Kitchen remodeling · Bay Area & Dallas–Fort Worth
Twenty-six short answers, one per letter, covering what a kitchen remodel involves before anyone opens a wall. Read them in order or jump to a letter, then send us your kitchen request and we call or email you back.
Contractor Near Me is a free request service for homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area and Dallas–Fort Worth. We are not a contractor and do not do the work: you tell us about the kitchen, we call or email you back about it. This alphabet is the background we go through on that call, written down so you can read it first. For the bigger picture of a kitchen project, see kitchen remodeling; for a tight floor plan, small kitchen remodels.
Each letter is one decision or one rule, with its source linked where a rule exists. The letters work as a menu; the entries also read straight through.
Settle the range, refrigerator, dishwasher and hood before a cabinet layout is drawn; their widths and hookups decide where everything else goes. A refrigerator carrying the federal efficiency label uses about 9 % less energy than the minimum allowed (energystar.gov), and a new range should be held by its anti-tip bracket (CPSC).
Hand the same drawings and the same written list of work to at least three contractors, as California's license board suggests. When each bid prices a different job, the totals tell you nothing. Ask each bidder what they left out.
Kitchens change halfway through: a cabinet arrives in the wrong size, a wall hides rot. In California every change to a home improvement contract goes on a written change order that both sides sign before the work is done (CSLB). Keep each one with the contract.
If the house went up before 1978, tearing out painted cabinets, trim or plaster can release lead dust. The EPA's renovation rule says paid work of that kind needs a firm with EPA lead-safe certification. Suspected asbestos in old flooring or ceilings is left alone until it is tested.
A remodeled kitchen often needs new dedicated circuits: counters, the dishwasher, the disposal, the microwave, and a 240-volt line if an electric or induction range replaces gas. Ask early whether the main panel has room, because a panel upgrade changes the scope and the permit.
California homes built on or before January 1, 1994 have to swap non-compliant plumbing fixtures when a remodel permit is issued (Civil Code 1101.4); a kitchen faucet may run at most 1.8 gallons a minute, as Pleasanton's handout lists. Pick the sink and faucet as a pair.
Staying with gas means keeping a hood that vents outdoors, which the EPA advises because gas burners give off nitrogen dioxide indoors. Going induction removes the flame; the Department of Energy puts it at up to three times as efficient as gas. Either choice must be made before rough-in.
The hood is only as good as its duct. Plan the shortest path to the outside wall or roof before the upper cabinets are ordered, and never let it end in the attic. A larger hood can also need air brought back into the house.
An island needs room around it to work. The National Kitchen & Bath Association recommends at least 42 inches of aisle where one person cooks and 48 inches where two or more do. Those are trade recommendations rather than code, and they decide whether an island fits at all.
In California, kitchen lighting that is new or altered has to meet the Energy Code's section 150.0(k): light sources that meet Joint Appendix JA8, sealed airtight downlights and dimmers on the kitchen lights (Energy Code Ace). Lighting is part of the plan, not an afterthought.
In California, look the contractor up on CSLB's Check A License page before you sign. In Texas, electricians and air-conditioning contractors are searchable at TDLR and plumbers at the State Board of Plumbing Examiners; ask which licensed tradespeople will do that part of your kitchen.
Every appliance wants counter beside it to set things down. NKBA's guidelines recommend 24 inches on one side of the sink and 18 on the other, and a dishwasher no more than 36 inches from the sink. Count the landings on the drawing before signing off on it.
A powerful hood pulls air out of a tight house faster than gaps can let it back in. The International Residential Code, as NKBA's guidelines quote it, calls for makeup air once a hood system can exhaust more than 400 cubic feet a minute. Ask about it whenever a large hood is on the list.
Before the first visit, photograph each wall and write down where the water, gas, drain and outlets sit, plus the ceiling height. A contractor reading those notes can tell you sooner what moving the sink or range would involve, and our call back can be more specific too.
Under the 2022 California Electrical Code, as Pleasanton's handout summarizes it, counter outlets are GFCI-, AFCI- and tamper-resistant, no spot on the counter wall sits more than 24 inches from one, and at least two 20-amp circuits feed them. Your city's inspector has the final word.
Whether a permit is needed depends on what changes: walls, wiring, plumbing, gas or ventilation usually bring one in. Dallas lists a kitchen remodel as permit work on its residential page, and Fort Worth's remodel permit names “remodel kitchen”. Bay Area cities each decide their own.
Agree before demolition on working hours, where the dust wall goes, which bathroom the crew uses and where deliveries wait. Set up a temporary kitchen in another room. Small house rules written down at the start prevent most of the friction later.
With a permit, the inspector looks at the new framing, pipes, wiring and ducts while the walls are still open. Nothing should be covered until that inspection passes; if drywall goes up first, it may have to come down again.
The sink sets the plumbing: its drain, its vent and the dishwasher beside it. Keeping it on the same wall is the simplest path; moving it to an island means a new drain under the floor and a different way of venting it, which a plumber should look at before the design is final.
The classic work triangle joins sink, cooktop and refrigerator. NKBA recommends a total of no more than 26 feet, each leg 4 to 9 feet, and no household traffic cutting through it. In an open plan, think about where people walk to the back door or the fridge for a snack.
Counters are where the work happens, and ceiling lights behind your head throw your own shadow onto them. Under-cabinet lights fix that; in California they must be switched separately from the ceiling lights under section 150.0(k). Run their wiring before the cabinets go up.
The permit closes with a final inspection. In California a new vented hood is also checked in the field against its rated performance under section 150.0(o) (Energy Code Ace). Walk the room with a written punch list before the last payment, and keep the manuals and permit card together.
California requires a written contract for home improvement work over $500 and limits the down payment to $1,000 or 10 % of the price, whichever is less (CSLB). In Texas, a contractor gives you the Property Code's “Know your rights” disclosure before you sign a residential construction contract.
Old kitchens hide things: a soft subfloor under the dishwasher, an undersized drain, wiring spliced without a box. A careful bid says how it will handle what opening the walls reveals, and a sensible budget keeps room for it.
Two dates matter. Before 1978, painted surfaces bring in the EPA's lead-safe rule. In California, on or before 1994, a remodel permit brings in the fixture upgrade rule. Find the year on the deed or the county record before contractors visit.
Group the kitchen by task: prep near the sink and trash, cooking by the range with pots close at hand, cleanup by the dishwasher, storage for the food and dishes. NKBA's planning guidelines are built around these work centers, and they matter more than the number of cabinets.
The same kitchen plan meets different rulebooks in our two areas. California's license board writes the contract rules, and the state Energy Code reaches into lighting and hoods. In Texas, the state licenses electricians, air-conditioning contractors and plumbers, the Property Code shapes the contract, and the city decides the permit. The EPA's lead rule for older homes applies in both states. Each letter above says which state a rule belongs to.
Sources: CSLB, Contracts and Binding Agreements (official), CSLB, Finding the Right Contractor (official), CSLB, Check A License (official), Texas Property Code §53.255 (official), TDLR license search (official), Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (official), City of Dallas, residential permits (official), City of Fort Worth, residential permit descriptions (official), EPA, Renovation, Repair and Painting program (official), EPA, nitrogen dioxide indoors (official), energystar.gov, refrigerators (official), U.S. DOE, induction cooking (official), CPSC, range tipover alert, 2011 (official), City of Pleasanton, kitchen alteration handout, 2023 (official), Energy Code Ace, 2025 section 150.0 (official), NKBA, Kitchen Planning Guidelines (opinion: trade recommendations, not code).
A short note is enough. We call or email you back about it; the request is free and you owe nothing for it.
NKBA recommends a work aisle of at least 42 inches when one person cooks and 48 inches when two or more cook, and walkways of at least 36 inches. These are trade recommendations, not code, but an island that squeezes the aisle below them is usually the part of a new kitchen people regret.
Yes, for lighting that is added or altered: section 150.0(k) of the California Energy Code asks for dimmers on kitchen lighting, light sources that meet Joint Appendix JA8, sealed airtight downlights and separately switched under-cabinet lights. Range-hood lights are an exception. The city's inspector confirms what your permit covers.
Enough that no point along the counter wall is more than 24 inches from an outlet, plus outlets for islands by counter area, fed by at least two 20-amp circuits, under the 2022 California Electrical Code as Pleasanton's handout explains it. The outlets must be GFCI-, AFCI- and tamper-resistant. Your own city's building department has the final word.
