Kitchens in a city of older houses
A Hamilton kitchen renovation is rarely just cabinets. In the lower city and on much of the Mountain, opening the walls means meeting the house's electrical age: a kitchen full of modern appliance loads on a service that was designed for a 1940s household. Where knob-and-tube is still live, adding circuits is not merely inadvisable, it voids the Electrical Safety Authority conditions that allow the old wiring to remain at all. That work runs through a licensed electrical contractor, always.
How we sequence it
Design and cabinet order first, demolition second. Cabinet lead times drive the entire schedule, so tearing out a working kitchen before the boxes are ordered simply means eating takeout through the lead time. Rough-ins and inspections happen while cabinets are in production; counters template only after cabinets are set, which is why the mid-project pause is normal rather than a stall. The full stage-by-stage anatomy is in our project playbooks.
"Half the Hamilton kitchens I quote need an electrical conversation before a design conversation. Nobody wants to hear that their dream island depends on a panel. But I would rather have that talk over coffee than have an inspector have it with you after the drywall is up."
Mitch Fraser, owner, Ontario Contracting Co.
Permits and what they cost here
Cosmetic replacement usually needs no permit. Moving walls, relocating plumbing, or altering structure does, and Hamilton prices interior residential alterations through its Service Index at $5.36 per square metre, with a minimum permit fee set by the schedule adopted in January 2025. Where a wall is structural, expect a grading-independent but engineered solution and an inspection sequence. The full local permit process, including the my.hamilton.ca portal and the $248 fee for a premature inspection, is documented in the my.hamilton.ca permit process.
What we deliver
- Layout and design, including structural openings where they earn their cost
- Cabinetry from stock to full custom, with lead times built honestly into the schedule
- Licensed electrical and plumbing on every wired and wet scope
- Ventilation ducted properly to the exterior, not into a joist bay
- Dust containment and daily cleanup, because you are living there
Renovating more than the kitchen? Most Hamilton kitchen projects sit inside a bigger plan, covered on the home renovations page.