Your kitchen is the room you spend the most time in and the room that tells the most truth about your house. In North Vancouver, that's especially true - the original galley kitchens in 1960s Lynn Valley houses, the awkward semi-open layouts in 1990s Capilano builds, the small but well-laid-out Lower Lonsdale condo kitchens - they all eventually reach a point where surface updates can't fix what's actually wrong.
Custom Installations is a North Vancouver renovation contractor that plans and builds kitchens for North Shore homes and condos. We coordinate the trades, source the materials, manage the schedule, and handle the finishing details that separate a renovation from an upgrade. Our goal isn't to wow you with the biggest design - it's to deliver a kitchen that fits the way you actually live in your house, holds up to North Shore conditions, and looks like it was always meant to be there.
Call 604-818-4053 to start the conversation, or send a photo of your current kitchen and a quick note on what you'd change. Most quotes start there.
North Shore homes have a few things going on that change how we plan a kitchen renovation:
Closed-Off Layouts in Older Homes
Most North Vancouver houses built between 1955 and 1985 - and that's a huge share of Lynn Valley, Calverhall, Pemberton Heights, Upper Lonsdale, Norgate, and Blueridge - were built with kitchens isolated from the rest of the living space. Walls separating the kitchen from the dining room and family room are the rule, not the exception. Almost every serious renovation in these neighbourhoods involves opening up at least one wall, which means deciding whether it's load-bearing, getting an engineer involved if it is, and managing the structural rebuild as part of the kitchen scope.
Views, Sightlines, and Natural Light
A lot of North Vancouver homes have something worth looking at - the mountains behind, downtown across the inlet, or the trees out back. The kitchen layout decisions that work in a flat-light suburban house don't always work here. Where you put the island, which wall the range goes on, how tall the upper cabinets run, and whether you sacrifice some storage to keep a window unobstructed are all design questions worth working through carefully. We do this kind of layout planning as part of every kitchen scope.
Condo Kitchens in Lower Lonsdale and Along Marine Drive
North Van's condo stock - Lower Lonsdale towers, the Marine Drive corridor, Park & Tilford, and the newer City Centre buildings - has its own kitchen renovation realities. Small footprints, strata bylaws on plumbing relocation, sound transmission rules, elevator bookings, restricted work hours, and limited window-and-vent options all shape what's possible. We've done enough condo kitchens to know how to plan around all of it instead of running into it mid-project.
Moisture, Venting, and the North Shore Climate
The North Shore gets among the highest annual rainfall of any urban area in Canada - 2,500–3,500mm at mid-elevation. Range hood venting, exterior wall penetrations, and the way moisture moves through wall assemblies all matter more than they do in drier parts of Metro Vancouver. Cheaping out on a recirculating range hood when a real exterior-vented one is needed is one of the most common North Van kitchen mistakes.
Two Different Permit Jurisdictions
North Vancouver is split into two separate municipalities - the City of North Vancouver (CNV) and the District of North Vancouver (DNV) - each with its own building department. They have similar but not identical rules. Whether your kitchen needs a permit depends on what you're changing, and the application process differs between the two. We'll tell you which jurisdiction your address is in and what your project actually triggers.
Not every kitchen needs to be torn back to the studs. We size the scope to your actual situation and budget.
Cosmetic Refresh
Best for kitchens where the layout works, the cabinet boxes are sound, and the bones are good - but the look feels dated. Painting cabinets, replacing doors and hardware, new countertops on the existing footprint, fresh backsplash, updated lighting, new paint, possibly new flooring. No structural work, no plumbing moves. Usually no permit. The fastest, least disruptive way to make a kitchen feel current.
Partial Remodel
Same footprint, but a more thorough rebuild - full new cabinetry, new countertops, full appliance replacement, new sink and faucet, full flooring, and finishing details done properly. Small plumbing or electrical adjustments may be involved but no major structural work. Permit may or may not be needed depending on what's changed.
Layout Change & Wall Removal
The classic North Vancouver renovation: removing the wall (or part of the wall) that separates the kitchen from the dining or living space. This is where the project gets serious - engineer involvement if the wall is load-bearing, structural beams, mechanical and electrical rerouting, drywall work in adjacent rooms, often new flooring continuity. Permit required. The result is the open kitchen the house should have had in the first place.
Full Kitchen Renovation
New layout, new cabinetry, new everything. Often combined with the wall-removal scope above. We coordinate the cabinet supplier, countertop fabricator, electricians, plumbers, tile, painters, and finish carpentry. The kitchen is the centerpiece, but the work usually touches adjacent rooms - flooring transitions, drywall patching where walls came down, paint extending into the dining room.
Condo Kitchen Renovation
Strata-aware planning from day one. We confirm what your bylaws allow before we quote - plumbing relocation rules, hard-surface flooring restrictions, hood venting limits - and coordinate elevator bookings, parking permits, and noise-hour compliance. The finish work in a condo has to be tighter because every imperfection sits closer to eye level.
Why Choose Us?
Kitchen design has shifted noticeably over the last two years. A quick read on where things actually are now, not where they were three years ago when stainless and gray everything peaked:
We are extremely happy with the work done by Custom Installations! They repaired the laminate flooring in our living room and installed new tiles in the entryway- we couldn’t be happier with the results. They were reliable, professional, and responded to all our inquiries promptly.
We do kitchen work throughout the City and District, including:
We also serve West Vancouver kitchen renovations (Ambleside, Dundarave, British Properties, Caulfeild) and the broader Lower Mainland for the right project.
Whether your kitchen renovation needs a permit depends on what you're actually changing. As a general guide:
Both jurisdictions process most residential kitchen renovation permits in 2–4 weeks. More complex applications involving structural changes can run 6–12 weeks. Both are faster and more predictable than the City of Vancouver's permit timelines.
The City of North Vancouver tends to be slightly faster for straightforward residential work. The District of North Vancouver covers a much larger geographic area and adds extra steps for properties in Slope Hazard or Streamside Protection areas - these mostly come up on additions and exterior work, not interior kitchen renovations, but it's worth knowing about. We confirm jurisdiction and permit requirements at the quote stage.
Initial conversation.
Send a photo of your kitchen and a quick note on what you'd want to change. We'll set up a call or visit.
Scope and pricing.
We walk through realistic options - refresh vs. partial vs. full vs. layout change - with budget ranges for each so you can choose with full information.
Design and selections.
Cabinet style, counter material, hardware, tile, appliances, flooring, and lighting decisions get made before demo day, not while the trades are waiting.
Permits and approvals.
If a permit is required, we help with the application package. Condo? We coordinate strata sign-off and any required noise/access notifications.
Build.
Demo, rough-in (plumbing, electrical, structural if needed), drywall, cabinetry install, counters templated and installed, tile, flooring, paint, hardware, finishing details. Tidy site every day. Weekly progress updates.
Walkthrough and deficiency list.
We sweep the room with you, fix what needs fixing, and you sign off when you're satisfied.
Most of our kitchen renovations run 4–10 weeks once we're on site. A cosmetic refresh (paint, counters, hardware, no plumbing or wall changes) can finish in 3–5 weeks. A standard renovation with new cabinets and counters typically takes 5–7 weeks. A full renovation with wall removal, structural work, and reconfigured plumbing usually runs 8–12 weeks. Permits, where required, add 2–6 weeks to the front end.
Most clients do, especially for refresh or partial-remodel scopes where the disruption is contained. We can set up a temporary kitchen area (microwave, kettle, fridge) and protect adjacent living spaces with dust barriers. For full renovations with wall removal, more clients move out for the busiest 2–3 weeks of demo and rough-in. We'll walk through realistic options at the quote stage.
For most kitchens, we handle layout and material selections directly with you - no separate designer needed. For higher-end custom kitchens where you want full architectural drawings and 3D renders, we'll work with a kitchen designer of your choice (or recommend one we trust) and execute their design as the contractor.
Either works. We coordinate with quality cabinet suppliers and can include cabinetry in our scope, or we'll install cabinets you've sourced (provided they're built to a standard that lets us install them properly). What we don't do is push you toward a specific cabinet shop because they pay us referral fees.
In 2026, yes - measurably. Medium-tone wood cabinetry is now outselling all-white kitchens in design surveys, and the trend reads especially well in North Vancouver homes given the surrounding landscape. White oak and rift-cut oak are leading the wood cabinet comeback, with walnut close behind. That said, the right cabinet style depends on your house, not the trend; we'll help you think through what actually fits.
Yes. We do a significant amount of condo kitchen work in Lower Lonsdale, the Marine Drive corridor, Park & Tilford, and the North Van City Centre buildings. We confirm your strata's renovation bylaws before quoting - what plumbing relocation is allowed, hard-surface flooring restrictions, range hood vent requirements, work hours, elevator and parking logistics - and we plan the project around them rather than into them.
In common usage, they're interchangeable. If there's a working distinction, a "renovation" tends to refer to bringing the kitchen up to date and may include layout changes; a "remodel" more often implies keeping the layout the same and updating the cabinets, counters, and finishes. We do both.
Usually no. If you're replacing cabinets in the existing footprint without moving plumbing fixtures, adding new electrical circuits, or modifying any walls, you typically don't need a permit. The moment the sink moves, a wall comes out, a panel needs upgrading, or you're adding ventilation that wasn't there before, a permit is usually triggered. We confirm what your specific project needs.
Call 604-818-4053 or fill out the quote form below. Send a couple of photos of your current kitchen and a quick note about what you'd change. It makes the first conversation faster and the quote more accurate.