Project Type
Full Kitchen Remodel in Newport Beach
Everything out and everything new: cabinetry, surfaces, appliances, lighting, flooring and the wiring and plumbing behind them.
A full kitchen remodel takes the room back to studs and subfloor and rebuilds it. In Newport Beach that most often happens in a house built in the 1960s or 1970s, because those are the years that produced the largest share of the local housing stock and their original kitchens were laid out for a household that cooked differently. Census figures put 53 percent of Newport Beach housing units at pre-1980 construction, with the 1970s alone accounting for about 22 percent of the total, so the typical starting point here is a closed galley or an L-shape with a soffit above the wall cabinets and a single run of counter. The work sequences in a fixed order: demolition, then rough plumbing and electrical, then inspection, then drywall, flooring, cabinet set, template and fabricate the countertop, backsplash, appliance install, and finish trim. Countertop templating cannot begin until the cabinets are set and level, which is why the fabrication gap in the middle of the schedule is normal rather than a delay. Whole-room budgets in this market typically run from about $45,000 for a straightforward refit with semi-custom cabinetry through $90,000 to $160,000 for custom cabinetry and full-slab stone, with waterfront and Newport Coast projects going well past that.
What the scope covers
- Full demolition including the soffit above the wall cabinets, which is what usually makes a 1970s kitchen feel low
- Rough electrical brought to the current California Electrical Code, including the dedicated small-appliance circuits and receptacle spacing a modern kitchen assumes
- Rough plumbing for the sink, dishwasher, filtered water and any pot filler, with the gas line reworked or capped when the range changes fuel
- Cabinet layout drawn to the room as measured rather than to a catalogue elevation, because pre-1980 walls in this city are rarely square
- Countertop templating after cabinet set, then fabrication, then a separate install visit
- Ventilation sized to the cooking appliance, with the duct run and termination worked out before the ceiling closes
- Lighting design covering task, ambient and under-cabinet layers, on the high-efficacy fittings the California Energy Code expects
- Flooring, trim, paint and the punch list, with permit inspections booked by the contractor as part of standard scope
To get this priced on your own kitchen, call (949) 791-4160 or use the quote form for a free quote.
Read next
On full remodel, specifically
- How long is the kitchen out of use?
- On a full remodel, plan for the room to be unusable for most of the project and the house to be liveable throughout. A straightforward refit that keeps the plumbing and appliances roughly where they are runs about six to nine weeks on site. Move the sink or the range, take out a wall, or specify custom cabinetry and the same job stretches to twelve to twenty weeks, most of the extra sitting in cabinet lead time and in permit and inspection scheduling rather than in crew days.
- What drives the price up the most?
- Cabinetry first, by a distance. It is usually 35 to 45 percent of a kitchen budget, and the step from stock to semi-custom to full custom moves the total more than any other single decision. Second is anything structural: removing a wall between the kitchen and the living room means a beam, and a beam means engineering, a permit revision and sometimes a new post and footing. Third is stone selection, where the gap between an entry quartz and a bookmatched natural slab with a waterfall edge can be $15,000 on the same kitchen.
- Does a kitchen remodel need a permit in Newport Beach?
- Cosmetic replacement in the same footprint sits at one end and a gut renovation at the other. Newport Beach adopted the 2025 editions of the California Building, Residential, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Energy and Green Building Standards Codes under Ordinance No. 2025-23, effective January 1, 2026, and the Community Development Department issues the permits. Anything that adds or moves electrical, gas or water, or that changes structure, is permitted work, and the contractor pulls it as part of standard scope. The permits guide goes through where the line falls.
- Can we live in the house while it happens?
- Most households do. The usual arrangement is a temporary kitchen elsewhere in the house, the refrigerator relocated on day one, and dust containment at the openings. What people underestimate is the noise window rather than the dust: demolition and any concrete cutting are the loud days, and on a peninsula or island lot with neighbours close on both sides that is worth planning around.
- When should the appliances be chosen?
- Before cabinet drawings are finalised, not after. Appliance dimensions, door swings, and ventilation requirements all drive the cabinet layout, and a built-in refrigerator or a professional range changes the surrounding boxes by inches that matter. Ordering early also protects the schedule, because a delayed appliance can hold up the final inspection long after the crew has finished.
From the Journal
More on this, written for Newport Beach
When to Schedule a Kitchen Remodel on the Coast
Rainfall here is concentrated in winter and traffic is concentrated in summer. What that means for scheduling a Newport Beach kitchen remodel, and what matters more.
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.
The Climate Here Justifies an Indoor-Outdoor Kitchen. The Detailing Decides It
Newport Beach averages 13.33 inches of rain a year and 72.6 degrees in the warmest month. The climate supports an outdoor kitchen. Here is what the detailing has to get right.
Related Projects
Scopes that usually travel together
Kitchen work rarely arrives as a single line item. New cabinetry means new countertops, because the old stone will not survive removal. Opening a wall means rethinking the layout it was constraining. And on a pre-1980 house, the moment the walls are open is the cheapest moment the wiring and pipework will ever be reachable.
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.
Find out what your kitchen costs
Call (949) 791-4160 or use the quote form, and a Newport Beach kitchen company prices the work at no charge.