Kitchen Remodeling in Short Hills, NJ

Short Hills is a section of Millburn Township rather than a municipality of its own, and it has the most consistent housing profile in our entire service area: roughly 89 percent of homes are single-family detached and about 87 percent are owner-occupied. The median build year is 1958, with about a quarter of the housing predating 1940.

Median year built

1958of 4,718 housing units

Built before 1940

24.5%55.3% before 1960

Single-family detached

88.9%92.1% in 1–4 unit buildings

Owner-occupied

86.5%5.26 sq mi, Essex County

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates. Figures describe Short Hills, NJ.

Two building eras, both with large kitchens

The estate-era houses. The older quarter of the housing, built from the 1880s through the 1930s. Substantial homes with the full original service layout: kitchen, butler's pantry, scullery, back stair, servants' hall. Ceilings are high, the rooms are numerous and small individually, and the total area devoted to the working part of the house is considerable.

The postwar sections. The larger share, built through the 1950s and 60s, mostly generous colonials, ranches and splits on substantial lots. Regular framing, drywall, copper supply, and kitchens that were roomy by the standards of their day but were still designed before the kitchen became the room everyone lives in.

In both cases the constraint is rarely square footage. It is organization, appliance planning and the fact that a poorly arranged large kitchen makes you walk further than a well-arranged small one.

What we handle in a Short Hills kitchen

Demolition, framing, cabinetry, countertops, backsplash, flooring, and the plumbing and electrical work involved. We work to a designer's or architect's drawing where one exists, and we will flag early where a drawing and the actual house disagree. Permits filed with Millburn Township.

Kitchen Layout Changes in Short Hills

The design problem in a large kitchen is zoning. A single work triangle stretched across twenty feet is worse than a compact primary zone (sink, range, refrigerator within a few steps) with secondary zones for prep, beverages and cleanup arranged around it. That usually means a second sink and sometimes a second dishwasher, each needing its own supply, drain and vent routed through the floor. Most of these houses have open basements, which makes that work practical. In estate-era houses, the bigger question is which service rooms to combine and which to keep distinct. See kitchen layout remodeling.

Kitchen Islands in Short Hills

Here the island question is not whether one fits but how big it should be, and the honest answer is usually smaller than people want. An island deeper than about four feet cannot be reached across, which makes the middle of it a permanent parking area for objects. Two smaller islands, or one island plus a peninsula, often work better than a single enormous one. Clearances remain 42 inches on every side and 48 where seating is. Seating overhang past ten inches needs steel bracket support set into the cabinet framing, decided before the countertop is fabricated. See kitchen islands.

Kitchen Cabinets in Short Hills

Custom cabinetry is common and in the estate-era houses it is close to necessary, because the rooms have tall ceilings, chimney chases and dimensions no stock line accommodates. Beyond the door style, the specification that determines whether a kitchen still feels right in year fifteen is the same everywhere: plywood boxes, dovetailed drawer construction on full-extension soft-close slides, and interior fittings that make deep cabinets and corners genuinely usable. In a large kitchen, the amount of storage that is technically present but functionally unreachable can be substantial. See kitchen cabinets.

Kitchen Countertops in Short Hills

Large kitchens mean multiple slabs and therefore seams, and where they land is a decision made at template rather than at delivery, at a sink cutout or a corner rather than mid-run on an island anyone can see. On natural stone, going to the yard and selecting the actual slabs is worth the trip, because variation between slabs is the point of granite and marble. Templating happens after the cabinets are installed and confirmed level; allow one to two weeks for fabrication. See kitchen countertops.

Open Concept Kitchens in Short Hills

In the postwar houses, opening the kitchen to a family room is a common and generally straightforward structural job: a properly sized beam, posts and a load path down, with the basement usually showing the load path clearly. In the estate-era houses, the more interesting move is often within the service wing (removing partitions between the kitchen, pantry and back hall, which are frequently non-bearing) rather than opening to the formal rooms, which changes the character of the house more than people expect. See open concept kitchens.

Kitchen Flooring in Short Hills

Continuity matters more in a large open plan than in a small kitchen, because you can see more of the floor at once and every transition strip reads as a seam. Where hardwood runs through adjoining rooms, continuing it into the kitchen is usually the right call, with engineered flooring being more stable in a kitchen than solid. Radiant heat under tile is worth considering in a large room and installs at this stage or not at all. Subfloor preparation in the older houses is real work. See kitchen flooring.

Kitchen Backsplashes in Short Hills

In a large kitchen the backsplash covers a lot of wall, which makes the material decision more consequential and the labor more significant. A slab backsplash carried from the counter up behind the range is a strong look with no grout lines to clean, and it needs a genuinely flat wall behind it. Tile layout should be set out from the range or the window rather than a corner so the cuts fall symmetrically. Every outlet needs a box extender so the device sits flush with the tile face. See kitchen backsplash.

Permits and inspections in Short Hills

Short Hills addresses are permitted and inspected by the Millburn Township Building Department, since Short Hills is a section of the township rather than its own municipality. Kitchen work altering plumbing or electrical requires a construction permit, and structural work brings in the building subcode along with a sealed drawing from an engineer or architect.

Where we work in Short Hills

Throughout the section, including the older streets in the Old Short Hills and Hartshorn areas and the postwar neighborhoods around Deerfield, Knollwood and Glenwood.