North Oaks Kitchen Remodel

At 2026 pricing, the kitchen in this 1983 North Oaks house is an estimated $180,000, with 12 weeks on site, from April 4, 2023 to final inspection on June 26, 2023. Owner Kim Studham ran the job. We took out a non-load-bearing wall to open the kitchen to the living room, rerouted the bedroom supply duct that ran through it into a short wing wall, removed the old window over the sink and closed the wall, and built two-tone maple cabinetry around a larger island, with Calacatta Miraggio quartz counters, a full-height quartz backsplash and a pot filler at the range. In week 2 the family added the living-room fireplace and two basement ceiling areas by written change order. Prima kitchens from $80,000.

At a glance

Project

kitchen remodel with a wall removed; a fireplace refresh added mid-job

Where

North Oaks, Minnesota

House

built 1983, single-family, truss-framed floor joists

2026 estimated cost

$180,000

On site

12 weeks (11 planned), April 4 to June 26, 2023

Design to finish

about 10 months, August 2022 to June 2023

Permits

City of North Oaks building permit, plus electrical, plumbing and mechanical permits; final inspection passed June 26, 2023. North Oaks also requires the homeowners’ association’s architectural review for exterior changes, and its roads are private.

Layout changed

yes; a non-load-bearing wall came out and the sink moved to the island

Lived at home

yes, except April 28 to May 6 while the floors were finished

The home

A North Oaks house built in 1983, newer than most Twin Cities homes we work in. The floor between the main level and the second story is framed with trusses, not the solid lumber joists of older Minneapolis houses, and the kitchen has a bay window. The old kitchen was a U-shape of cherry-tone shaker cabinets and laminate counters, with a double-bowl sink under a small window and a microwave over the range. A dark-painted wall with a cased opening closed it off from the living room and fireplace. The family wanted a mix of warm wood and white with a European feel, much more storage, a bigger island to work at with cabinets on both sides, and a pot filler behind the range. They were open to losing the window over the sink: with the middle wall gone, the room would get plenty of light.

We describe homes by town and era only. Client names and addresses stay private.

What did this North Oaks kitchen remodel cost?

Part of every price is the level of materials and craftsmanship that a line on a quote doesn’t show. What’s in a Prima price that a cheaper quote doesn’t include.

How long did it take?

• Planned: 11 weeks, final building inspection in week 11, the week of June 12 (first projection, week 1 email, April 8, 2023).
• Actual: 12 weeks on site. Start Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Final inspection Monday, June 26, 2023.
• Why it moved: the fireplace and two basement ceiling areas were added in week 2. In week 5 the cabinet delivery date couldn’t be confirmed, so Kim built about a week of cushion into the schedule ahead of the countertop and backsplash dates. The siding for the old window opening was delayed at the manufacturer, and the in-stock substitute came in the wrong size, so the patch went on in week 12. That last week’s list (siding, basement access panels, hood and fireplace details, bay-window trim) set the final inspection for Monday, June 26. The owner-supplied range was delayed at the supplier and arrived after the final inspection.

Twenty lines, in the order of the signed contract, plus the markup line. Prices are 2026 estimates.

Line prices are Prima’s cost. Project management, overhead and salary are shown as their own line, a 42% markup on cost.

What changed during construction?

The family added three pieces of work in week 2, each priced on a written change order before it started.

Each change order was priced in writing and paid before its work started, on top of the kitchen contract. Change-order prices are Prima’s cost, like the contract lines; the same 42% markup on cost applies to them.

Payment schedule

Share of the contract total: deposit at signing 16.6%; first day of work 27.8%; framing inspection 27.8%; final inspection 27.8%.

What isn’t included?

• Appliances: the family bought their own range, refrigerator, microwave drawer and dishwasher; Prima installed the refrigerator, microwave drawer and dishwasher.
• Backsplash tile: none; the quartz runs full height instead.
• Moving personal belongings out of the work area and covering what stays.
• Radon testing and mitigation, and any landscaping.

What to know about remodeling a kitchen in a 1980s North Oaks house

• You can’t read the load path by eye in this house
  The main walls on the second floor don’t line up with the walls on the main floor, so looking at the walls doesn’t tell you where the weight goes. Prima’s structural engineer came out during design (it’s part of Prima’s design-build process, not a separate hire), small exploratory cuts were made in the ceiling along the kitchen wall and the perpendicular hallway wall in September 2022, and the October review found the load carried past the kitchen wall to the far side of the hallway. Neither wall was load-bearing, so the permit went in with the engineer’s letter and photos and no beam was needed.

  “Unless you can identify the load path, a consult from an engineer is very valuable in the early stages to know where to not get your hopes up of what you can or shouldn’t do.” — Kim Studham

• Cracked drywall seams
  Full-length cracks along the drywall seams in the living room, fixed as part of the drywall repair.
• A supply duct in the wall
  The duct feeding the bedroom above ran through the wall that came out. In week 2 the crew rerouted it through a short wing wall, about 1½ to 2 feet wide, kept at the exterior wall; the same wing wall holds the light switches.
• Open soffits and an old ceiling in the basement
  Below the kitchen, the chase at the main stack and the old soffit openings had to be squared up and closed, and the ceiling under the kitchen and fireplace room needed repair. These became change orders #1 and #2 in week 2.
• A siding match
  The siding matched to the house for the old window opening was delayed at least four weeks at the manufacturer, and the in-stock substitute came in the wrong size. The crew boxed the patch out in trim, set flat siding inside it, and painted the whole repair to match.

What did the family choose, and why?

• The window over the sink
  removed. Once the wall came out, the windows along the back of the house flood the kitchen with light, so the sink moved to the island and the solid wall became the range wall: the blue range and the wood-banded hood are the focal point of the whole open room. Kim: “it gave a focal point, a beautiful focal point to that whole expansive room.”
• The island
  made larger, with cabinets on both sides and seating for four.
• Coffee bar
  with the walls opened up, the cabinetry extends onto the neighboring wall as a coffee bar, in a spot that would otherwise be hallway, and it ties the kitchen to the rest of the open room.
• Pot filler
  added behind the range. The range wall is an exterior wall, and in Minnesota you can’t safely run a water line through an existing exterior wall, so the crew furred the wall forward with a 2×4 wall: the insulation stays continuous and the pot filler’s line runs in front of it.
• Backsplash
  full-height quartz instead of tile.
• Two tones
  painted uppers over stained maple bases, from the family’s mix of warm wood and white.
• Microwave
  a drawer in a base cabinet, not over the range.
• Hood
  chosen from the hood options in the December drawings; a painted wood hood with a wood band that Prima stained in-house to match the stained base cabinets, a detail the cabinet supplier didn’t offer. Kim: “Sometimes we even modify the semi-custom cabinets we order, in order to reach the effect that the client’s looking for.”
• Floors
  patch in new hardwood rather than new flooring, and refinish the living room and hallway, stopping short of the entry, dining room and bedrooms. The stain was matched closely enough that the change doesn’t show. Kim: “we were able to match it so well that you couldn’t tell that we didn’t refinish the others.”
• Fireplace
  simplify the existing mantel instead of replacing the surround, with 12×24 tile picked to go with the quartz.
• Grout
  the lightest white, so the tile reads as one surface.
• Pendants
  the family’s first pick was backordered past the install date, so they went with their second: two textured brass bell pendants.
• Siding
  the family was willing to wait for the matched siding; the patch went on in week 12 instead, boxed out in trim and painted to blend.

The family lived at home through the job. Plastic zip walls kept dust in the work area, floors were protected from the door to the kitchen, and the crew cleaned up at the end of each day. The kitchen was out of use from demolition in week 1 until the refrigerator, microwave drawer and dishwasher went back in during week 11. Two stretches away were planned ahead: an optional night during drywall sanding, and a required stay away while the floors were finished, April 28 to May 6, when no one can walk on the stain and top coat. Before the walls closed, the family was invited to tuck a time capsule inside.

Kim leaves families with young children a copy of The House That She Built, a picture book about a house built by women, from design and project management through construction. This family got one. In Kim’s words: “All different opportunities for kids to see.”