Kitchen Remodeling
Most New Jersey kitchens were laid out for a way of living nobody does any more. We establish what the structure will actually allow, design to that, and hold the number we gave you.
We find the bearing wall before we draw the island.
Cabinetry drawn to your ceiling and scribed on site.
Stone cut from the room, never from the drawing.
In short
Most full kitchen renovations in New Jersey run $20,000 to $150,000 and take two to ten weeks on site, after four to six weeks of design and ordering. A refit keeping the existing layout sits at the lower end; moving a bearing wall, relocating plumbing and using custom cabinetry pushes toward the upper. Permits are required for the electrical, plumbing and structural work, and Pinnacle files them.
Overview
A kitchen contract with us covers the drawing as well as the build: measured plans and cabinet elevations, the structural calculation for any wall we open, the township permits, demolition, framing, new electrical and plumbing rough-in, cabinetry, stone, tile, lighting, appliance integration and the inspection sign-off at the end. There is no separate designer to coordinate with, and no line called “general conditions” quietly carrying a second markup.
Scope divides fairly cleanly in two. A refit keeps the existing footprint and the existing plumbing wall — new cabinetry, new stone, new floor, new light — and moves quickly because nothing structural is disturbed. A gut takes a wall out, and in most post-war New Jersey houses that wall is carrying floor joists: a stamped structural calculation, an engineered header, temporary shoring and a framing inspection before anything closes up. You will know which of the two you have at the first visit, not after demolition.
On finishes we work in the middle and upper end of what this market actually supplies. Framed, full-overlay or inset cabinetry in painted maple or rift white oak, drawn to your ceiling height and scribed to walls that are never square. Countertops templated on site once the boxes are set — quartz, quartzite, marble or porcelain, and we will tell you plainly which of those etch in a kitchen where people cook. Backsplashes from handmade zellige to large-format porcelain, hardware in unlacquered brass, satin nickel or matte black, and ventilation ducted to the outside every time, never recirculated.
What we do
Every kitchen we build is some combination of these, and each has a page of its own. The proposal line-items them, so you can see which choices move the number.
Painted maple, rift oak, framed or inset — drawn to your ceiling height and the real out-of-square of your walls, then scribed on site. We order early, because cabinetry lead time is what sets a kitchen schedule, not labour.
Read moreBuilt to your room rather than selected from a size chart — any width, any height, any species, and the awkward corner solved rather than filled with a strip.
Read moreA semi-custom line we install regularly, made in New Jersey. Plywood boxes, soft-close hardware as standard, and lead times that are usually weeks rather than months.
Read moreTemplated on site after the boxes are set, never off the drawing. We walk the slab yard with you so the veining you approve is the veining that arrives, and we are candid about which stones will mark.
Read moreSized to the clearance the room can genuinely give — 42 inches to the run where it fits, 36 where it has to be — with power, waste and often a prep sink carried under the floor to reach it.
Read moreBearing walls come out on engineered steel or LVL: calculation stamped, shoring temporary, framing inspected before drywall. This is the step that turns a kitchen into a construction project.
Read moreA full rework to current New Jersey code — dedicated appliance circuits, GFCI and AFCI protection where required — and a layered scheme of ceiling, under-cabinet and feature light on separate switching.
Read morePanel-ready, built-in and pro ranges each want a different cabinet, a different circuit and a different duct run. We take the specifications before cabinetry is ordered, so nothing turns up that will not fit.
Read more
On site
Every opening we cut is sized by an engineer and inspected before it closes up.
That is not an upgrade line on the proposal. It is the difference between a kitchen refit and a structural alteration, and it is why our openings are not sagging in year four.
Recent work
Photographed on completion rather than styled for a brochure. Open one to see the full set.
View projectBergen County · 2025
Removed a bearing wall to join a closed galley kitchen to the rear great room, with a 3.6m stone island carried on new steel.
View projectHudson County · 2024
Custom millwork built to the inch around original brick that was not square anywhere.
DetailView projectBergen County · 2025
Marble waterfall island edge meeting the new oak floor
How a kitchen runs
The same four stages every Pinnacle project runs through — described here as they actually play out in a kitchen.
We measure the existing kitchen, open a soffit or a ceiling bay where we need to see, and establish what is structural, where the waste stack runs and what the electrical panel can carry. You get a realistic budget band the same day.
Layouts, cabinet elevations and a lighting plan, revised with you until the drawing is right. Cabinetry, stone, tile, hardware and appliances are all chosen and priced before anything is ordered — a kitchen changed after the order is a kitchen that slips.
Dust wall at the threshold, kitchen out, header in, rough-in inspected. Then boxes set, stone templated, tile laid. Cabinetry is delivered into a room already finished behind it, so the crew is never standing waiting on a truck.
Appliances connected and run, hood airflow checked, final electrical and plumbing inspections signed off, punch list walked with you, and the permit closed out with the township.
Where we work
Cabinetry lead times and township inspection schedules both vary by municipality, so knowing the town matters. These are the ones we work in most often.
Towns we work in most often
All 21 counties
Questions
Most full kitchen renovations we complete in New Jersey land between $45,000 and $150,000. A cosmetic refresh with existing layout and stock cabinetry starts near $45,000; a gut renovation that moves walls, relocates plumbing and uses custom cabinetry typically runs $95,000 and up. Every Pinnacle proposal is line-itemed, so you can see exactly which choices move the number.
Six to ten weeks on site for most kitchens, after a four to six week design and ordering period. Cabinetry lead time is usually the constraint, not labour — we order early and stage delivery so the crew is never waiting.
Yes. New Jersey requires permits for electrical, plumbing and any structural work, which covers virtually every real kitchen renovation. Pinnacle files the permits, meets the township inspectors and closes them out — it is part of the contract, not an extra.
Most clients do. We build a dust barrier at the kitchen threshold, protect the path in and out, and can set up a temporary sink and fridge elsewhere in the house so you keep a working kitchen of sorts throughout.
Semi-custom lines are running eight to twelve weeks and full custom shops twelve to twenty, so cabinetry is ordered the moment the elevations are signed off — usually weeks before demolition. That is why we finalise the whole selection package before anything is torn out: a cabinet changed after the order resets that clock from zero.
Moving the sink means opening the floor to reach the waste line and re-venting it, which is real money on a slab or over a finished ceiling. Moving a range is comparatively cheap — a gas line and a duct run. We price both versions of the layout so you can see what the relocation is actually buying you before you commit to it.
They took out the wall between our kitchen and den and the number at the end was the number on the proposal. Our project lead texted us a photo every Friday. After two bad renovations before this one, that was the difference.
Related work
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