What a Full Kitchen Remodel in Lehigh Acres Actually Involves, and What It Costs
A full kitchen remodel in Lehigh Acres typically means taking the room down to the studs and rebuilding it with a new layout, flooring, cabinets, countertops, appliances, lighting, and finishes. Most projects in the area run between $14,000 and $45,000 depending on square footage, material grade, and whether you move plumbing or electrical. The work usually takes 6 to 10 weeks from demo to final walkthrough. If you’re ready to get a firm number for your home, call (844) 638-7249 for a free, line-itemed estimate, and we’ll talk through what your kitchen actually needs.
How a Full Kitchen Remodel Comes Together, Step by Step
We’ve done enough full kitchen remodels in Lehigh Acres to know that the process feels big until you see the stages laid out plainly. Here’s what to expect once you sign the contract.
Stage 1: Design and Selections (1 to 2 weeks). Before a hammer swings, we sit down with you to finalize the layout, cabinet door style, countertop material, backsplash tile, flooring, sink, faucet, and lighting. This is where you choose between slab-front and raised-panel doors, quartz and granite, porcelain and natural stone. You’ll also decide whether to keep the sink and appliance locations where they are or move them. That single decision is the biggest cost driver outside of square footage, and we’ll walk you through the real dollar difference before you commit.
Stage 2: Permitting and Material Ordering (1 to 3 weeks). Lehigh Acres falls under Lee County permitting, and a full kitchen remodel that touches electrical, plumbing, or structural walls needs a permit. We pull the permit, schedule the rough-in inspections, and place the cabinet, countertop, and specialty tile orders. Cabinets are typically the long-lead item, so we order those on day one of this stage. While we wait, we confirm the subfloor condition and finalize the electrical plan with you.
Stage 3: Demo and Rough-In (3 to 6 days). The old kitchen comes out. We disconnect and cap plumbing, remove drywall as needed, and haul debris. Then our electricians and plumbers rough in new circuits, move supply lines and drains if the layout changed, and set the boxes for under-cabinet lighting and island outlets. The building inspector typically comes through at the end of this stage to sign off before we close the walls. In older 1960s CBS homes in Lehigh Acres, we often find wiring that was never grounded and cast-iron drain pipes that have rusted thin. We flag it immediately so there are no surprises tucked inside the walls.
Stage 4: Drywall, Flooring, and Cabinetry (2 to 3 weeks). We patch or hang new drywall, tape, mud, and sand to a Level 4 finish, then prime and paint. Flooring goes in next, whether it’s tile, luxury vinyl plank, or engineered hardwood. Once the floor is cured, the cabinet installation begins. Base cabinets are leveled and anchored first, then uppers, then crown molding and light rail. The countertop template is taken after the base cabinets are set, and fabrication usually takes 5 to 7 days.
Stage 5: Finishes, Fixtures, and Final Inspection (1 to 2 weeks). Countertops are installed, the sink and faucet are connected, and the backsplash is set and grouted. Electricians return to hang pendants, install under-cabinet LED strips, and trim out outlets. Appliances are slid in and tested. The plumber hooks up the dishwasher and disposal. Once everything is in place, the county inspector does the final walkthrough. We then do our own punch-list walkthrough with you to catch any paint touch-ups, drawer adjustments, or grout haze before we call the job complete.
A full kitchen remodel is a sequenced job where each stage locks the one before it. We keep the schedule tight and tell you upfront which choices need to be firm by which date. If part of a wider home renovation, this work dovetails naturally with Kitchen Remodeling in Lehigh Acres when multiple rooms are in play.
The Choices That Shape a Full Kitchen Remodel
The selections you make turn a generic job into a kitchen that fits how you cook and live. Here are the main options, with the trade-offs we talk through on every estimate.
- Cabinet construction. Stock cabinets are pre-built in standard widths and ship in 2 to 3 weeks. Semi-custom lets you change depth, height, and interior fittings. Full custom is built to the inch. Stock saves money. Semi-custom is the sweet spot for most Lehigh Acres homes. Full custom makes sense when you have an awkward wall or want a very specific look.
- Countertop material. Quartz is non-porous, stain-resistant, and doesn’t need sealing. Granite is natural stone with more visual variation but requires yearly sealing. Laminate is the budget option, tough but susceptible to heat and blade marks. In Florida’s humidity, quartz’s zero-maintenance surface is a real advantage.
- Cabinet door profile. Shaker doors are the most common choice, clean-lined and easy to wipe down. Slab doors read more modern. Raised-panel doors feel traditional. The profile changes the kitchen’s whole expression without changing the cabinet box at all.
- Flooring for a kitchen. Porcelain tile handles wet feet and dropped pans and stays cool in Florida heat. Luxury vinyl plank is warmer underfoot, quieter, and more forgiving if a glass drops. Both work. Tile lasts longer. LVP installs faster.
- Sink and faucet configuration. An undermount single-basin sink is the most functional choice for large pots. A farmhouse sink is a style statement that requires a special cabinet base. Touchless faucets are popular with Lehigh Acres retirees, easier on arthritic hands and useful when hands are covered in flour.
These decisions feel small individually, but together they set the kitchen’s look, durability, and price. If you’re also updating an adjacent bathroom, a lot of homeowners pair this with Full Bathroom Remodeling in Lehigh Acres to keep the disruption in one window rather than two separate construction cycles.
What a Full Kitchen Remodeling Job Costs in Lehigh Acres, FL
You can expect a full kitchen remodel in Lehigh Acres to land between $14,000 and $45,000. That’s a real spread, so here’s what pushes a job toward one end or the other.
Square footage is the baseline. A 100-square-foot galley kitchen sits near the low end. A 300-square-foot open kitchen with an island pushes toward the top. If the existing kitchen has water-damaged subfloor from a slow dishwasher leak, a condition we see often in foreclosure-era homes built during the 2003-2008 boom here, the repair adds $800 to $2,500 before we lay a single tile.
Moving the sink, dishwasher, or range is the single largest variable. Running a new drain line through a concrete slab in a 1960s CBS home means saw-cutting, trenching, and sometimes re-routing around the existing footing. That alone can add $2,500 to $6,000. Keeping the appliances in their existing locations avoids that cost entirely.
Appliance grade moves the number as well. A standard slide-in range and top-freezer fridge keep the budget lean. A pro-style gas range with a matching hood, a French-door fridge, and a drawer microwave add thousands. We don’t sell appliances, but we coordinate with your supplier so the rough-in matches the specs exactly.
Every estimate we write is a fixed-price, line-item document. Permit fees, demo, materials, labor, and finish work are broken out. Change orders only happen if you add scope after the contract is signed. We don’t bury unknowns in vague line items. If the subfloor looks suspect, we’ll note it during the walkthrough and put a conditional allowance in the estimate so you see the maximum exposure before we start. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule that walkthrough.
Working on Lehigh Acres Homes - What the Houses Tell Us
The Lehigh Acres housing stock splits into two groups that demand very different approaches during a full kitchen remodel. The original 1960s and 1970s concrete block homes were built for the early retirement market, and their kitchens are tight, walled-off from the living area, wired with ungrounded circuits, and often sitting on slabs that have settled unevenly over five decades. Removing a load-bearing wall to open the kitchen to the living room is common on these jobs, and it requires an engineered beam and a structural permit, adding roughly a week to the schedule.
The second group, the tract homes thrown up during the 2003-2008 building boom, went through waves of foreclosure and deferred maintenance. We walk into kitchens in these homes and find builder-grade MDF cabinets swollen from humidity, laminate counters delaminating at the seams, and outlets that were never GFCI-protected. The footprint is usually larger, but the bones are often worse than the older homes. We don’t know which one we’re dealing with until we pull a section of drywall and look at what’s behind it.
Lee County permitting is straightforward but has its own rhythm. A full kitchen remodel permit requires a floor plan with the new layout, an electrical diagram showing circuits and load calculations, and a plumbing isometric if you’re moving water or drain lines. Plan review typically takes 5 to 10 business days for a simple remodel. We handle every submittal and meet the inspector on site. If you’re in a neighborhood with an HOA, like parts of Mirror Lakes or Greenbriar, check your covenants early. Some require exterior venting for range hoods that vent through a wall rather than the roof, and the architectural review can add a week.
A significant share of the full kitchen remodels we do in Lehigh Acres right now are replacements for kitchens that were water-damaged after Hurricane Ian in 2022. Ian’s inland track brought Category 4 winds that ripped roof decking and let rain pour through ceilings. The drywall was replaced quickly, but kitchens that “looked fine” two years ago are now showing floor tile tenting at the grout lines and cabinet bases swelling from moisture that wicked up slowly. We pull the base cabinets and find mold on the drywall behind them more often than not. A full remodel addresses the damage that a surface-level fix missed.
Serving Lehigh Acres, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
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Frequently Asked Questions About Full Kitchen Remodeling in Lehigh Acres
Six to ten weeks from the day we start demo to the day the inspector signs off. The spread depends on whether you move plumbing or electrical, how long countertop fabrication takes, and whether the permit review runs the full 10 business days. We’ll give you a firm schedule with milestone dates before we start.
Yes, if the job touches electrical, plumbing, or any load-bearing wall. That covers nearly every full kitchen remodel we do. We pull the permit, schedule the rough-in and final inspections, and ensure everything passes. Unpermitted kitchen work causes problems at resale and with your homeowners insurance. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll explain exactly what your project triggers.
Yes, and it is the single most effective way to reduce cost on a full kitchen remodel in Lehigh Acres. Keeping the sink, dishwasher, and range where they are avoids cutting the slab for drain-line relocation, which is the most expensive line item in the rough-in phase. You still get new cabinets, counters, flooring, and lighting. The trade-off is that you’re locked into the existing work triangle.
Every full kitchen remodel we complete is covered by our 730-Day Done Right Promise. If something isn’t right, we make it right. No partial windows, no fine print on labor versus materials. Cabinetry carries the manufacturer’s warranty, which varies by brand, and we walk you through those terms during the selections phase. This is work that should hold up for decades, and our warranty backs it in writing.
For a 150- to 200-square-foot kitchen with semi-custom cabinets, quartz counters, porcelain tile flooring, a standard appliance package, and no plumbing relocation, expect $22,000 to $32,000. You can stay under $20,000 with stock cabinets and laminate counters, or push past $40,000 with custom cabinets, high-end appliances, and structural work. We’ll give you a fixed price in writing after the on-site walkthrough. The estimate is free and comes with no pressure.
If you’re already planning a kitchen overhaul and also considering updating a wet space, many Lehigh Acres homeowners roll us into a Walk-In Showers & Shower Remodeling in Lehigh Acres project at the same time to keep the construction window consolidated.
Let’s Get a Real Number for Your Full Kitchen Remodel in Lehigh Acres
A full kitchen remodel is a big project, and the only way to price it honestly is to see the space. We’ll walk the room with you, talk through what you want to change and what you’d rather leave alone, and hand you a fixed-price estimate that covers the whole job. No ballpark guesses that drift later, no line items that feel fuzzy. Reach our team at (844) 638-7249. A live person answers, and we’ll schedule your free estimate at a time that works for you. From the first call through the final punch list, our Kitchen Remodeling crew handles it all.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Lehigh Acres with full-scope home construction backed by a 730-Day Done Right Promise.