Kitchen Remodeling in Montclair, NJ

Montclair has the oldest housing stock in our service area by a clear margin: roughly 59 percent of homes were built before 1940 and the median build year is 1938. It is also more varied architecturally than any other town we work in, and less uniformly single-family than its reputation: about half the housing is in buildings with more than one unit, and roughly 57 percent is owner-occupied.

Median year built

1938of 16,521 housing units

Built before 1940

59.4%73.9% before 1960

Single-family detached

49.8%71.9% in 1–4 unit buildings

Owner-occupied

56.9%6.24 sq mi, Essex County

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates. Figures describe Montclair township, Essex County, NJ.

Why no two Montclair kitchens are the same problem

In most towns you can describe the typical house. Here you cannot. Within six square miles there are late-Victorian houses with full service wings, shingle-style and arts-and-crafts houses with distinctive interior joinery, center-hall colonials, four-squares, substantial houses in the Estate Section, two- and three-family houses, and apartment buildings from several eras.

What they mostly share is age, and with age comes a consistent set of conditions: plaster over wood lath, framing that has settled over ninety or more years, floors that slope, corners that are not square, and a real chance of galvanized supply lines and outdated wiring still in the walls.

They also share good bones. The lumber in these houses is real, the joinery is often excellent, and a kitchen built properly into one will look right for decades. The work is in respecting what is there while making the room function for how people cook now.

What we handle in a Montclair kitchen

Demolition, framing, cabinetry, countertops, backsplash, flooring, and the plumbing and electrical the room needs. We work to an architect's or designer's drawing where one exists. Permits filed with the township and inspections scheduled.

Kitchen Layout Changes in Montclair

The service wing is where the value is. In houses of this era, the kitchen, pantry, rear hall and back stair are typically separated by non-bearing partitions, which makes combining them a straightforward removal rather than a structural project. Check inside the partition first. A vent stack or a heating riser does turn up. Most of these houses have open basements, so relocating a sink is ordinary work. The harder constraint is usually the hood duct route, which in a tall old house needs planning at design. See kitchen layout remodeling.

Open Concept Kitchens in Montclair

Worth thinking about carefully here, because these houses have more architectural character than most and a full opening changes it. The wall between kitchen and dining room usually carries load, so removal means a properly sized beam, posts and a load path down to the basement, sometimes to a new footing, with an engineer's drawing and a permit. A wide cased opening often gives the connection and light people actually want while keeping the rooms legible and preserving wall for cabinets. See open concept kitchens.

Kitchen Cabinets in Montclair

Custom and semi-custom cabinetry earns its cost in these houses more than almost anywhere. Ceilings are tall enough that standard 30-inch uppers waste real height, corners are rarely ninety degrees, and chimney chases turn up in inconvenient places. Building to the room recovers that. In an arts-and-crafts or shingle-style house, matching the existing joinery language matters more than following a current cabinet trend. Installation means shimming from the high point of a floor that slopes and scribing to a wall that bows. See kitchen cabinets.

Kitchen Countertops in Montclair

Templating after installation is non-negotiable in a house where a wall can bow half an inch across ten feet. Where a service wing has been combined into one room, runs get long and seams become a real decision, placed at a sink cutout or a corner rather than in the middle of an open span. On natural stone, selecting the actual slab at the yard is worth the trip. Butcher block on a secondary run with stone at the sink suits the period of these houses well. See kitchen countertops.

Kitchen Islands in Montclair

Once a service wing has been opened up, an island frequently works, and in a house with high ceilings it can carry more visual weight than it could in a low room. Clearances are 42 inches on every side and 48 where seating goes. A sink island needs supply, drain and a code-compliant vent routed through the floor, realistic over an open basement. Where the room stays narrow, a peninsula is the honest answer and often the better one. See kitchen islands.

Kitchen Flooring in Montclair

These houses usually have hardwood through the main floor, and continuing it into the kitchen is often what makes a combined service wing read as one space rather than a room joined to a corridor. Engineered flooring is more stable than solid in a kitchen. Where tile is preferred, joists of this era flex more than a rigid tile assembly tolerates, so the floor generally needs an added layer or an uncoupling membrane. Radiant heat goes in at this stage or never. See kitchen flooring.

Kitchen Backsplashes in Montclair

Wall preparation is the hidden labor. Old plaster behind a removed splash is rarely flat, and tile follows exactly what it is set on, so flattening first is what prevents lippage catching the light along the run. In a room with a tall window over the sink, setting the layout out from the window makes the cuts fall symmetrically. Handmade and period-appropriate tile suits these houses and needs a wider grout joint to absorb its own variation. See kitchen backsplash.

Permits and inspections in Montclair

Montclair's Building Office issues and inspects construction permits under New Jersey's Uniform Construction Code. Kitchen work altering plumbing or electrical requires one, and removing a bearing wall brings in the building subcode along with a sealed drawing. If your property is in a designated historic district, exterior changes may involve a separate review; interior kitchen work generally does not, and the township is the authority on that distinction.

Where we work in Montclair

Across the township, Upper Montclair, the streets around Montclair Center and Watchung Plaza, Frog Hollow, the South End, and the Estate Section.