Kitchen Remodeling
Most kitchens in this area were laid out for a different way of living. Separate rooms, one cook, a refrigerator that was thirty inches wide. If your kitchen is working against you every day — not enough counter, nowhere to put anything, three people in a space built for one — that’s a layout problem, and layout problems are solvable.
We handle the whole thing: the design, the permits, the demolition, the trades, the install. One company, one point of contact, one schedule.
Design that starts with how you actually cook
Before anything gets drawn, we want to know how the room gets used. Who cooks. Whether people gather in there or pass through. What you’ve never had room for and always wanted.
That conversation shapes everything downstream — where the sink goes, how wide the walkways need to be, whether an island earns its space or just gets in the way. We’d rather spend an extra hour on this than hand you a beautiful kitchen that doesn’t fit your mornings.
Working with the house you have
Older homes come with conditions. Walls that aren’t square. Plumbing stacks that can’t move. Joists running the wrong way for the island you want.
We field-verify every dimension before anything is ordered or built, and we tell you early when something on the plan won’t work in the room. A surprise found in week two is a design decision. The same surprise found in week eight is a change order.
Cabinetry, counters and the things you touch every day
Cabinets are usually the largest line on a kitchen budget, and the range between good and excellent is wide. We’ll walk you through where the money actually shows — drawer hardware you use forty times a day, door construction, finish durability — and where it doesn’t.
Same with counters. We’ll tell you honestly which materials hold up in a working family kitchen and which ones look better in a showroom than they will in five years.
How a Kitchen Remodel Runs
You’ll have a written schedule and a weekly update throughout. You’ll know who’s coming and what they’re doing before they arrive.
Consultation
We walk the space with you and talk through what’s not working and what you want. No charge, no obligation.
Design and budget
We put a layout and a real number in front of you together, so you’re never choosing a design without knowing what it costs.
Selections
Cabinets, counters, tile, fixtures, hardware. We’ll give you a selections schedule with deadlines, because a late selection is the most common cause of a delayed kitchen.
Permits and ordering
We handle the township. Cabinets typically run four to eight weeks, so this is when we order.
Demolition and rough-in
Plumbing, electrical and any framing changes, followed by inspection.
Install and finish
Cabinets, counters, tile, fixtures, paint, hardware, punch list.
Why Gerlach
You deal with the people doing the work. Not a salesperson who disappears after the contract and a project manager you meet in week three.
We price changes before they happen, not after. If something comes up mid-build that costs money, you hear the number before we proceed — always.
And we work in your neighborhoods. Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery County, in houses with the same quirks as yours.
Knocking out a wall or bumping out the back? That’s an addition or whole-home remodel. Doing the bathroom at the same time? See bathroom remodeling.
Ready to Talk About Your Kitchen?
How long does a kitchen remodel take?
Most full kitchens run eight to twelve weeks on site. Add four to eight weeks before that for design, selections and cabinet lead times. The single biggest variable is how quickly selections get finalized — we’ll give you deadlines to keep that moving.
What does a kitchen remodel cost around Philadelphia?
A cosmetic refresh — new counters, hardware, paint, keeping the existing layout — generally starts in the low tens of thousands. A full gut with new cabinetry, moved plumbing and new flooring typically runs considerably higher, and a layout change involving structural work higher still. We’ll give you a real number against your actual kitchen at the consultation rather than a range that means nothing.
Can I use my kitchen during the remodel?
No, not during the main work. We’ll help you set up a temporary kitchen somewhere else in the house — a microwave, a fridge, a coffee setup. Most families manage fine. We’ll tell you up front roughly how many weeks you’ll be without it.
Do I need a permit?
If you’re moving plumbing, changing electrical, or altering walls, yes. A straight cosmetic swap usually doesn’t. We handle the permit application and the inspections either way — you don’t deal with the township.
Can you take down a wall to open the kitchen up?
Often, yes. Whether the wall is load-bearing determines the cost. A non-bearing wall is straightforward. A bearing wall needs an engineer, a beam, and sometimes footing work, which is a meaningful addition to the budget. We’ll find out which it is before we quote it.
Do I buy the appliances?
You choose and purchase them, and we’ll tell you the dimensions and specs we need before you order. Getting an appliance spec wrong is an expensive mistake, so we’d rather check your selections before they’re bought.
Do you do the design as well as the build?
Yes. Same team start to finish, which means the person who drew it is accountable for whether it works.
Serving Philadelphia, Bucks County and Montgomery County
We work throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. If you’re nearby and not listed, ask — we may still be able to help.