Kitchen Remodeling in Sherman Oaks
Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based at 16120 Sherman Way in Van Nuys, about ten minutes from Sherman Oaks. We design and build kitchens here as a design-build contractor, which means the drawings, the engineering, the permit and the construction all come from one company and one contract.
Below: a Sherman Oaks kitchen we finished, what the City of Los Angeles actually requires to permit one, and what the work costs.
A Sherman Oaks kitchen we built
This one started as white cabinets with a small peninsula, one window and no island. We took it back, rerouted the electrical for a new island and a chimney hood, and enlarged the sink window. It came back as grey shaker cabinetry, quartz counters with a full-height backsplash, and a waterfall island.
The full sequence, including the photograph of the plywood counter at the templating stage when the quartz fabricator measures for the tops, is on the project page: Kitchen remodel in Sherman Oaks with a waterfall island.
It is worth saying what that project involved beyond cabinets. Moving the island meant new circuits in the slab-side of the room and a dedicated run for the hood. Enlarging the window meant a structural opening. Neither is visible in the finished photographs, and both are the reason the job needed a permit.
What a Sherman Oaks kitchen remodel needs from the city
Sherman Oaks is in the City of Los Angeles, so the permits come from the Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) rather than the County. The Development Services Center in the San Fernando Valley is at 6262 Van Nuys Blvd, 2nd Floor, Room 251, open 7:30am to 4:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9:00am to 4:30pm Wednesday. Tickets stop being issued at 4pm.
When you need a permit, and when you do not
Los Angeles exempts “cases, counters and partitions, not over 5 feet 9 inches high” from the building permit requirement (LAMC section 91.106.2). A genuine like-for-like swap — same cabinet run, same countertop footprint, nothing moved — does not need a building permit.
That exemption covers the building permit only. Electrical, plumbing, mechanical and gas work are permitted separately, and LADBS is explicit that electrical permits are required for any electrical work. In practice, almost every real kitchen remodel moves a circuit, adds an outlet, relocates the sink or runs gas to a new range — and at that point you are pulling a permit.
The good news: no plan check for most kitchens
LADBS lists “kitchen/bathroom remodel for residential buildings (no structural changes)” as an Express Permit item in Information Bulletin P/GI 2026-003. That means a kitchen remodel that leaves the walls where they are can be permitted online or over the counter without going through plan check at all.
Take out a wall or enlarge an opening and it becomes a plan check job. Even then, LADBS runs a Counter Plan Check for simple residential alterations where “the plans are reviewed the same day as plan submittal”, typically in 45 to 60 minutes at the counter.
The one that surprises people: the seismic gas shutoff valve
Los Angeles requires an earthquake-actuated gas shutoff valve when a residential alteration or addition is “valued at more than $10,000” and the building permit is issued on or after 10 January 1998 (LAMC section 94.1217.2.2). Most real kitchen remodels clear $10,000 comfortably, so the valve comes with the job. It is inexpensive relative to the rest of the work, and adding one the same size as the existing gas main is itself an Express Permit item — but it catches homeowners who have never heard of it.
If the remodel includes replacing windows at the same size, that is also an Express item, and the new units have to be NFRC-labelled dual glazing under Title 24.
Rules change. Confirm current requirements with LADBS before you commit to a scope — we do this on every job as part of the site visit.
What a kitchen costs in Sherman Oaks
We publish three working tiers for a Los Angeles kitchen. They hold in Sherman Oaks as well as anywhere else in the Valley — what moves the number is the size of the room, whether walls move, and the finishes.
| Tier | Typical range | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Refit | $25,000–$40,000 | Cabinets, counters, appliances and finishes replaced in the existing layout. Nothing structural. |
| Reconfigure | $40,000–$70,000 | Layout changes, an island added, plumbing and electrical moved, often a wall opened up. |
| Full rebuild | $70,000–$100,000 | Down to the framing, structural changes, new windows, custom cabinetry and higher-end appliances. |
These are typical Los Angeles budgeting estimates, not a price list or a quote. Your project can come in lower or higher depending on the house, the scope and the finishes; the only real number is a written proposal after a site visit.
The detail behind those tiers — where the money actually goes, and what pushes a kitchen from one tier to the next — is in our Los Angeles kitchen remodel cost guide.
The wall between the kitchen and the dining room
The single most requested change we see in Valley houses of this era is removing the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. It is worth understanding what that decision costs before you fall in love with it.
If the wall is non-bearing, it is a straightforward demolition and patch. If it is bearing — and in a single-storey ranch with a conventional roof it often is — you are into a beam, posts down to new footings, and an engineer stamping the calculation. That moves the job out of Express Permit territory and into plan check, and it is the difference between a kitchen that is permitted over the counter and one that waits.
We work out which one you have on the site visit, before anything is drawn. More on the structural side in removing a load-bearing wall and what it costs.
Questions we get asked
Do I need a permit to remodel my kitchen in Sherman Oaks?
If you are replacing cabinets and counters in exactly the same layout with no electrical, plumbing or gas work, Los Angeles exempts “cases, counters and partitions, not over 5 feet 9 inches high” from the building permit. As soon as you move a circuit, add an outlet, relocate the sink or run gas to a new range, you need a permit. Almost every real kitchen remodel needs one.
Will my kitchen have to go through plan check?
Usually not. LADBS lists a residential kitchen remodel with no structural changes as an Express Permit item, which means no plan check. If you remove or alter a wall, it does go to plan check — but simple residential alterations can go through Counter Plan Check, which LADBS reviews the same day, typically in 45 to 60 minutes.
What is the seismic gas shutoff valve, and do I need one?
Los Angeles requires an earthquake-actuated gas shutoff valve when a residential alteration is valued at more than $10,000. Most kitchen remodels are, so yes. It is a small line item relative to the rest of the work, and installing one the same size as the existing gas main is itself an Express Permit item.
How long does a Sherman Oaks kitchen take?
Construction runs about two to four weeks for a cosmetic refresh and longer for a full rebuild. Add three to six weeks of design and selections before that. Custom cabinets take about three weeks to manufacture, and that is usually the item that sets the schedule rather than the building work.
Can you open up the wall between my kitchen and dining room?
Yes, and we do it often. Whether it is simple or structural depends on whether the wall is carrying load. We establish that at the site visit, before any drawings, because it changes both the cost and the permit path.
Do you work in the hillside streets south of Ventura Boulevard?
Yes. Hillside lots bring their own access and staging problems — narrow streets, limited parking for a delivery truck, longer material carries — which we plan for rather than discover. The permit path for an interior kitchen is the same as anywhere else in the city.
Related: Kitchen remodeling across Los Angeles · General contractor in Sherman Oaks · Kitchen remodel cost guide · Kitchen remodel permits in Los Angeles · Our projects
Tell us about your Sherman Oaks kitchen
Send us the basics — the size of the kitchen, whether you want to move any walls, and roughly when you would like to start — and we will come out, take measurements and put a written scope and estimate in front of you within about 48 hours of the visit.