Kitchen remodeling · Eastside & Beyond
Kitchen remodeling in Pasadena.
Master Kitchen serves Pasadena's Craftsman bungalows, period revival homes and post-war ranch houses with kitchens designed to suit the house. The typical full remodel costs $35,000 to $75,000 and takes 2–3 weeks of work in the home on average.
Kitchens in Pasadena.
Pasadena has some of the best-preserved early housing in Southern California. Bungalow Heaven, the city's first landmark district, has hundreds of Craftsman bungalows built between 1900 and 1930, and other neighborhoods add larger Craftsman, Spanish and period revival houses from the same decades.
The original kitchens in these houses were small, plain workrooms, and most have been altered since, not always kindly. The job now is a kitchen that works the way people cook today and still looks like it belongs: Shaker doors, proportions that respect the windows and trim, and wood and stone that suit the period.
In east Pasadena, Hastings Ranch is a post-war neighborhood of single-story ranch homes built around 1950, with the closed kitchens of that time.
What a remodel in Pasadena has to allow for.
- Lath and plaster
- After a century, walls and ceilings are out of plumb and out of level. The cabinets are fitted to the house, not the other way around.
- Original features
- Breakfast nooks, wood windows and door casings are worth designing around.
- Old wiring
- Kitchens of this age may still be on original circuits without grounded outlets. A permitted remodel brings the room up to current code.
- Water fixtures across the house
- When a remodel permit is issued for a home built before 1994, state law requires older, non-compliant plumbing fixtures elsewhere in the house to be replaced with water-saving ones.
Permits in Pasadena.
Pasadena runs its own Building & Safety Division, and permits are issued through the city's Permit Center at 175 North Garfield Avenue. The division's kitchen remodel handout says a permit is required when cabinets and countertops are removed and replaced or relocated, or when the sink, dishwasher, island, electrical or exhaust hood change. Replacing a countertop alone, or refacing existing cabinets, does not need one. In Pasadena's landmark districts the city reviews exterior changes that are visible from the street, and interior alterations are exempt. A kitchen that changes a street-facing window or door, or a house that is individually designated, is a different case, so we check the property's status first.
Official source: City of Pasadena Building & Safety Division. Checked October 2026.
The scope that usually fits.
Period homes reward restraint. The usual project keeps the kitchen where it is and replaces all of it, wiring and plumbing included: a full kitchen remodel at $35,000 to $75,000, which also covers opening the room to the dining room or taking in a porch. Where a detail calls for something our catalog doors do not offer, full-custom cabinetry takes 6–12 weeks to fabricate and brings the project to $75,000 to $100,000 or more.
What each scope includesQuestions from Pasadena homeowners.
Who issues kitchen remodel permits in Pasadena?
The City of Pasadena's Building & Safety Division, through the Permit Center at 175 North Garfield Avenue. The city requires a permit when cabinets and countertops are removed and replaced, but not for replacing a countertop alone or refacing cabinets. Master Kitchen applies for the permit and manages the inspections.
Do I need historic review to remodel a kitchen in a Pasadena landmark district?
Usually not for the interior. The city's design review in landmark districts covers exterior changes visible from the street, and interior alterations are exempt. Changing a street-facing window or door is reviewed, and individually designated houses can have protected interiors. We check the property's designation before design begins.
Which cabinet style suits a Pasadena Craftsman?
Shaker doors are the usual choice: a flat panel in a simple frame, in a solid color or in oak. Our Shaker and Slim Shaker door styles come in both, and full-custom cabinetry can match details the catalog does not offer. Custom fabrication takes 6–12 weeks.
Nearby
We work across greater Los Angeles. See kitchen remodeling in Los Angeles and our projects.