Kitchen Remodeling in Towson, MD

Which kind of Towson kitchen do you have?

Towson’s kitchens fall into a handful of groups, and figuring out which one yours belongs to is the first conversation at an estimate.

• Rowhouse kitchens in Rodgers Forge, where brick party walls fix the room width and every cabinet run counts.
• Post-war kitchens in houses built in the 1950s and ’60s, which census estimates put at more than a third of Towson’s homes. Many keep their original room layout even after a cabinet change or two.
• Older single-family kitchens in Stoneleigh and Anneslie, reworked over the decades in houses dating to the 1920s and ’30s.
• Condo and apartment kitchens in the mid- and high-rise buildings near downtown. Census estimates show nearly one in five Towson homes sits in a building of 50 or more units.

Getting more out of a narrow kitchen

In a rowhouse or compact galley, the gains come from the cabinets, not the walls. Full-height uppers, a pantry cabinet at the end of a run, drawers in place of base doors and a counter that runs as far as the room allows all add up. We’ve built galley kitchens with white shaker cabinets and stainless appliances, and L-shaped kitchens with gray shaker cabinets, quartz and subway tile.

Lighting matters more than people expect in a narrow room. Under-cabinet lights and added ceiling fixtures mean new wiring, which the county requires a registered electrical contractor to permit.

Post-war kitchens: what usually needs fixing

After 60-plus years, the problems in a 1950s or ’60s kitchen are predictable. Too few outlets for today’s appliances, new flooring laid over old flooring, cabinets that were never anchored well, and sometimes soft subfloor from a slow leak under the sink. Baltimore County doesn’t make you upgrade an existing electrical service when you remodel, but every new circuit needs a permit, so we work out what the new layout needs before any cabinets are ordered.

Condos downtown and rentals near the campuses

In a condo, the building’s rules often shape the job as much as the county’s do: allowed work hours, how materials come up and debris goes out, and what has to be approved first. Ask your management office for the renovation rules and share them with us; we schedule around them.

Landlords near Towson University and Goucher usually want hard-wearing finishes and a schedule that fits between tenants. Baltimore County requires every rental property to be registered or licensed, or exempt, before a new tenant moves in.

What the county asks for

Creating a kitchen where there wasn’t one, or moving structural walls, puts the job under a county alteration permit, and the plumbing and electrical always need trade permits. For a straight cabinet-and-counter replacement, the county’s pages leave the question open, so we suggest a call to PAI, whose office is on West Chesapeake Avenue right here in Towson.

For the rest of the house, see bathroom remodeling in Towson and our flooring page. Our main kitchen remodeling page explains how a kitchen job runs from demo to final walkthrough.