What a Kitchen Design & Layout in Lely Resort Actually Costs (and How Long It Takes)
A kitchen design and layout in Lely Resort typically runs between $14,000 and $45,000 and takes six to ten weeks from the first measurement to the final walkthrough. The job isn’t a full gut remodel. It’s a structural rethinking of how your kitchen works: moving or removing walls, relocating sink and appliance positions, reconfiguring the footprint, and often upgrading the electrical and plumbing infrastructure to support the new layout. Call (844) 638-7249 if you’re looking at a floorplan that just doesn’t function. We’ll send someone out to measure and talk through what’s actually possible.
A layout change is different from a surface-level refresh. You’re not just swapping cabinet doors or replacing a countertop. You’re asking where the sink should live, whether that wall between the kitchen and dining room can come down, and how to get an island into a space that was never framed for one. In Lely Resort’s concrete-block homes, that often means cutting into CBS walls, rerouting plumbing through a slab-on-grade foundation, and pulling a building permit from Collier County. Done wrong, it’s expensive to undo. Done right, it’s the single biggest improvement you can make to how your home feels day to day.
How We Rethink a Kitchen Layout - The Five Stages
Most Lely Resort homeowners we meet have already lived with the problem for a while. The builder put the refrigerator in a corner that blocks a walkway. The sink faces a wall instead of the lanai. The cooktop sits on a peninsula that isolates the cook from everyone else. A layout redesign fixes the flow, not just the finishes. Here’s how we approach it.
Stage 1: On-site measurement and as-built documentation
We come to your home in Lely Resort and take precise field measurements, not just of the kitchen but of the adjacent rooms and load-bearing points. In CBS construction, we need to know which walls are concrete block and which are framed partitions. That distinction drives everything downstream. We also locate the existing plumbing drain lines, electrical panels, and any ductwork that runs through the soffits. This visit takes about 90 minutes. Before we leave, we’ll ask the big questions: what bothers you most about the current layout, how you cook, how many people use the kitchen at once, and whether you want the kitchen open to the living area. That conversation shapes every decision that follows.
Stage 2: Design concepts and structural feasibility
Back in our office, we model your existing floorplan and produce two or three layout options. Each option addresses a different priority: one might maximize counter space, another might prioritize sightlines to the lanai, a third might keep plumbing fixtures in place to control cost. For any wall that comes out, we flag whether it’s load-bearing and what the beam or header solution will be. In Lely Resort homes built on monolithic slabs, moving a sink more than a few feet means cutting concrete to relocate the drain - we give you a yes/no and a cost estimate on that before you commit to a design direction. You’ll see dimensioned plans, not just sketches. You decide which direction feels right. This stage typically takes a week to ten days.
Stage 3: Selections and specifications
Once the layout is locked, we spec the materials and fixtures that make the new floorplan work. Cabinet runs get dimensioned to the inch. Appliance locations get confirmed against manufacturer cut sheets. We walk you through countertop material options, sink configurations, lighting placements, and flooring transitions - every choice that touches the new footprint. This is where we finalize the line-item budget. If the project is part of a wider Kitchen Remodeling in Lely Resort, we sequence the design work so that the layout changes lead and the finish work follows without rework. Selections take one to two weeks depending on how quickly you decide.
Stage 4: Permitting and ARB approval
Collier County requires a building permit for any kitchen project that moves walls, relocates plumbing or electrical fixtures, or alters the structural envelope. In Lely Resort specifically, you also have the community’s Architectural Review Board to contend with if the layout change affects window openings, exterior door locations, or any element visible from the street or golf course. We prepare both submittals in parallel - county permit drawings and ARB application packages. The county review typically runs two to three weeks. The ARB can add another two to four depending on their meeting calendar. We handle the paperwork. You don’t chase approvals. This is the part of the timeline that surprises people, and it’s why we start it early.
Stage 5: Construction and final walkthrough
Demolition comes first: opening walls, cutting slab where plumbing moves, removing soffits. Then the rough-in: new drain lines, updated circuits, any structural headers. Inspections happen at rough-in and again at final. Cabinet installation follows, then countertop templating and fabrication, then appliance set and trim-out. The active construction phase runs four to six weeks for most Lely Resort layout projects, assuming no permit delays. At completion, we do a formal walkthrough with you and register the project under our 730-Day Done Right Promise. If something isn’t right, we make it right. No expiration games.
The Decisions You’ll Actually Make
Every layout project forces a handful of choices that have real cost and livability consequences. Here are the ones that matter most for Lely Resort kitchens.
- Wall removal vs. wall modification. Taking down a non-load-bearing partition is straightforward. Removing a load-bearing CBS wall requires an engineered beam - typically steel or a laminated LVL - and increases cost by $3,000 to $8,000 depending on span. Some homeowners choose to cut a large pass-through instead of removing an entire wall. The opening still requires a header, but the job is smaller.
- Plumbing relocation. Moving a sink, dishwasher, or gas line more than a few feet on a slab foundation means saw-cutting concrete and trenching for new drain and supply lines. Concrete slab work adds $1,800 to $4,500 to the plumbing line item. If you can keep the sink on the same wall, the savings are immediate.
- Island configuration. A fixed island with plumbing and electrical costs more than a freestanding furniture-style island, but it adds functional prep space and often a second sink. Budget $3,000 to $10,000 for a built-in island depending on size, countertop material, and whether you run water and power to it. This is one of the most common requests we field from Lely Resort homeowners who bought a home with a galley layout and no island at all.
- Cabinet layout density. More drawers and pull-out shelves cost more than standard door cabinets, but they’re dramatically more usable. A drawer base under a cooktop, for instance, stores pots and pans in a way a cabinet never will. We spec cabinet interiors based on how you actually cook, not on what looks symmetrical on a plan.
- Lighting plan. A layout redesign is the right time to add under-cabinet LED strips, pendant lights over an island, and recessed cans on dimmers. The electrical rough-in cost goes up, but the kitchen works better at every hour of the day. We recommend layering task, ambient, and accent lighting in any kitchen where the footprint is changing.
Homeowners often pair a kitchen layout change with Vanities, Tile & Fixtures in Lely Resort or a Small Bathroom Remodels in Lely Resort - once we’re already cutting slab and running new lines, the incremental cost of updating an adjacent bath or laundry drops. It’s worth discussing during the design phase.
What Kitchen Design & Layout Costs in Lely Resort, FL
A kitchen design and layout project in Lely Resort ranges from $14,000 on the lower end to $45,000 for a full reconfiguration with structural changes, slab plumbing, and high-end finishes. The wide spread isn’t random. Five things push the number toward one end or the other.
First, the number of walls that move or come out. A simple peninsula removal might add $2,000 in beam work. Removing a load-bearing CBS wall and supporting a second story can run $8,000 or more in engineering and steel alone. Second, plumbing and electrical scope. A project that keeps the sink and appliances on their original walls costs far less than one that moves everything. Cutting concrete slab in a Lely Resort home, where the water table sits high, also requires careful moisture-barrier detailing. Third, cabinet grade and configuration. Stock cabinets keep the number down; semi-custom or full-custom cabinets with soft-close hardware and plywood box construction push it up. Fourth, countertop material. Laminate starts low. Quartz, granite, and solid-surface materials land in the middle to high end. Fifth, permit and ARB complexity. A fast-track county permit on a minor change costs less in time and fees than a full structural review plus an ARB submittal cycle.
Every estimate we write is a line-item, fixed-price quote. You see the cost of each stage before you sign. There’s no change order later because we didn’t guess at what was inside the wall. We account for Lely Resort’s CBS construction, the ARB process, and Collier County’s inspection schedule in the timeline and the price up front.
What Lely Resort’s Homes Specifically Do to a Kitchen Layout Job
Lely Resort’s housing stock is concrete block stucco, built in phases from the mid-1990s through the 2010s. That means nearly every interior partition we touch is either a framed wall on a slab or, less often, a structural CBS wall we have to engineer around. The slab-on-grade foundation is the single biggest variable. Relocating a sink drain in a crawlspace home is a plumbing job. Doing it on a Collier County slab means cutting, trenching, patching, and passing a below-grade plumbing inspection - all while the wet-season water table sits just 18 to 24 inches below the surface. We have to account for that in both the schedule and the waterproofing detail.
The ARB overlay adds another layer unique to this community. If your layout change modifies a window opening, an exterior door, or any elevation visible from the golf course or a neighboring property, the plan has to clear the community’s design review. That’s a separate set of drawings and a separate approval timeline on top of the county permit. We’ve done it enough to know which neighborhood sub-associations have the tightest review cycles and what their board chairs look for. If you’re deep in the Players Club or the Classics enclave, the process is predictable but not fast. We factor in that buffer from day one.
We regularly work in Lely Resort’s coach homes, attached villas, and larger estate properties. The villas and coach homes tend to have galley or L-shaped kitchens where a peninsula removal opens the entire living area. Estate homes often have separate formal dining rooms where a wall comes out to create a single great-room kitchen. The construction method is the same CBS-and-slab assembly, but the scale and the structural requirements change. The Lely Resort homes we see most often were built between 1998 and 2007. Those kitchens were designed for a different era: compartmentalized, with minimal counter space and no island. The layout problems are consistent across the community, and we know the fix patterns that work.
Serving Lely Resort, FL - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Lely Resort 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 - Kitchen Design & Layout in Lely Resort
Plan on six to ten weeks from the first site visit to final walkthrough. The design and selections phase takes two to three weeks. Permitting through Collier County and the Lely Resort ARB adds another two to four weeks depending on review cycles. Actual construction runs four to six weeks. The largest time variable is the ARB meeting calendar, which we can’t control but we plan around. Call (844) 638-7249 and we’ll give you a timeline specific to your project.
Yes. Collier County requires a building permit for any kitchen project that moves walls, relocates plumbing or electrical, or changes the structural layout. In Lely Resort, you may also need ARB approval if the change affects exterior elements. We pull the permits and submit the ARB package on your behalf. The process is non-negotiable, but it’s routine when you work with a contractor who knows the county’s plan review expectations.
Yes, and it’s often the most cost-effective path. If the sink and major appliances stay on their original walls, we can remove or modify partitions, add an island, and rework cabinet runs without cutting into the slab. The cost stays closer to the $14,000 end of the range. The trade-off is that you’re working within the existing plumbing footprint. Some layouts benefit enormously from a sink relocation. Others don’t need it. We’ll show you both options and let you decide.
A layout change focuses on the footprint and flow: moving walls, relocating fixtures, rethinking how the room works. A Kitchen Remodeling project typically includes all of that plus new cabinets, countertops, flooring, backsplash, and appliances throughout. You can do just the layout now and finish the surfaces later, or combine them into one project. The layout work is the structural and infrastructure phase. The remodel wraps it in finishes.
Every kitchen design and layout we complete in Lely Resort falls under our 730-Day Done Right Promise: if something isn’t done right, we make it right for two full years after completion. That covers workmanship on the structural changes, plumbing rough-in, electrical work, and installation. Manufacturer warranties on materials and fixtures are separate and run according to their own terms. The promise is the longest workmanship guarantee most of our customers have ever been offered, and it’s in writing from the day we start.
Start With a Free, No-Obligation Kitchen Layout Consultation in Lely Resort
If your kitchen floorplan isn’t working, let’s talk about what would. We’ll come to your home in Lely Resort, take measurements, discuss what’s possible within your walls and your budget, and leave you with a fixed-price, line-item estimate. No pressure, no vague ranges. The consultation is free. Call (844) 638-7249 to schedule yours. A live person answers the phone, day or night, and we’ll have a uniformed, background-checked team at your door when we say we will.
Written by Derek Hollenbeck, Owner at Groundwork Construction Co., serving Lely Resort homeowners with straightforward kitchen design work and a 730-Day Done Right Promise.