Kitchen Remodeling in Westfield, NJ
Westfield is the largest and most single-family of the Union County towns we cover: about 78 percent detached houses, 81 percent owner-occupied, and a lot of substantial prewar colonials in established neighborhoods.
- NJ HIC Reg. #13VH12107200
- Based in Irvington
- 14+ years in North Jersey
Westfield is the largest of the Union County towns we cover, about seven square miles with roughly 11,200 housing units. Around 78 percent are single-family detached and 81 percent are owner-occupied. The median build year is 1953, with 37 percent of the housing predating 1940 and 65 percent predating 1960.
- Median year built
- 1953of 11,192 housing units
- Built before 1940
- 37.3%65.2% before 1960
- Single-family detached
- 78.1%93.1% in 1–4 unit buildings
- Owner-occupied
- 81.1%6.72 sq mi, Union County
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates. Figures describe Westfield town, Union County, NJ.
Prewar colonials with small kitchens
The characteristic Westfield kitchen project is a substantial 1920s or 30s house (a colonial, a tudor, sometimes something larger) where every room is generously proportioned except the kitchen. That is not an accident. These houses were designed with the kitchen as a service room at the back, separated from the dining room by a wall and often from a rear hall or pantry by another.
The house has the square footage. It is just distributed according to a set of assumptions nobody holds anymore.
The construction realities that come with that era are consistent: plaster over wood lath, framing that has settled over ninety years so that floors slope and corners are not square, and a real chance of galvanized supply lines and outdated wiring still in the walls. Plaster demolition is dusty enough that containment is not optional.
The postwar third of the housing is a different and simpler proposition: regular framing, drywall, copper, conventional dimensions and layouts that open up more predictably.
What we handle in a Westfield kitchen
Demolition, framing, cabinetry, countertops, backsplash, flooring, and the plumbing and electrical work involved. We build to a designer's or architect's drawing where one exists. Permits filed with the town and inspections scheduled.
In these houses the space usually exists next door to the kitchen rather than outside the house.
Call (862) 218-7292Kitchen Layout Changes in Westfield
The highest-value move in most of these houses is absorbing whatever adjoins the kitchen: a butler's pantry, a rear hall, an enclosed porch. Those partitions are frequently non-bearing, which makes it a straightforward removal rather than a beam project, and it produces a long uninterrupted counter run where you currently have three short segments. Check inside the partition first, since a vent stack or heating riser does turn up. Most of these houses have full basements, so relocating a sink is ordinary work. See kitchen layout remodeling.
Open Concept Kitchens in Westfield
In a center-hall colonial the wall between kitchen and dining room is almost always carrying load, so removal means a properly sized beam (engineered lumber for most spans, steel where a flush installation is needed) plus posts and a load path continuing down to the basement, sometimes to a new footing. That is a real structural project with an engineer's drawing and a permit. A wide cased opening is often the better answer in a house with this much architectural character: it gives the light and connection while keeping the rooms legible and preserving wall for cabinets. See open concept kitchens.
Kitchen Cabinets in Westfield
Custom and semi-custom cabinetry earns its cost in these houses. Ceilings are tall enough that standard 30-inch uppers waste real height, chimney chases turn up in inconvenient places, and corners are rarely ninety degrees. In a house with distinctive existing millwork, matching the joinery language matters more than following a current trend. Installation means shimming every base from the high point of a sloping floor and closing gaps against a bowed wall with scribe molding cut to follow it. See kitchen cabinets.
Kitchen Islands in Westfield
Once a pantry has been absorbed or the dining room wall opened, an island frequently works. 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, realistic over a full basement. Any receptacles serving the island counter have to be roughed in before flooring goes down. In an unaltered prewar kitchen, a peninsula is the honest answer and usually the better design. See kitchen islands.
Kitchen Countertops in Westfield
Templating after cabinet installation is essential in a house where a wall can bow half an inch across ten feet. Where a service wing has been combined, runs get long and seams become a real decision, placed at a sink cutout or a corner rather than mid-span. On natural stone, selecting the actual slab at the yard is worth the trip. Allow one to two weeks between cabinet install and counter delivery. See kitchen countertops.
Kitchen Flooring in Westfield
Hardwood typically runs through the first floor of these houses, and continuing it into the kitchen is often what makes an opened-up ground floor 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 wanted, joists of this era flex more than a rigid tile assembly tolerates, so the floor generally needs an added plywood layer or an uncoupling membrane first. See kitchen flooring.
Kitchen Backsplashes in Westfield
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 whole run. In a room with a window over the sink, setting the layout out from the window makes the cuts fall symmetrically at both ends. Box extenders at every outlet, GFCI protection on countertop receptacles, and flexible sealant rather than grout at the counter joint. See kitchen backsplash.
Permits and inspections in Westfield
Westfield's Building and Construction Department 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 drawing sealed by an engineer or architect. Rough work is inspected before anything covers it.
Town of Westfield, Building & Construction Department
- Department: Building & Construction Department
- Address: 959 North Avenue West, Westfield, NJ 07090
- Phone: 908-789-4100
Contact details verified September 2026. Permit requirements depend on your specific scope of work and can change, so the department above is the authority on what your project needs, not this page.
Where we work in Westfield
Across the town, including Wychwood, Stoneleigh Park, Indian Forest, Brightwood and The Gardens, and the neighborhoods running toward Cranford and Scotch Plains.
Kitchen work in Westfield
Big house, small kitchen is the usual brief here. There is normally a good answer.
Where Westfield sits, and where we work
Westfield covers about seven square miles of Union County, bordered by Cranford, Garwood, Scotch Plains, Mountainside, Clark and Fanwood.
Westfield boundary map not yet published.
Import maps/kml/westfield-nj.kml into Google My Maps, then paste the embed URL into
src/_data/locations/westfield-nj.json.
Town of Westfield covers about 6.72 square miles of Union County. Boundary drawn from U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line data.
Kitchen questions from Westfield homeowners
Our colonial has a small kitchen at the back. What are the options?
Three, roughly in order of cost. Reorganize within the existing four walls, which is the cheapest and often achieves more than people expect once soffits, corners and doorways are addressed. Absorb an adjoining pantry, rear hall or enclosed porch, which is often a non-bearing partition removal and the best value available. Or open the wall to the dining room, which is a structural project with a beam and a load path.
How do we know if the dining room wall is bearing?
The reliable check is which way the joists above run, if they are perpendicular to the wall, it is probably carrying them. There is often a beam or a bearing wall roughly below it in the basement too. In a center-hall colonial the answer is usually yes. That means a properly sized beam, posts and a load path down, with a sealed drawing and a permit.
Is an island realistic?
In a postwar house or a colonial where the kitchen has been enlarged, frequently yes. In the original footprint of a 1920s or 30s kitchen, usually not, because an island needs 42 inches of clear aisle on every side and those rooms are rarely eleven feet wide. A peninsula extending through a new opening to the dining room often works better and costs less.
What about the electrical in an older Westfield house?
In a house that has not been rewired, expect a kitchen running on far fewer circuits than a modern one requires, and possibly knob-and-tube in the walls. Adding dedicated circuits for countertop receptacles, the dishwasher, the refrigerator and the microwave is straightforward while the walls are open. Whether the panel has capacity is worth answering before demolition.
Do you work with a kitchen designer?
Yes, and on a larger project here that often makes sense. We build to a drawing where one exists. What we will do is raise it early if the drawing and the actual house disagree, a cabinet run dimensioned to a plan rather than a field measurement is the most common version of that, and it is much better caught before an order is placed.
Call about your Westfield project
Colonial, tudor or postwar. Describe the house and what the kitchen does now.