NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
There’s a specific kind of frustration that comes with owning a beautiful home in East Hills and walking into a kitchen that hasn’t changed since Eisenhower was president. The layout doesn’t work. The cabinets are dated. The electrical panel can barely handle a modern refrigerator, let alone a double oven and a wine cooler. The kitchen is the one room that keeps the house from being what it should be.
When that changes — when the walls open up, the layout breathes, and the finishes actually reflect the rest of the home — the whole house shifts. Entertaining becomes something you look forward to instead of apologize for. The kitchen becomes the room where people actually gather, which is what it was always supposed to be.
East Hills homes built in the mid-1950s carry specific challenges that a contractor unfamiliar with the area won’t anticipate. Original cabinet boxes built on 1950s framing. Plumbing that predates dishwashers and refrigerator water lines. Load-bearing walls that create real layout constraints. A well-executed kitchen renovation here isn’t just cosmetic — it’s structural, functional, and long overdue. At median home values above $2 million, getting it right isn’t optional.
We’re a full-service kitchen remodeling contractor serving East Hills and the surrounding North Shore communities — Roslyn, North Hills, Old Westbury, and throughout Nassau County. We don’t subcontract the work out and disappear. We manage the entire project under one contract, with one point of contact, from the first design conversation to the final walkthrough.
The homes in East Hills have a specific character — post-war colonials and ranch homes with mid-century bones, North Shore proportions, and decades of partial updates layered on top of original construction. We’ve worked in enough of them to know what’s typically behind the walls before we open them. That means fewer surprises, better planning, and a finished kitchen that actually fits the home it’s in.
We’re also familiar with the Village of East Hills Building Department’s permit process — including the online portal that became mandatory for all new applications in January 2025. Permits get pulled. Inspections get passed. Your renovation is done right, on record.
It starts with a consultation at your home. We walk the space, talk through how you actually use the kitchen, and look at the structural and mechanical realities — panel capacity, plumbing configuration, wall placement — before any design conversation happens. There’s no point in falling in love with a layout that the house can’t support.
From there, we move into design. That means cabinet selection, countertop materials, layout planning, and fixture choices — all grounded in what works for the specific proportions and architectural style of your home. East Hills colonials and ranch homes have their own vocabulary. Shaker-style cabinetry in painted finishes tends to suit the millwork. Quartz countertops hold up well for active families. We’ll tell you what we’ve seen work in similar homes, and we’ll tell you what people tend to regret.
Once design is finalized, we handle permitting through the Village of East Hills Building Department before demolition begins. Then construction follows a written timeline with milestone check-ins so you always know where things stand. Your project manager is reachable throughout — not just on day one. When we’re done, we do a full walkthrough together before we consider the job complete.
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A kitchen remodel in East Hills almost always involves more than new surfaces. The median home here was built in 1956, which means there’s a strong chance your project will include an electrical panel upgrade to handle modern appliance loads, plumbing relocation or new fixture connections, and structural work if you’re reconfiguring the layout. We handle all of it — design, demolition, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, tile, countertops, and final installation — under one contract.
Because virtually every home in East Hills was built before 1978, federal EPA regulations require that any contractor disturbing painted surfaces follow Lead-Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting protocols. We’re EPA Lead-Safe Certified. That’s not a technicality — it’s a legal requirement for the work being done in your home, and it matters especially if you have children in the house. Ask any contractor you’re considering for this certification before you sign anything.
Cabinet renovation is one of the most common starting points for East Hills homeowners. Whether you’re replacing original 1950s boxes entirely, upgrading to custom or semi-custom cabinetry, or rethinking storage with pull-out systems and deep drawer configurations, the goal is the same: a kitchen that functions the way your household actually lives. We’ll walk you through the options honestly — including when refacing makes sense and when it doesn’t.
Yes, for most substantive kitchen renovations in East Hills, a building permit is required — and it’s pulled through the Village of East Hills Building Department specifically, not Nassau County or the Town of North Hempstead. East Hills is an incorporated village with its own permit process, its own fee schedule, and its own inspections. As of January 2025, all new permit applications must be submitted through the Village’s online portal.
Any work that involves electrical changes, plumbing relocation, wall removal, range hood penetrations through exterior walls, or HVAC modifications requires a permit. A purely cosmetic update — swapping hardware, repainting cabinets — typically doesn’t. But if your project involves anything structural or mechanical, which most full kitchen renovations in these 1950s-era homes do, permits aren’t optional. A contractor who suggests skipping them is creating a problem you’ll deal with at resale. At East Hills home values, that’s not a risk worth taking.
It depends heavily on scope, but for a full kitchen renovation in East Hills — meaning new cabinetry, countertops, appliances, flooring, lighting, and any necessary electrical or plumbing work — you’re generally looking at a range of $75,000 to $150,000 or more. Homes built in the 1950s often require additional work that newer construction doesn’t: panel upgrades, plumbing reconfiguration, and structural modifications if walls are being moved. Those factors affect the final number.
What’s worth keeping in mind is the math specific to the East Hills market. At median home values above $2 million, a well-executed kitchen renovation is a proportional investment — not a speculative one. Buyers at the $2 million-plus price point in the Greater Roslyn area have very little tolerance for dated kitchens. They don’t negotiate around them; they move on to the next listing. A kitchen that matches the home’s value protects your position in one of the most competitive luxury real estate markets on Long Island.
For a full kitchen renovation, a realistic timeline from signed contract to completed punch list is typically 8 to 14 weeks, depending on the scope of work and material lead times. Design and permitting happen before demolition begins, and that front-end process usually takes 3 to 5 weeks on its own — including permit submission through the Village of East Hills Building Department and approval turnaround.
Once construction starts, a straightforward cabinet-and-countertop renovation in a kitchen that doesn’t require structural or mechanical changes can move relatively quickly. A project that involves wall removal, panel upgrades, or plumbing relocation takes longer. The honest answer is that the timeline is set during the planning phase, not guessed at after demo begins. Any contractor who gives you a firm completion date before they’ve assessed the structural and mechanical conditions of your specific kitchen is giving you a number, not a plan.
The EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule — commonly called the RRP Rule — requires that any contractor disturbing painted surfaces in a home built before 1978 follow specific lead-safe work practices. That includes proper containment, cleaning procedures, and disposal of debris. The rule exists because lead-based paint was common in residential construction before it was banned, and renovation work that disturbs it can create serious health risks, particularly for children.
With a median construction year of 1956, nearly every home in East Hills falls under this requirement. That means EPA Lead-Safe Certification isn’t a bonus credential for kitchen contractors working in this village — it’s a legal requirement for the work being performed. Before you hire anyone, ask to see their EPA certification. If they don’t have it, they’re either not aware of the requirement or they’re choosing to ignore it. Either way, it’s a problem. We’re certified, and we follow RRP protocols on every project in homes of this era.
It depends on what’s actually there. Cabinet refacing — applying new doors, drawer fronts, and veneer over existing boxes — can make sense when the existing cabinet boxes are structurally sound, properly sized for the layout you want, and positioned in a way that works for how you use the kitchen. If those conditions are true, refacing can deliver a significant visual upgrade at a lower cost than full replacement.
The problem in most East Hills homes built in the 1950s is that the existing cabinet boxes often don’t meet those conditions. Original construction from that era used different sizing standards, shallower depths, and framing that doesn’t accommodate modern hardware or storage systems. If you’re also reconfiguring the layout — which is one of the most common requests in these mid-century kitchens — refacing isn’t an option at all, because the boxes are moving or being replaced regardless. We’ll give you a straight answer on which direction makes sense for your specific kitchen after we’ve looked at it.
Nassau County requires home improvement contractors to hold a valid Nassau County Home Improvement Contractor license to perform renovation work legally in the county. This is separate from a general business license and specific to home improvement work. You can verify a contractor’s license status through Nassau County’s licensing database — it’s a public record and takes about two minutes to check.
Beyond the county license, contractors working in East Hills specifically need to be familiar with the Village’s own Building Department requirements, since East Hills is an incorporated village with its own permit process. A contractor who is licensed at the county level but has never pulled a permit through the Village of East Hills is going to have a learning curve on your project — and you’ll feel it. Ask any contractor you’re interviewing whether they’ve worked in East Hills before, whether they’re familiar with the online permit portal, and whether they carry general liability and workers’ compensation insurance. Request a Certificate of Insurance before signing anything. A legitimate contractor will hand it over without hesitation.
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