Planning a kitchen renovation in the GTA

The wall is the whole question

Most kitchen projects in the GTA turn on one thing: whether you are removing a wall, and whether that wall is holding the house up.

In Mississauga, Brampton and older parts of Toronto especially, the wall between the kitchen and the living room is very often load-bearing. Removing it needs a structural engineer, an engineered beam, a permit and an inspection. Anyone who talks about an open-concept kitchen without mentioning any of that has not thought the job through, and you should treat the rest of their plan with the same caution.

There is a simple tell. Load-bearing walls usually run perpendicular to the floor joists and often sit above a beam or post in the basement. That is not a substitute for an engineer, but it tells you which conversation you are about to have.

Cabinetry decides your schedule, not crew size

Site work on a kitchen is typically three to five weeks. Custom cabinetry commonly runs eight to twelve weeks from order to delivery. Your calendar is therefore set by when you finalise the cabinet order, not by how many people are on site.

The practical consequence is that deciding your layout early matters more than almost anything else. Homeowners choosing finishes late is the single most common reason a kitchen runs long, and no amount of extra labour fixes it.

Decide these before demolition, not during

Every one of these changes work that has already been done if you decide it late.

• Where the sink and range go. Moving either drags plumbing, venting and electrical with it.
• Appliance sizes and models, because cabinets are built around exact dimensions.
• Whether you want an island, and whether it needs power or water.
• Lighting layout, since pot lights and under-cabinet wiring go in before drywall closes.
• Range hood venting route, which is far easier to plan than to retrofit.

What matters that you will never see

The parts of a kitchen that decide whether it lasts are the parts that get covered up. Proper ventilation for the range. Adequate electrical capacity for modern appliances. Waterproofing under and behind the sink run. Level, solid substrate under the flooring.

These are also the easiest places for a low quote to save money, because you cannot inspect them once the job is done. That is worth remembering when you are comparing quotes that look far apart.

Living through it

For a single kitchen, most people stay in the house. Expect to be without a kitchen for the majority of the project, so set up a temporary space with the fridge, microwave and kettle somewhere else before demolition starts.

Ask your contractor which specific weeks are the disruptive ones. A good answer is specific. A vague one usually means the schedule has not been thought through.