Service Area
Kitchen remodeling in Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa borders Newport Beach to the north and is a ten to fifteen minute drive from most of the city. With about 110,330 residents and 44,427 housing units, of which roughly 68 percent were built before 1980, it holds the densest supply of original kitchens in this part of the county.
The building history splits the city. Roughly a quarter of Costa Mesa housing dates from the 1960s and another fifth from the 1970s, which is the classic Orange County tract profile: single-storey three-bedroom plans with a compact kitchen at the back, a soffit above the wall cabinets, and a wall between the kitchen and the family room. The Eastside carries older and more varied stock, some of it bungalows on wider lots, and those kitchens tend to need structural thought rather than just new cabinetry.
The prevailing project is the same one that dominates the Newport Beach mid-century neighbourhoods: open the wall, lose the soffit, replace everything, and end up with a kitchen that belongs to the same era as the household. The engineering and permitting sequence is identical, though the permits themselves come from the City of Costa Mesa rather than Newport Beach.
Costa Mesa has been through a long period of reinvestment, and one visible consequence is that the range of finished quality on a single street is enormous. That makes the resale calculation different from Newport Beach: a well-executed kitchen still returns strongly here, but specifying to Newport Coast standards on a Costa Mesa tract house is a decision to make deliberately rather than by drift.
Practically, this is the easiest of the nearby cities to work in. Lots are flat, driveways take a skip, street parking is generally available and access is ordinary. Projects here tend to run closer to schedule than the equivalent job on the peninsula.
Project types available in Costa Mesa
- Full Kitchen Remodel
- Everything out and everything new: cabinetry, surfaces, appliances, lighting, flooring and the wiring and plumbing behind them.
- Kitchen Cabinetry
- New boxes, refaced fronts, or a full custom build, specified around how the room is really used and what the salt air will do to the finish.
- Countertops and Backsplash
- Slab selection, templating, fabrication and installation, with the seam and edge decisions made before the stone is cut rather than after.
- Kitchen Layout Changes
- Taking out the wall between the kitchen and the rest of the house, and doing it as a structural job rather than a demolition job.
- Kitchen Islands
- An island that earns its floor space: sized to the clearances the room can give, and serviced properly if it carries a sink or a cooktop.
- Kitchen Electrical and Plumbing
- The half of a kitchen remodel nobody sees, and the half that decides whether the finished room passes inspection.
- Condo and HOA Kitchens
- Kitchen work in an association building, where the constraints are as much procedural as they are structural.
For a price on a specific address in Costa Mesa, call (949) 791-4160 or use the quote form. The visit and the written quote cost nothing.
Background reading
Journal
Written for Newport Beach homeowners
The 1970s Kitchen Is Newport Beach's Most Common Renovation
The 1970s produced more Newport Beach housing than any other decade, and the kitchens from it all share the same three problems. What they are and what fixing them costs.
Kitchen Work on Balboa Island: Inches, Access and Old Services
The smallest lots in Newport Beach, the oldest housing, and a single bridge. What that means for a kitchen project on Balboa Island, and how experienced crews plan around it.
HOA Approval Runs on Its Own Clock, Not the City's
Association approval and a city permit are separate processes with separate timelines. How to sequence them on a Newport Beach condo kitchen so neither one stalls the other.
Get a kitchen quote in Costa Mesa
Call (949) 791-4160 or use the quote form, and a Newport Beach kitchen company prices the work at no charge.