We'll walk you through renovating your kitchen.

To answer this, it's first helpful to understand that a load bearing wall is a wall that holds up some part of the roof framing or is part of a home's exterior wall. For homes built in the 70s or 80s, most kitchens and dining/living rooms are separated by some type of wall. A few signs that the partition wall is non-bearing is if the wall not centered to your roof, if the wall partition 2 living spaces and has a opening in the middle, or if the wall does not go from one end of a room to the other.

To the average person, may be hard to determine if a wall is load bearing or not. If you're still unsure, we recommend contacting us for a free consultation or calling us to describe the wall in more detail.

We recommend going through this article to get more in-depth information on load bearing and non-load bearing walls: https://www.peforhire.com/blog/how-can-you-tell-if-a-wall-is-load-bearing/

Here are a few examples of non-load bearing walls from homes built in the 70s and 80s.

For the simplest removals, you can expect the cost to run $25 to $35k as a baseline which could go up depending on the length of the wall.

Removing or modifying a load bearing wall means altering the structural framing of a home. To know exactly how much this part of the project will cost, you will need to consult with our or any licensed architect and have them draw up a set of plans to replace the load bearing wall.

To get an accurate bid on load bearing wall alterations, it is best to acquire a set of architectural plans first so your contractor knows what work is involved.

We've attached some examples of common load bearing walls from homes built in the 70s and 80s.

A typical residential home's framing will consist of a series of vertical posts and horizontal beams. The most cost efficient way to open up your kitchen is to 'beef up' the existing posts and sitting on the foundation then install a bigger beam to accommodate the additional loads. Keeping openings, if there is one there, in the same place will avoid having redo the roof framing.

Yes. If you're adding a new island, you can design what goes in that island from scratch. If your kitchen sits on a raised foundation running water and electricity to the new island for an additional sink or appliance  is a fairly simple process. For kitchens sitting on a concrete foundation, the process is still doable but ends up being more expensive than a raised foundation because crews will have to trench into the current foundation.

If your cabinets are made out of solid wood and there are only minor dents on it, absolutely! In fact, we encourage refinishing cabinets because getting new cabinets can be very expensive, will take a while to get delivered, and you'll avoid wasting perfectly usable cabinets.

Whenever our crews refinish cabinets, we always replace the hinges and hardware to really give the cabinets a brand new feel. Upgrading your old hardware to new soft closing hardware will make your cabinets indistinguishable from new ones that would've probably cost you $30k to get made.

Bonus tip, if you don't like the style of your doors, you can choose to get newly made doors but reuse the frame of your current cabinets. This is still a much more cost effective option that getting everything redone.

We only do installations on cabinets from our verified vendors but you can purchase from any vendor you choose. Just make sure the vendor you choose will do the installation of the cabinets, appliances, and any lights that go into the cabinets.

Yes. If you're purchasing high-end appliances such as Viking, Wolf, or Miele, the manufacturer will have specific amperage and voltage requirements for the appliance outlets. We can run the appropriate wiring and install dedicated breakers for these appliances as per the manufacturers requirements.

There are 2 things to look out for; first is if you have available breaker slots and second is if your home has enough amperage or 'juice' from PGE.

Most modern or large appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, a/c units, or even saunas require at least 1 or 2 dedicated breakers. To know if your home has available breakers for new appliances take a look at your subpanel and main panel. If you see at least 2 available breakers, you're good.

As for having enough amperage, this is essentially the bandwidth or volume of power flowing into your home from the service provider. Most homes built in the 60's to 80's will likely have 60 to 100 amp service. If you're remodeling your kitchen today, it is likely we will have to upgrade your home to a 200 amp service so that your home has enough volume of power for your home.

The best material for your countertops will be determined by what best fits your current life stage so read up on quartz, marble, porcelain, and granite.

Our only suggestion is if you have kids that like to draw, paint, or play on top of the countertops, go with quartz. This is a non-permeable and dense material so it won't stain or chip as easily.

We'll tell you how much you need. We give our clients a shopping list for finish materials so they can shop around the various vendors we provide to check for available styles and quantities.

Yes. Here's a shot list of edges we can fabricate.

There are Floor & Decor stores popping up all over the Bay Area. They have a fantastic selection of mostly everything you will need for a kitchen remodel and they also offer free design services. They also keep a large stock of materials so if you pick the right stuff, you won't have to wait for long delivery times.

Use their store locator to find a store near you.

They also carry flooring, hardware, grout, trims, baseboards, and many more. So make this place your first shopping stop.

Your choices are LVP (luxury vinyl plank), engineered hardwood, or solid hardwood. LVP will give you more consistent color & pattern variations since it is a manufactured product. Engineered and solid hardwood will give you more color & pattern variation. The other consideration is durability. LVP is the most durable but cannot be refinished unlike its real wood counterparts.

If you're concerned with sound proofing, insulative qualities, or cushioning, using the right  underlayment (ie: soundproof, waterproof, 1/2" thick underlayment for added cushion) and insulation between floor joists is the best option.

Choose the floor because of the looks and durability.

Yes. The 3 most common & modern finishes you'll see are smooth, orange peel, and knockdown. The smooth finish comes in 3 variations or 'levels'. Level 5 being perfectly smooth with zero variations in texture, level 4 has light variations in texture, and level 3 has very visible variations in texture.