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Demox

Miami-Dade County

Kitchen Demolition

Cabinets, counters, tile, appliances and substrate out in a day, ready for the next trade.

Who usually calls

A renovation about to start. The buyer cares that the plumbing and electrical are capped safely and nothing is damaged.

A kitchen strip-out is a small job with a disproportionate number of ways to go wrong, because everything in the room is connected to something else. Water, gas, waste and power all terminate here, and all of them have to be dead and capped before a cabinet moves.

The sequence is appliances out, services isolated and capped, cabinets and counters out, then tile and substrate. Counters are the heavy item and stone usually needs two people and a plan for the stairs. Tile set in mortar is the slow item, and the substrate under it decides whether the next trade starts on day two or day five.

The useful question before pricing is how far back it goes. Cabinets out and walls intact is one job. Back to studs and subfloor, ready for a new layout, is another, and the difference is usually the plaster and the tile rather than the cabinets.

Cabinet run coming off the wall, capped stub-outs visible, floor protected.
Cabinet run coming off the wall, capped stub-outs visible, floor protected. Generated footage, not a job of ours and not a recording of one. It shows what the scope looks like. Our own work goes up as clients release it.

Scope

What is in the job.

Included

  • Appliances disconnected and removed or set aside as instructed
  • Water, gas, waste and electrical isolated and capped by the licensed trade
  • Cabinets, counters and splashbacks out, stone handled with the weight planned for
  • Tile and substrate removed to the agreed depth
  • Floor protection on the route and dust control at the door
  • Debris out the same day where access allows, surfaces swept, services labelled
Cabinet run coming off the wall, capped stub-outs visible, floor protected.
Licensed stock photograph of the same kind of work.

What moves the price

We do not publish a rate for this, because a number given without seeing the site is either useless or untrue. These are the things that decide it.

  • How far back the strip goes: cabinets only, to plaster, or to studs and subfloor
  • Counter material and the route out, because stone and stairs are the awkward combination
  • Tile bedding. Mortar bed is several times the work of thinset
  • Whether the layout changes, which turns capped services into relocated services
  • Floor above ground, access and lift availability in an apartment

Permits

Where this scope sits with the county.

Pulling cabinets is usually not permitted work on its own. Touching the plumbing, gas or electrical, or changing the layout, usually is, and in a condo the building's approval generally applies regardless of what the county requires. Miami-Dade requires an asbestos survey before demolition regardless of the year the building went up, and the federal NESHAP notification runs ten working days from a correctly filed notice. That clock runs in parallel with everything else, so it is filed first, not last.

Have this ready

  • Photographs of the whole room including under the sink and behind the range
  • Whether appliances are being kept
  • The new layout if there is one, because relocating a waste line is a different conversation from capping it
  • The building's rules on work hours and the service lift, in an apartment

None of it is required to get a visit booked. All of it makes the number firmer and the date earlier.

The full permit sequence, with sources, is on the permits and asbestos page.

Questions

What people ask about kitchen demolition.

Can it be done in a day?

A cabinets-and-counters strip in an accessible unit often can. Add a mortar-bed tile floor or a third-floor walk-up and it will not be.

Who caps the gas?

The licensed trade, before anything else starts. It is not a step to be flexible about.

Can the appliances be kept?

Yes if they are disconnected properly and there is somewhere to put them. Say so before the day, because the plan for the space is different if three appliances have to live in the hallway.

Usually bundled with