Licensed, Bonded & Insured · Serving Uptown and the surrounding area
A full kitchen remodel in Uptown typically runs $32,000 to $54,000 keeping the layout and $62,000 to $100,000 for a gut, and takes six to ten weeks on site. Permits come from the Chicago Department of Buildings, with board approval alongside in most buildings. What sets Uptown apart is that a great many flats were divided from larger ones: the services were reworked twice by people in a hurry, and tracing what actually feeds the kitchen is the first hour well spent.
Uptown runs from Montrose to Foster, lake to Clark, and was built as an entertainment district in the 1910s and 1920s. The housing was built to match: large courtyard buildings, vintage walk-ups with real plaster and joinery, and lobbies grander than the floor plans behind them. Sheridan Park on the western side is a landmark district of 1890s frame and brick houses.
Much of the apartment stock was subdivided over the decades — large flats split, then converted to condominium. The result is a unit with a magnificent living room and a kitchen the size of a corridor, fed by pipework from three different eras.
The ceilings are the opportunity here. Eleven feet gives room to run services in a dropped section without the room feeling low, which makes layouts possible in Uptown that are simply not available in a bungalow.
In Uptown what matters is less the original date than how many times the flat has been divided.
| Era and building type | What we find on site | What the project becomes | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910–1930 — courtyard buildings, never divided | A generous plan, high ceilings, original joinery and services that are old but coherent. | Gut with the services replaced and the joinery retained. The best starting point in the neighbourhood. | $66k – $100k |
| 1910–1930 — flats subdivided later | A corridor kitchen, plumbing and wiring spliced across eras, and partition walls added where they suited a previous owner. | Trace and replace the services, remove the partitions that are not carrying, and replan around what the riser allows. | $70k – $100k |
| 1920s — vintage walk-ups | Larger rooms, real plaster, a stack shared with a handful of units and a board that approves the scope. | Gut in place, storage-led, with the sink near the existing run and a dropped section for services. | $40k – $66k |
| 1890s — Sheridan Park frame and brick houses | A rear kitchen by the back porch, a bearing wall to the dining room, a basement below and a landmark district outside. | Structural opening with a sized beam and a sink that can genuinely move, because there is a basement ceiling to work in. | $72k – $100k |
These are the conditions that decide the schedule and the contingency on a job in Uptown. We price around them rather than discovering them.
Splitting large flats left plumbing and wiring spliced wherever was convenient, often across three eras and materials. We trace what actually serves the kitchen before quoting rather than finding three pipe types in one wall during demolition.
Eleven-foot ceilings allow a dropped section for services without the room feeling low. It is the reason a sink can move further here than in most Chicago housing.
Height helps, but the stack is shared and fixed. A horizontal run has to reach it at proper fall, so we check the ceiling below before a layout depends on it.
A written scope, working hours and a certificate naming the association. We supply all three, and in this neighbourhood the board is usually slower than the city permit.
Crown, picture rail, panelled doors and oak floors are why people buy in Uptown. We cut and patch rather than strip, and price the making-good instead of leaving it out.
Interior work is unaffected. A new window, a rear door or an exterior vent on a house inside the district 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.
Back to the shell, services traced and replaced, a dropped section where it buys a better layout, a service upgrade and full-height cabinetry.
Kitchen, a rear hall and a dining space taken together, with a non-structural wall removed where the building allows.
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. The plumbing and electrical share runs above the city average in Uptown, because in a flat that has been divided once the first job is replacing what was spliced together.
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 $32,000 to $54,000. A full gut is usually $62,000 to $100,000. What moves the number most is what earlier subdivision did to the services.
A great deal, and it is common here. Splitting a large flat left plumbing and wiring joined up wherever was easiest, often across three eras and materials. We trace what actually serves the kitchen before quoting, because finding that in week two is what turns a fixed price into a conversation.
More often than in most Chicago housing, because eleven-foot ceilings give room to run services in a dropped section. The shared riser is still the limit: the sink travels as far as a horizontal run can reach it at proper fall, which we check from the ceiling below.
In Uptown, almost always. Crown, picture rail, panelled doors and oak flooring are much of what the unit is worth. We score and cut rather than break, label anything removed and refit it, and we price patching in adjoining rooms rather than hoping none is needed.
Yes. The Chicago Department of Buildings issues it. Like-for-like cabinetry and finishes can often use the Easy Permit Process; anything structural or anything that moves services needs a full permit with drawings. We identify the route at the consultation.
A written scope, the hours we intend to work and a certificate of insurance naming the association. We prepare all three. File it as soon as the scope is settled — in Uptown the board is usually slower than the permit.
Not for interior work. The district concerns the exterior, so a kitchen rebuilt inside its existing walls is unaffected. It engages if you want a new window opening, a rear door or an exterior vent, and that review should be started well before the build.
Uptown sits between Edgewater and Lakeview. Those two, along with Lincoln Square, Albany Park and Rogers Park, are all regular ground for the same crews.
info@reviverenovations.com
Office: (773) 345-6358