Kitchen Remodeling in Woodland Hills
Green Design and Build is a licensed general contractor (CSLB #1110975) based at 16120 Sherman Way in Van Nuys, a straight run west along Sherman Way or the 101 to Woodland Hills. We build kitchens here as a design-build contractor — drawings, engineering, permit and construction under one contract.
Below: a Woodland Hills house where the kitchen was part of a full rebuild, what the City of Los Angeles requires to permit kitchen work, and what it costs.
A Woodland Hills kitchen, inside a whole-home rebuild
This was not a kitchen job that stayed a kitchen job. Once the finishes came off, very little of the existing structure was worth keeping. A few walls stayed; interior partitions, ceilings, the rear elevation and the mechanical systems all came out, and the house was rebuilt around what remained — new foundations, framing, roof, exterior, full interior including the kitchen and bathrooms, plus the pool, a covered patio, a block retaining wall and the pool deck.
The whole sequence is documented here: Whole-home rebuild in Woodland Hills.
It is a useful project to look at even if you only want a kitchen, because it shows the decision every older Valley house eventually forces: how much of what is behind the drywall is worth keeping. That call is better made early and deliberately than discovered in week three.
What a Woodland Hills kitchen remodel needs from the city
Woodland Hills 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 Woodland Hills
We publish three working tiers for a Los Angeles kitchen. They hold in Woodland Hills 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.
When a kitchen turns into something larger
Woodland Hills has a lot of houses from the post-war tract era, and in our experience the kitchens in them share a problem: they were built as closed rooms, separated from everything else, with electrical that was never designed for two ovens and an induction cooktop.
That means a Woodland Hills kitchen remodel often runs into three things at once — a wall someone wants removed, a panel that will not carry the new load, and plumbing that has to move. None of those is a reason not to do the work. All three are reasons to find out what you have before you sign a contract, which is what the site visit is for.
If the panel needs upgrading, note that LADWP requires a meter spot sheet from an Electric Service Representative before Building and Safety inspects a residential service of 400 amps or less. That is a sequencing item, not an obstacle, but it is one that adds time if nobody starts it early.
Questions we get asked
Do I need a permit for a kitchen remodel in Woodland Hills?
Los Angeles exempts “cases, counters and partitions, not over 5 feet 9 inches high” from the building permit, so a genuine like-for-like cabinet and counter swap does not need one. Any electrical, plumbing, mechanical or gas work is permitted separately, and LADBS requires an electrical permit for any electrical work. In practice most kitchen remodels need a permit.
Does my kitchen have to go through plan check?
Not if the walls stay put. LADBS lists a residential kitchen remodel with no structural changes as an Express Permit item, which skips plan check entirely. Remove a wall and it goes to plan check, though simple residential alterations can be reviewed the same day through Counter Plan Check.
Do I need a seismic gas shutoff valve?
If the alteration is valued at more than $10,000, yes — Los Angeles has required an earthquake-actuated gas shutoff valve on residential permits issued since January 1998. Most kitchen remodels exceed that threshold.
My panel is old. Does that hold up the kitchen?
It can if it is left to the end. A service upgrade needs a meter spot sheet from LADWP before LADBS inspects, so we start that early rather than waiting for the electrician to flag it. Upgrading a residential service up to 400 amps is itself an Express Permit item.
How long does a Woodland Hills kitchen take?
Two to four weeks of construction for a cosmetic refresh, longer once walls or structure are involved, plus three to six weeks of design and selections beforehand. Custom cabinetry takes about three weeks to manufacture and usually sets the schedule.
We are in the hills. Does that change anything for an interior kitchen?
For the permit, no — an interior kitchen remodel follows the same path anywhere in the city. What changes is logistics: access, where a delivery truck can stand, and how far materials have to be carried. We plan that into the schedule rather than absorbing it as delay.
Related: Kitchen remodeling across Los Angeles · General contractor in Woodland Hills · Kitchen remodel cost guide · Whole-home renovation · Our projects
Tell us about your Woodland Hills 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.