upgrade where the last rehab skipped it, and a full-height cabinetry package.
Kitchen, dining space, rear hall and often a powder room taken together, with 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 $96,000 project, the midpoint of what we actually build here. Where a previous rehab already did the structure, that share falls to almost nothing and the same kitchen lands in the $50,000s. Establishing which of those two projects you have is the first thing we do.
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 Chicago Department of Buildings. 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 $40,000 to $68,000. A gut that reworks the structure is usually $80,000 to $135,000. In this neighbourhood the deciding factor is what a previous rehab already did, not what the building started as.
Usually it helps a great deal. The structural opening exists, the service has often been upgraded and a rear addition may already have given the room its floor area, which turns the job into a fit-out. It hurts where the rehab cut corners — an undersized beam, a drain run at almost no fall, extraction that recirculates.
Often, but it is an engineering question rather than a carpentry one. The existing beam has to be assessed, and widening usually means replacing it and re-establishing the bearing points. We bring an engineer in during the scope so the answer and its cost are known before you sign.
A permit from the Chicago Department of Buildings is needed for anything that moves plumbing or electrical, or touches structure. Landmark district review concerns the exterior only, so an interior kitchen is unaffected unless you want a new window, a rear door or an exterior vent.
Usually, but the drain run matters. Where a rear addition moved the kitchen away from the original stack, the run back can be long and already close to minimum fall. We check it from below before an island with a sink goes into a drawing.
In a rehabbed house, usually yes — a modern panel with spare capacity is common here, unlike the pre-war suburbs. Where the rehab skipped the service, an induction hob and a double oven will need an upgrade, and we check the panel on the first visit.
Seven to eleven weeks for a full remodel, less where the structure is already in place. Cabinetry lead time is the main driver once work starts, so that order goes in before demolition.
Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Lincoln Square and Roscoe Village are all regular ground for the same crews, and the permit route is identical across them.
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