Kitchen Remodeling in Summit, NJ

Summit is a Union County city of about six square miles with roughly 8,800 housing units. Around 63 percent are single-family detached and about 68 percent are owner-occupied, noticeably lower on both counts than neighboring Cranford or Westfield, because Summit has a substantial layer of condominium and apartment housing, much of it near the downtown and the train station.

The median build year is 1953, with a third of the housing predating 1940 and 71 percent predating 1960.

Median year built

1953of 8,786 housing units

Built before 1940

33.3%70.9% before 1960

Single-family detached

63.4%81.7% in 1–4 unit buildings

Owner-occupied

68.3%5.99 sq mi, Union County

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates. Figures describe Summit city, Union County, NJ.

Three starting points

The prewar house. A third of the housing, mostly colonials, tudors and shingle-style houses. Plaster over lath, settled framing, sloping floors, a kitchen originally sized as a work room at the back with a pantry beside it, and a wall to the dining room that is usually carrying load.

The postwar house. Regular framing, drywall, copper supply, conventional room dimensions, and layouts that open up more predictably. Some built into the ridge with a walkout lower level, which makes plumbing work easier; others on partial slabs, which makes it harder.

The condominium or apartment unit. A meaningful share of the housing. Here the constraints are the building stack, which fixes the sink's general position, and the association's own rules, which frequently govern the schedule more than the construction code does.

The single most useful thing to establish first is which of these you are in, because the process differs as much as the construction.

What we handle in a Summit kitchen

Demolition, framing where the structure allows, cabinetry, countertops, backsplash, flooring, and the plumbing and electrical the room needs. Permits filed with the city, and in association buildings we work within their requirements as well.

Kitchen Layout Changes in Summit

In a house with a basement or a walkout lower level, moving a sink is ordinary work: new supply, a drain with correct fall, proper venting. Where the kitchen sits on a slab against the ridge, the drain is in the concrete and moving it is a much larger job, which is why we ask what is underneath first. In a condominium, the building stack fixes the sink's general position and the work is reorganizing around it. Absorbing a pantry in a prewar house is often a non-bearing partition removal. See kitchen layout remodeling.

Kitchen Cabinets in Summit

In the prewar houses, custom or semi-custom cabinetry earns its cost: tall ceilings that standard uppers waste, chimney chases, and corners that are not ninety degrees. Installation means shimming every base cabinet from the high point of a sloping floor and scribing to walls that bow. In postwar houses and condominium units, rooms are conventional and stock fits well, freeing budget for plywood boxes at the sink base and better drawer construction. See kitchen cabinets.

Open Concept Kitchens in Summit

In a prewar house the kitchen-to-dining wall usually carries the joists above, so removal means a properly sized beam, posts and a load path down to the basement, with an engineer's drawing and a permit. In postwar houses the same job is often simpler and the load path is visible from the basement. In a condominium, removing an interior partition is frequently possible if it is non-bearing, while anything structural belongs to the building and involves the association rather than just the unit. See open concept kitchens.

Kitchen Countertops in Summit

Templating happens after the cabinets are set and level, which matters most in prewar houses where walls bow. In a downtown condominium, access is a real logistical question: getting a stone slab into an upper-floor unit means coordinating elevator use and loading dock time with the building, which is usually a scheduled thing rather than a same-day thing. Allow one to two weeks between cabinet install and counters. See kitchen countertops.

Kitchen Flooring in Summit

In prewar houses, continuing existing hardwood into the kitchen often makes an opened-up ground floor read as one space, with engineered flooring being more stable than solid in a kitchen. In condominium units, sound transmission to the unit below is frequently a written association requirement, and an acoustic underlayment or an uncoupling membrane is worth specifying regardless. Where tile goes into an older house, the subfloor generally needs stiffening first. See kitchen flooring.

Kitchen Islands in Summit

Realistic in the postwar houses and in prewar kitchens where a pantry has been absorbed, less so in a condominium unit or an untouched prewar galley. Clearances are 42 inches of clear aisle on every side and 48 where seating goes. A sink island needs supply, drain and a code-compliant vent routed through the floor, which is realistic over a basement and difficult over a slab or in a condominium. A peninsula is often the better answer in a narrower room. See kitchen islands.

Kitchen Backsplashes in Summit

In prewar houses, flattening old plaster is often half the labor of a backsplash and skipping it produces lippage that catches the light along the run. In newer construction the walls are generally flat enough that a more demanding pattern is easy to justify. The details are constant: box extenders so outlets sit flush with the tile face, GFCI protection on countertop receptacles, a finished edge where the tile stops, and flexible sealant at the counter joint. See kitchen backsplash.

Permits and inspections in Summit

Summit issues and inspects construction permits through Code Administration within its Department of Community Services, under New Jersey's Uniform Construction Code. Kitchen work altering plumbing or electrical requires one, and structural work brings in the building subcode along with a sealed drawing. In a condominium, the city permit is separate from and additional to the association's own approval.

Where we work in Summit

Across the city, from the streets around Summit Center and the station out to the residential neighborhoods running toward Springfield, Short Hills and New Providence.