Kitchen Remodeling in Linden Hills

Linden Hills sits between two lakes and a century of housing stock that has never needed much convincing to hold its value. The homes here — craftsman bungalows, foursquares, and the occasional larger colonial near the water — were built by people who paid attention. The kitchens, however, were built for a household that cooked differently, entertained differently, and did not expect the kitchen to be visible from the living room. Fixing that gap is the work.

How the kitchen fits into each Linden Hills home type

Craftsman bungalows are the most common project. The original kitchen is small — typically 10×12 feet — pushed to the back of the house with a wall separating it from the dining room and a back stair eating into the corner. The move that transforms these homes is consolidating the kitchen, breakfast nook, and dining room into a single open space. That usually means a load-bearing wall comes out, a beam goes in, and the entire back third of the main floor starts working together.

Foursquares have more volume to work with. The kitchen footprint is larger and the ceiling is higher, but the layout has the same problem — closed off, traffic running through the middle, a back porch attached to the kitchen that was enclosed decades ago and never properly integrated. Bringing that porch into the kitchen as a pantry or prep area is one of the highest-value moves we make in these homes.

The larger colonials and two-stories near Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska are a different project altogether. Formal dining rooms, butler’s pantries, and kitchens that were meant to be out of sight. The opportunity here is reclaiming that square footage — opening the butler’s pantry into the kitchen, connecting the kitchen to the dining or family room — while preserving the period character that makes these homes worth owning.

The hidden work inside every Linden Hills kitchen

The age of these homes means the systems behind the walls are almost always part of the project. Knob-and-tube electrical is still active in a significant number of Linden Hills kitchens — insurance companies increasingly require its removal, and modern appliance loads cannot run safely on it. Cast-iron drain stacks that are fifty to a hundred years old are at the end of their service life. Galvanized supply lines restrict water pressure in ways homeowners have gotten used to but should not have to live with.

We replace all of it — copper or PEX supply, PVC drains, new romex circuits — and we coordinate the permit and inspection process with the City of Minneapolis so the work is documented. When the home sells, the buyer’s inspector finds nothing to flag.

What a Linden Hills kitchen remodel costs

A kitchen that stays inside the existing footprint with new custom cabinetry, updated countertops, and mechanical replacements runs $65,000 to $100,000. A project that includes wall removal, a new beam, full mechanical updates, and a reconfigured layout runs $100,000 to $160,000. The larger lake-area homes with butler’s pantry reclamation, marble countertops, and period-appropriate millwork detail run $160,000 to $250,000+. Every project gets a written budget range at the first consultation.

How long it takes

Planning runs five to ten weeks. On-site construction runs eight to twelve weeks for most Linden Hills kitchens — longer when structural work, drain relocation, or porch integration is involved. Kitchen remodels run year-round; there is no seasonal window to work around.

Start with a visit

We come to your home, look at the wall structure, assess the existing systems, and walk through what the kitchen can realistically become. By the end of the first meeting you will have a scope direction and a working budget — enough to decide whether and when to move forward.