What a Cabinets & Countertops Job Really Looks Like in Lely, FL
A full cabinets and countertops replacement in Lely typically runs $14,000 to $45,000 and takes about two to four weeks from tear-out to final walkthrough. The range swings that wide because the job is really two projects that have to lock together perfectly: new cabinet boxes and doors, then the countertop slabs templated and cut to fit them. Call (844) 638-7249 when you’re ready for a written, line-item estimate. Our crews know Lely Resort’s Architectural Review Committee process cold, so your material and finish selections won’t stall out in approval limbo.
What you decide, and when
We’ve done enough cabinets and countertops work across Lely to know that the sequence matters more than people realize. Countertops can’t be templated until the base cabinets are set and leveled. Cabinets can’t go in until the old ones are out and the walls are cleaned up. Here’s the real stage-by-stage rhythm, with the decisions you’ll make at each point.
Stage 1: Tear-out and wall prep, days 1-2. The old cabinets get pulled, the counters come off, and we expose what’s underneath. In Lely’s 1990s and early 2000s concrete-block homes, we almost always find drywall patches or shim corrections behind the old boxes. The crew cleans the surfaces and checks that the walls are plumb enough for new cabinet hanging. If there’s water damage behind the sink base or around a dishwasher opening, this is when we address it. You don’t make design choices here, just a go/no-go call on any discovered rot or mold.
Stage 2: Rough-in adjustments, days 2-4. If you’re moving the sink location, adding an island where there wasn’t one, or shifting a cooktop, the plumbing and electrical rough-ins happen now. This is the single biggest variable that moves your price inside our $14,000-$45,000 range. A straight swap where nothing relocates keeps you on the low end. Moving a sink six feet or running a new 220V line for an induction cooktop pushes toward the higher end. In Lely Resort condos and villas with shared walls, we coordinate with the association for any in-slab plumbing work. You’ll need to finalize your appliance specs at this stage so the rough-ins are sized correctly.
Stage 3: Cabinet delivery and installation, days 4-8. The cabinet boxes arrive pre-assembled or ready-to-assemble depending on what you chose. The crew hangs the uppers first, then sets and levels the base cabinets. Every box gets shimmed and screwed to studs. In Lely homes with the original CBS block, fastener selection matters: we use Tapcons into the block where needed, not just drywall screws. Once the bases are locked in, we call for the countertop template appointment. You don’t do anything during this stage except stay reachable if a measurement question comes up.
Stage 4: Countertop template and fabrication, typically a 7-10 day gap. After the template tech lasers every base cabinet, the slab gets cut and finished off-site. This is the quiet period. The kitchen sits with bare cabinet boxes. If you’re also doing a full Kitchen Remodeling in Lely that includes flooring, this gap is when the floor crew works. If not, you wait. The sooner you pick your slab at the stone yard, the faster this stage moves. We’ll send you to our suppliers with your measurements in hand.
Stage 5: Countertop install, sink hookup, and finish plumbing, days 15-20. The slab crew delivers and sets the tops, seams the joints, and mounts any undermount sink. Our plumber follows within 24 hours to hook up the faucet, drain, disposal, and dishwasher connections. The electrician lands the cooktop or range connection. We walk the job with you, check drawer alignment, and make a punch list. From here, a typical cabinets and countertops replacement wraps in about two days. If you’ve added a Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling in Lely elsewhere in the house, we’ll sequence that work to avoid overlapping trades in your home.
The options you’ll choose between
Every cabinet and countertop decision comes down to a trade-off between upfront cost, how the material lives over the next decade, and what Lely Resort’s ARC will approve. Here are the real choices.
- Stock cabinets vs. semi-custom vs. full custom. Stock boxes ship in three weeks and cost the least. You’re locked into standard widths and door styles. Semi-custom, where most of our Lely work lands, lets you adjust depths and add rollout trays or soft-close hardware without jumping to full custom pricing. Full custom gives you any species, any finish, any dimension, but the lead time stretches to 8-12 weeks and the cost roughly doubles. For most homes in Lely, semi-custom from KraftMaid or a comparable line hits the sweet spot.
- Quartz vs. granite vs. quartzite vs. solid surface. Quartz is the default now: non-porous, no sealing required, consistent color. Granite is the natural-stone option and costs a bit less per square foot, but needs annual sealing and can stain if you cook heavily with oils or acids. Quartzite is the luxury pick: harder than granite, looks like marble, costs more. Solid surface like Corian runs cheaper than all of them and can be repaired in place, but it scratches and doesn’t carry the same resale weight.
- Door profile and finish. Shaker doors in a painted finish dominate in Lely Resort right now. Slab doors read more contemporary. Raised-panel doors skew traditional. The finish matters more than the profile for durability: a catalyzed conversion varnish holds up to Florida humidity far better than a basic lacquer, and it’s worth the upcharge in this climate.
- Edge profile on the countertop. Eased edge is standard and costs nothing extra. A full bullnose, bevel, or ogee edge adds $10-$25 per linear foot. In a kitchen with 40 linear feet of countertop, that adds up. Pick what you like to rest your forearms on while you read the news.
- Undermount vs. drop-in sink. Undermount is the expectation now: no rim to trap crumbs, easier to wipe into the sink. It requires a solid-surface or stone top. A drop-in sinks costs less and can go on laminate, but it’s rare in Lely kitchens at this point.
What cabinets and countertops cost in Lely, FL
You should expect a cabinets and countertops replacement in Lely to land between $14,000 and $45,000. The finished number depends on five things, and we want you to understand each one before you sign anything.
Kitchen size and linear footage. A galley kitchen with 20 linear feet of base cabinets costs less than an open-plan kitchen with an island, a peninsula, and 50 linear feet. This is the biggest driver. Every additional cabinet box and every additional square foot of slab moves the price.
Whether plumbing or electrical moves. A straight swap with the sink and appliances staying put keeps labor costs predictable. Moving a sink across the room means cutting into the slab, running new supply lines, and re-venting the drain. That alone can add $2,000-$5,000, and in Lely’s low-elevation neighborhoods near the canal network, any slab work triggers a close look at groundwater conditions.
Material grade. Stock cabinets with a laminate countertop land at the bottom of the range. Semi-custom painted cabinets with a mid-grade quartz sit in the middle, around $25,000-$35,000. Full custom with quartzite pushes toward $45,000 and beyond. We’ll show you the price difference between three tiers so you can choose with your eyes open.
Permit scope and ARC review. A straight cabinet and countertop swap where nothing structural, electrical, or plumbing changes may not need a Collier County permit. But if you’re relocating a sink, adding circuits, or altering walls, it does. Lely Resort adds a second layer: the Architectural Review Committee must sign off on any finish or material visible from outside the unit, including window treatments that show through glass. We build the ARC submission timeline into our schedule so it doesn’t surprise you three weeks in.
Condition of what’s underneath. We budget for the predictable. But when we open a 1998 kitchen that’s had a slow dishwasher leak for five years, the subfloor repair is a change order. Every estimate from us includes a written scope that spells out exactly what’s covered and what would trigger a separate line item. No vague language.
When you sit down with us, you’ll get a fixed-price, line-item proposal. The number on it is what you pay, period. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule that estimate.
What Lely homes specifically do to this job
Working in Lely means working inside a master-planned community with rules that reach into finish selections, not just rooflines. Lely Resort’s Architectural Review Committee requires approval on any exterior-visible change, and while a kitchen cabinet swap is interior work, the process still matters: if your project touches electrical, plumbing, or ventilation that routes through an exterior wall, the ARC wants to see the scope, and Collier County won’t issue a permit until the ARC signs off. We submit both packages in parallel because a two-week ARC holdup has a way of cascading into a two-month delay by the time subs are rescheduled.
The homes we work on most often in Lely are 1990s and early 2000s concrete block builds, the original resort-era stock. The kitchens in these houses share a few signatures: soffits above the old cabinets that hide ductwork or nothing at all, fluorescent troffer lights in a dropped ceiling box, and diagonal corner cabinets with broken lazy-Susan hardware. When we demo, we frequently find the wall behind the original builder-grade cabinets was never finished with more than a spray texture coat. That means extra drywall work before the new boxes go up, and we factor it in on the estimate instead of acting surprised later.
There’s also the snowbird calendar. A lot of our Lely customers want the kitchen done between May and October while they’re up north. That’s the right instinct, but it’s also rainy season. Afternoon thunderstorms shut down outdoor cutting and material runs. Humidity sits high enough that paint and adhesive cure times stretch. We schedule around it, not through it. Our crews start early, get the wet-work done before noon, and leave the indoor finish work for the stormy afternoons. If you’re considering a Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Lely at the same time, we’ll batch the interior trades to make the most of those off-season windows.
If your Lely home is in one of the villa or condo associations with tighter CCRs, we coordinate with the property manager on delivery access, dumpster placement, and work hours. Those details are boring until they’re not, and getting them wrong creates friction with neighbors and boards. We’d rather get it right the first time.
Serving Lely, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Lely area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
Frequently asked - Cabinets & Countertops in Lely
Plan on two to four weeks total. The cabinet installation itself takes three to four days. The countertop template-to-install gap runs seven to ten days while the slab is fabricated. The variables that stretch the timeline are custom cabinet lead times (8-12 weeks from order), permit and ARC review windows, and any subfloor or drywall repairs discovered during tear-out. We’ll give you a day-by-day schedule before we start, not a vague “couple weeks.” Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll walk through what your specific kitchen needs.
It depends on what else changes. A straight cabinet and countertop swap with no plumbing or electrical work typically does not require a Collier County building permit. If you relocate the sink, add or move electrical circuits, alter any wall, or change the kitchen’s footprint, a permit is required. Lely Resort adds the Architectural Review Committee layer: any work visible from outside the home or affecting exterior penetrations needs ARC approval. We handle both submissions so you don’t have to navigate either bureaucracy.
Yes, and that’s the most common scope in Lely. Keeping the sink, dishwasher, and range in their existing locations eliminates the slab-cutting, plumbing rough-in, and electrical relocation costs that push a job toward the $45,000 end of the range. A same-footprint replacement typically lands between $14,000 and $25,000 depending on cabinet grade and countertop material. You still get a completely new kitchen in appearance and function, just without the structural cost of reconfiguring the floor plan.
Our workmanship on the install is covered by the 730-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right, full stop. Cabinet manufacturers carry their own warranty on the boxes and finish, typically a limited lifetime warranty for the original owner. Stone fabricators warranty their seams and install for varying periods. We put every warranty term in writing in your contract, and we don’t hide behind subcontractor finger-pointing. If something fails and it’s our scope, we fix it.
We build our Lely kitchen projects around KraftMaid for the semi-custom sweet spot, and we can source full custom through several millwork shops when the design calls for it. You’re welcome to bring your own cabinet line; we’ll review the spec and install requirements before we quote the labor. The one constraint is lead time. Some boutique cabinet makers run 16-week backlogs, and if the rest of your kitchen remodeling timeline can’t absorb that, we’ll be upfront about it before you order.
Get a fixed-price estimate for cabinets and countertops in Lely
You’ll get a written proposal that spells out every line item: cabinet model and finish, countertop material and edge profile, sink and faucet allowances, plumbing and electrical scope, permit fees if applicable, and the start-to-finish schedule. No allowances that balloon later, no change orders unless you add scope. Call (844) 638-7249 to set up your free on-site estimate. A live person answers, day or night, and we’ll have a uniformed, background-checked estimator at your Lely home when it works for you.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Lely and surrounding communities.