Metro Detroit Home Remodeling | Custom Edge Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling in Royal Oak
Royal Oak's median house was built in 1956, and six out of ten went up before 1960. That stock came with small kitchens closed off from everything else, and plenty of them are still that way. Opening one up is the most common job we run in this city.
Request a walkthrough →What We Find Behind Royal Oak Kitchen Walls
Royal Oak's median house dates to 1956. Four kinds of kitchen cover most of the city.
1920s Bungalows
About a sixth of Royal Oak was built before 1940. Small kitchens at the back of the plan, often with the basement stair and the back door running straight through them. Opening one up means solving circulation first, not cabinets.
1940s Cape Cods
The postwar wave, roughly one house in six. Kitchen closed off from the dining room by a full wall with a cased opening. On these, the wall is the whole conversation.
1950s Brick Ranches
The largest single group in Royal Oak, nearly three houses in ten. Longer kitchens with more usable wall, and usually the easiest layout to open into the living side.
Post-2000 Rebuilds
Only about one Royal Oak house in ten was built this century. Where they exist the kitchen is already open and the work is finish level, not structural.
Six Things Royal Oak Kitchens Have in Common
None of these are surprises. They are what decides the number on a Royal Oak kitchen.
The Wall Is Usually Load Bearing
Not always, and we never assume it. But in a side-gable bungalow or a ranch the center wall tends to carry the floor above, which means a beam, temporary shoring and posts down to a footing. That is the line item people do not budget for.
Cabinets Do Not Pull the Permit
Michigan exempts cabinets, countertops and similar finish work from a building permit. What pulls the permit is the wiring, the plumbing move and the wall. Anyone quoting you a permit-free kitchen that includes any of those three is wrong.
Royal Oak Names Kitchens Directly
The city's residential fee schedule lists Kitchens by name under Alterations for plan review. There is none of the ambiguity you get in neighboring cities that only publish the word renovations.
Old Wiring in the Oldest Third
Around five thousand Royal Oak houses were built in 1939 or earlier. In that group the kitchen is often still on its original circuit, and current code wants dedicated circuits and GFCI protection. Budget for the panel conversation.
Going Out the Back Is Hard
Royal Oak requires a thirty-five foot rear yard and caps lot coverage at thirty to thirty-five percent. On a fifty by one hundred foot lot there is often no room to bump the kitchen out, which is why most of this work happens inside the existing footprint.
No Fence, No Sign, No Portable Toilet
Royal Oak's construction site rules exempt renovations enclosed within the original building. An interior kitchen means no chain-link fence on your lawn and no portable toilet at the curb. Birmingham is different.
We Pull the Permit, You Do Not
Royal Oak's Building Division is on South Troy Street, a few minutes from most of the jobs we run. Permitting here is online only, through the city's portal, and we are already set up on it. Plan review for a kitchen alteration is forty dollars, and the building permit runs twelve dollars per thousand of construction cost with a one hundred dollar minimum.
- →Building permit filed through the city online portal
- →Plan review submitted and the alteration fee paid up front
- →Electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits pulled separately
- →Beam and header sizing documented before the wall comes out
- →Every inspection scheduled and met by us, not by you
Royal Oak publishes no review turnaround, so we do not promise you one. What we do is file the day the drawings are done and tell you where it stands every week.
What a Kitchen Remodel Costs in Royal Oak
Most of our kitchens run $50,000 to $70,000. Royal Oak's median sale price is around $390,000, which puts a mid-range kitchen at roughly fifteen percent of the house. Royal Oak jobs land in the middle to upper part of that range more often than not, and the reason is almost always the wall. If the kitchen and dining wall is carrying load, the beam, the posts and the footing work are real money before a single cabinet gets ordered. We tell you which side of that line your house is on during the walkthrough, not after.
What We Build in a Royal Oak Kitchen
A Bar or Kitchenette Downstairs
Same trades, one floor down. Worth settling the plumbing and the venting before the basement gets framed.
See the service →The Full Kitchen
Layout, cabinetry, counters, electrical, plumbing, ventilation, floors and trim. Eight to twelve weeks, four trades, one schedule.
See the service →The Powder Room Next Door
The half bath off the kitchen is usually on the same wall and the same drain. Doing both at once costs less than doing them a year apart.
See the service →Bumping Out for the Kitchen
Rarely possible in Royal Oak because of the rear yard rule, but worth checking before you assume. We measure the lot first.
See the service →Taking Out the Wall
The change that makes the biggest difference in a Royal Oak house. Beam, posts, load path to the footing, permitted and inspected.
See the service →The Kitchen Inside a Bigger Renovation
When the wiring, the floors and the kitchen are all due at once, doing them together costs less than doing them in sequence.
See the service →Royal Oak Homeowners Ask Us This
Anything not answered here, call Tim directly at 313.236.0985.
Do I need a permit just to replace cabinets?
Not a building permit. Michigan exempts cabinets, countertops and similar finish work. The moment you move an outlet, relocate the sink or touch the wall, you are permitted.
Can I take out the wall between the kitchen and dining room?
Usually yes, and it is the most common thing we do here. Whether it is load bearing decides the cost, not whether it is possible. We check the framing direction from the basement before we quote it.
Will you put a fence and a portable toilet in my yard?
No. Royal Oak exempts interior renovations from its construction site rules, so an inside kitchen job means neither. We work out of the house and keep your drive clear.
Can I add on to make the kitchen bigger?
On most Royal Oak lots, no. The thirty-five foot rear yard and the lot coverage cap use up the room. We check your specific lot before ruling it out, but plan on working inside the footprint.
How long is the kitchen out of service?
Eight to twelve weeks from permit to final on most Royal Oak kitchens. We set up a temporary kitchen somewhere else in the house on day one, because you are going to need it.
How fast does Royal Oak issue the permit?
The city does not publish a review time, so neither do we. We file the day the drawings are done and tell you where it stands every week until it is in hand.
Full service area across Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, Washtenaw and Monroe counties.
We Are Already in the Neighborhood
Tim walks the kitchen, tells you what the wall and the wiring will allow, and gives you a straight answer before anyone talks about price. Free, about an hour.