The kitchen was the original 1962 build. Pine cabinets the previous owner had painted white in the early 2000s. A 30-inch electric range, sealed-burner stovetop, no hood. Vinyl flooring that had been laid over the original sheet linoleum, which had been laid over the original tongue-and-groove pine subfloor. The homeowners — a family in their early 40s in a quiet Portsmouth neighborhood off Robinson Avenue — had been making it work for six years. They were ready to stop making it work.
What the Homeowners Wanted
The brief was clear: open the kitchen up to the dining room, replace everything, and make it the kind of space they actually wanted to host in. Three priorities, in order:
- A working island with seating for three.
- An induction range and a real range hood vented to the outside.
- Cabinets that go to the ceiling — no soffit, no dust ledge.
Their budget was real but not unlimited. We started in the high-$30s and ended up at $46,800 by the time the change orders settled — most of which were demo discoveries we’ll get to in a minute. For a full kitchen remodel in Portsmouth, that’s a solid mid-range build.
Demo Day: What We Found
This is the part of every Portsmouth kitchen remodel where the budget gets tested. Demo on a 60-year-old kitchen always finds something. We found three things on day two:
1. Galvanized supply lines. The original 1962 plumbing was still in service for both the sink and the dishwasher line. Galvanized rusts from the inside; we measured 60% restriction on the cold water line at the sink shutoff. The right call was to re-pipe the kitchen plumbing in PEX from the basement riser up to the new fixture locations. Added cost: $1,800.
2. Subfloor rot under the dishwasher. The dishwasher had been leaking slowly for years — slow enough to never trip a homeowner’s attention, fast enough to rot a 4×4 section of subfloor and the joist underneath it. We sistered the joist, replaced the subfloor section, and added a leak detector under the new dishwasher. Added cost: $950.
3. The wall we were opening was load-bearing. Plans called for removing a 12-foot section of wall between kitchen and dining room. Original drawings (which we found in the homeowner’s basement filed in a folder labeled “House Stuff”) showed it as non-bearing. The drawings were wrong. We pulled in a structural engineer for $400, designed a flush-mount LVL beam to carry the load, and installed it before any cabinets came in. Added cost over the original framing scope: $2,200.
Every one of these is a normal demo finding in a Portsmouth home of this age. They’re not surprises to us. We carry roughly 8% contingency in our written quotes for exactly this kind of discovery, and we walked the homeowners through each one with photos before signing the change order.
The Build
Once the structural and plumbing surprises were handled, the actual cabinet-and-countertop part of the project ran clean. KraftMaid semi-custom cabinets in a soft white painted maple, full-height to the ceiling, with a 9-inch crown. Quartz countertops (Cambria Brittanicca Warm) on perimeter and a quartz waterfall edge on the island. Subway tile backsplash in a stack-bond pattern. LVP flooring in a wide-plank gray oak that flows continuously from the dining room into the kitchen — we set the transitions during framing so there’s not a single threshold across the entire space.
Lighting was redone from scratch: 8 recessed cans on a dimmer, 3 pendants over the island, under-cabinet LED strips, and a vented range hood ducted out through the soffit on the back of the house — not recirculating. The induction range needed a new 50-amp circuit pulled from the panel; we ran it during the wall-open phase before drywall went back up.
Timeline
Total project: 34 working days, start to punch list. That’s longer than a clean cosmetic refresh would have been but normal for a full gut. Breakdown:
- Days 1–3: Demo, dumpster swap, structural inspection.
- Days 4–5: Beam install, plumbing rough, electrical rough.
- Days 6–9: Drywall, mud, sand, prime.
- Days 10–14: LVP flooring, paint final coat.
- Days 15–22: Cabinet install, countertop template + fab + install.
- Days 23–28: Backsplash, plumbing trim, electrical trim, appliance install.
- Days 29–34: Punch list, hardware, final walkthrough.
The family was without a working kitchen for five weeks. They set up a temporary cooking station in the basement with a microwave, a hot plate, and a rolling cart. We’ve seen worse and we’ve seen better — but five weeks is the realistic minimum for a project this size.
The Final Result
Open kitchen-to-dining flow, full-height cabinets that gave them 28% more storage than the original layout, an island that seats three plus prep space for two cooks. The induction range outperforms the gas range in their previous house, the vented hood actually moves air, and the dishwasher (a Bosch 800 Series) runs at 42 dB — quieter than conversation. The homeowners hosted Thanksgiving five months later for 14 people. They told us afterwards it was the first time hosting felt easy.
What This Type of Project Costs
A full mid-range kitchen remodel in Portsmouth — gut to studs, semi-custom cabinets, quartz tops, structural changes, new appliances — typically runs $38,000 to $52,000 in 2026. Light remodels (same-layout refreshes) run $18,000 to $28,000. High-end with custom cabinetry, stone slabs, and designer fixtures pushes past $70,000. For a deeper breakdown, see our full kitchen remodel cost guide.
Want a Quote on Your Kitchen?
We do free in-home estimates across Portsmouth and Scioto County. Bring us in, we’ll look at the layout, walk through what’s behind the wall, and give you a written quote with line items — no pressure, no salesperson follow-ups. Call (740) 357-9020.