Kitchen Remodeling in Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA

Portland Kitchen Pros passes kitchen remodeling requests from homeowners in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark County in Washington, to an independent local remodeler, who contacts you about a free consultation. Every remodeler we pass requests to holds the Oregon CCB license or Washington L&I registration the job’s state requires, and the remodeler, not this site, quotes and does the work. The page on how matching works explains each step.

What a Portland kitchen remodel involves

A full remodel can change everything in the room: the layout, the cabinets and countertops, the sink and its plumbing, the wiring for outlets and lights, the range hood, the appliances and the floor. Which of those parts move decides two things: which trades the job needs, and which permits.

Many kitchens need less than a full remodel. Three smaller jobs each have a page of their own:

• Cabinet refacing keeps cabinet boxes that are still sound and replaces what you see: doors, drawer fronts, the hardware and a veneer or laminate over the frames.
• New kitchen cabinets replace the boxes as well, in stock, semi-custom or custom lines.
• Cabinet painting keeps the doors, drawer fronts and boxes and gives them a new finish.

Our overview of kitchen remodeling services sets the four jobs side by side: what each changes, what it keeps and when a permit comes in.

Checking a remodeler before you hire

In Oregon, the law generally requires anyone paid for construction work on a home to be licensed by the Construction Contractors Board. Look a contractor up in the CCB license search; the CCB says the license number is the most accurate way to search. In Washington, every construction contractor must register with the Department of Labor & Industries, and state law requires contractors to be bonded and insured; check a registration with L&I’s Verify tool. A kitchen across the river runs on Washington rules, covered on our page about kitchen remodeling in Vancouver, WA.

Oregon also sets paperwork rules. Above the CCB’s price threshold, the contractor must give you a written contract (ORS 701.305) and three notices: the Information Notice to Owner About Construction Liens, the Consumer Protection Notice and the Notice of Procedure. The CCB’s contractor tools page gives the threshold, and says the contract must show the contractor’s name, address, phone number and CCB license number. The CCB also says you can cancel an initial residential construction contract by written notice before midnight of the next business day.

We pass requests only to remodelers who hold the license or registration the job’s state requires. Both lookups are public, so you can check the remodeler yourself before you sign.

Permits, licenses and older homes in Portland

Inside the city, permits come from Portland Permitting & Development (PP&D), and PP&D says most interior alterations require one. Its residential list:

• Building permit: to move, remove or add walls.
• Plumbing permit: to install new fixtures such as sinks and dishwashers, to repair, replace, relocate or add to the piping, and to replace a fixture when the replacement involves concealed connections.
• Electrical permit: for any additional wiring, outlet or light fixture.
• Mechanical permit: for gas piping between the meter and an appliance, and for any system that vents into an exhaust vent, even when no building permit is needed. Oregon’s state permit list names kitchen range exhausts.
• No permit: to install cabinets and shelving, or to replace wall, floor or ceiling coverings such as wallboard or sheet vinyl.

So cabinets and countertops alone need no building permit, while a remodel that moves the sink, adds circuits or moves a wall needs the matching plumbing, electrical or building permit. PP&D recommends a free 15-minute appointment for remodeling permit questions, which you can book from its permit help page.

Portland’s homes are older than most in the metro. The median home in the city was built in 1966; 63.4% were built before 1980 and 26.8% before 1940 (Census American Community Survey, 2020-2024). The census groups homes by decade, so no published figure splits at 1978, but that is the year the lead-safe rules turn on: in Oregon, only contractors licensed by the CCB for Lead-Based Paint Renovation may bid or work on pre-1978 homes, and in Washington, renovation, repair or painting on pre-1978 homes needs RRP certification from the Department of Commerce.

What a kitchen remodel costs in Portland

The current Cost vs. Value Report has no Portland figure. Its newest dated figures for this part of the country are Pacific-region costs for three defined kitchen projects, and they are on our page about kitchen remodel costs in Portland, with what each project includes. What a remodeler quotes for your kitchen depends on the cabinet line, the countertop material, the appliances, and whether walls, plumbing or wiring move.

Where we take requests from

We take requests from Portland and the rest of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties in Oregon, from Clark County in Washington, and from the ZIP codes that cross their borders. Three cities have pages of their own: kitchen remodeling in Vancouver, WA, kitchen remodeling in Beaverton and kitchen remodeling in Lake Oswego. Every other city is on the areas we serve page.