What New Cabinets & Countertops Actually Cost and Take in Gateway
Replacing cabinets and countertops in a Gateway home typically runs between $14,000 and $45,000, with most jobs wrapping up in two to four weeks once materials are on site. The work splits into two distinct phases - cabinet installation first, then template and countertop placement about a week later - and the biggest variable is whether you’re keeping the existing layout or moving plumbing and electrical. Call us at (844) 638-7249 if you want a fixed-price quote specific to your kitchen’s footprint; every estimate we write is line-itemed and free.
How we take a Gateway kitchen from old cabinets to finished countertops
Most homeowners haven’t lived through this sequence before, so we walk through it upfront. Here’s the actual flow, stage by stage, so you know what to expect and when decisions land on your plate.
Stage 1: On-site measure and layout verification (Day 1, about two hours). We send a cabinet specialist - not a sales rep doing double duty - to laser-measure every wall, check for out-of-square corners, and confirm whether the existing footprint can be reused without moving gas lines, drain stacks, or electrical boxes. If you’re changing the island size or relocating the range, we flag it here because that’s what pushes the job from a cabinet swap into permit-required territory in Lee County. You’ll leave this meeting with a dimensioned drawing and a fixed price, not a ballpark.
Stage 2: Material selection and order placement (Week 1-2). Cabinetry lead times in southwest Florida are running six to ten weeks depending on the manufacturer, so we get the order in fast. You’ll pick door style, wood species, finish, and hardware during this window. Countertop slabs - quartz, granite, quartzite, solid surface - get reserved from the fabricator’s inventory at the same time. We handle the entire spec sheet; you make the aesthetic calls.
Stage 3: Demolition and cabinet installation (Days 1-4 on site). Old boxes and counters come out, wall conditions get assessed, and any drywall or framing corrections happen before the new cabinets go in. We shim, level, and anchor every cabinet run to the studs - there are no floating corner gaps in a Groundwork install. By day four you have a fully installed cabinet layout with temporary plywood tops if the stone isn’t ready yet.
Stage 4: Template and countertop fabrication (typically 7-10 days after cabinet set). The fabricator arrives with a digital templating system to capture the exact as-built dimensions of your installed cabinets. This step matters enormously in Gateway homes built in the 1990s and 2000s, where slab foundations have settled just enough that a “standard” L-shape template won’t fit without adjustment. Your slabs get cut, edged, and polished off site, then delivered for installation.
Stage 5: Countertop install, sink and fixture hookup, final walkthrough (1-2 days). Stone goes down, seams get color-matched and sealed, undermount sinks get epoxied in place, and plumbing reconnects. We run the faucet, check every drawer face for alignment, and walk the job with you before we call it done. Any punch-list item gets scheduled before we leave - no chasing a project manager later.
The options you’ll choose between for cabinets and countertops
Every selection has a real trade-off - cost, durability, maintenance, or lead time. These are the decisions most Gateway homeowners weigh when we sit down to spec a job.
- Stock vs. semi-custom vs. full-custom cabinetry. Stock cabinets (KraftMaid, for example) ship in two to four weeks and keep the budget tight - figure $4,000 to $8,000 for a typical Gateway kitchen. Semi-custom adds maybe three weeks and 30-40% to the cabinet line, but you get exact widths, deeper drawers, and finish choices that match the rest of the home. Full custom is millwork-shop territory: any species, any profile, any size, and a price that scales accordingly.
- Quartz vs. granite vs. quartzite countertops. Quartz is the default recommendation for most families - it’s non-porous, never needs sealing, and handles the humidity of a Florida kitchen without issue. Granite costs a little less per square foot but requires annual sealing. Quartzite gives you the look of marble with granite-level hardness, though it runs $90-$140 per square foot installed. Solid surface and laminate are available, but we see them less often in Gateway homes where resale is part of the calculus.
- Edge profile and overhang. A standard eased edge is included; ogee, waterfall, and mitered-edge profiles add fabrication cost. If you want a seating overhang on the island - and most Gateway kitchens built after 2000 have the floor space for it - we’ll spec steel support brackets and a minimum 12-inch projection so knees actually fit underneath.
- Sink and faucet integration. Undermount stainless is the workhorse choice. Farmhouse and apron-front sinks need a notched cabinet base, which we account for during cabinet ordering. Faucet selection - pull-down, touchless, pot-filler - gets roughed in during installation so there’s no retrofit scrambling later.
What cabinets and countertops cost in Gateway, FL
A straight cabinet-and-countertop replacement in Gateway runs $14,000 to $45,000. The floor comes from a small galley kitchen with stock cabinets, a standard quartz install, and zero layout changes. The ceiling represents a larger footprint with an island, semi-custom or custom cabinetry, a quartzite or premium quartz slab, and some plumbing or electrical reconfiguration.
Four variables push the number up or down. First, kitchen size and linear footage of cabinetry - more boxes, more cost. Second, whether the sink, range, or dishwasher move from their current locations - relocating plumbing and electrical adds rough-in work, drywall patching, and usually a Lee County permit. Third, material grade - stock cabinets with a basic quartz top land near the bottom of the range; custom doors and a bookmatched stone slab land near the top. Fourth, existing conditions - if we open the walls and find water damage, termite repair, or out-of-code wiring, the scope expands.
Every Groundwork estimate is a fixed-price, line-itemed document. It includes demolition, disposal, cabinet assembly and install, countertop template and fabrication, sink and faucet hookup, and a full job cleanup. What it does not include - unless we scope it together - is flooring, backsplash, or lighting changes, though we can price those as a separate line if you want them done while the kitchen is already torn apart. A full Kitchen Remodeling in Gateway is the better path if you’re doing all three at once.
What Gateway homes specifically do to this job
Gateway’s housing stock is remarkably consistent - concrete-block homes built mostly between 1990 and 2010, with kitchen footprints that followed the era’s open-floor-plan conventions. That consistency cuts both ways. On one hand, we know the stud layout, slab conditions, and typical cabinet dimensions before we even arrive for the measure. On the other, those late-1990s and early-2000s builds share a set of failure patterns we see on nearly every job: sink-base cabinets with swollen MDF from a slow drain leak that went unnoticed for years, and builder-grade laminate counters separating at the seams from two decades of Florida humidity.
The HOA layer in Gateway adds a step most homeowners don’t anticipate. Because Gateway operates as a Community Development District, exterior-facing changes - even something as straightforward as a window over the kitchen sink that gets resized during a layout change - can trigger architectural review committee approval before Lee County will issue the permit. We handle that paperwork on your behalf, but it’s a real timeline variable that doesn’t exist for the same job in unincorporated Fort Myers. The good news: interior cabinet and countertop replacements with no footprint changes or window alterations rarely need HOA sign-off at all, and we’ll tell you during the initial measure which category your project falls into.
Many homeowners use a cabinet-and-countertop refresh as the anchor project and then pair it with a Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling in Gateway or a Tub-to-Shower Conversion in Gateway while the construction crew is already mobilized - it’s a scheduling efficiency that saves real money on mobilization costs.
Serving Gateway, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Gateway 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 Gateway
Plan on two to four weeks of on-site work, with an additional six to ten weeks of lead time for cabinet and slab ordering before the first day of demolition. The template-to-install gap for countertops is about a week. HOA review - if your project needs it - can add another two to three weeks, which is why we submit the architectural application the same week you sign the contract.
Not if you’re keeping the plumbing, electrical, and gas locations exactly where they are. If you move the sink, relocate the range, or add new circuits (for an island outlet, for example), Lee County requires a permit, and your Gateway community may require architectural review as well. Our kitchen remodeling team pulls permits as a standard practice - no shortcuts, no “we’ll handle it later.”
Yes, and this is the most cost-effective path. When the work triangle stays intact and the plumbing stub-outs don’t move, the job is faster, cleaner, and avoids permit triggers entirely. Most Gateway kitchens built in the 1990-2010 window have functional layouts that benefit more from updated materials and storage than from moving walls.
Countertop-only replacement in a Gateway kitchen generally runs $2,000 to $6,500, depending on square footage and material. Quartz falls in the middle of that range; quartzite and premium granite push toward the top. We’ll assess your existing cabinet boxes first - if the face frames are water-damaged or the drawer slides are failing, a countertop-only job doesn’t make financial sense.
Manufacturer warranties vary by brand - most semi-custom lines carry a limited lifetime warranty on the cabinet boxes and a five-year finish warranty. Stone countertops typically carry a 10- to 15-year manufacturer warranty against defects. On top of that, every Groundwork installation is backed by our 730-Day Done Right Promise: if something isn’t right, we fix it, no argument. Call (844) 638-7249 if you ever need us - a live person answers, 24/7.
Get a fixed-price estimate for cabinets and countertops in Gateway
We’ll come to your Gateway home, laser-measure the kitchen, talk through cabinet lines and stone options that fit your budget, and hand you a written, line-itemed price before we leave. No range, no “it depends” without an explanation. The estimate is free, and the number we write is the number you pay - upfront pricing, no surprises, with 0% financing for 18 months and $1,000 off projects over $10,000 available. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule yours.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Gateway and the surrounding Lee County communities since 2014.