NYS and NYC M/WBE Certified Contractor
A finished kitchen remodel should feel like the rest of your home finally caught up to what it’s worth. In Melville, where median home values have climbed past $965,000 and some properties are selling closer to $1.2 million, a kitchen that still has the layout and finishes from a 1980s update isn’t just outdated it’s a drag on your equity. The right remodel closes that gap, and then some. Minor kitchen renovations are delivering up to 113% ROI in 2025, which means this is one of the few home investments that can actually pay you back more than you put in.
Beyond the financial return, there’s the day-to-day reality. Melville’s homeowner base skews toward established families people who’ve been in their homes for 10, 15, 20 years and the kitchen is where that life actually happens. Sunday dinners, holiday gatherings, the morning routine before the commute. When the layout works, when the storage makes sense, when the countertops and cabinetry are built to last through Long Island’s humid summers and cold winters, the kitchen stops being a source of frustration and starts being the best room in the house.
What you get with a properly executed remodel isn’t just a prettier space. It’s a kitchen that functions the way your household actually operates, built with materials selected for this climate, permitted correctly through the Town of Huntington, and finished to a standard that holds up when it matters most.
We founded Green Island Group in 2012 and have spent over a decade working inside Melville homes and throughout Long Island not just finishing them, but understanding what’s actually going on behind the walls. We’re based in Bohemia, NY, which puts us squarely in Suffolk County and well within the communities we serve, including Melville and the surrounding Huntington area.
What separates us from a standard kitchen design company is the depth of our licensing. We hold a Home Improvement Contractor license verified through Nassau County’s licensing board, five additional specialty licenses including asbestos abatement and environmental remediation, IICRC certification, and M/WBE certification issued by New York State a credential that requires formal government vetting, not just a checkbox on a website. When you’re investing $40,000, $60,000, or more into a kitchen remodel in a Melville home worth over a million dollars, the contractor’s credentials aren’t a formality. They’re the foundation.
Reviews consistently name specific team members by name, praising responsiveness and follow-through. In Melville, where neighbors talk and reputation matters, that kind of track record is earned not manufactured.
It starts with a home visit. Not a phone estimate, not a ballpark based on square footage an actual visit to your Melville home, where we listen to what you want, take full measurements, and get a real picture of what the project involves. For homes in Melville’s core residential neighborhoods the split-levels and ranches built between the 1950s and 1970s that make up a significant portion of the housing stock near Half Hollow Hills that site visit often reveals things that matter: older plumbing configurations, original flooring with asbestos-containing tiles, or wall cavities that haven’t been opened in decades. Knowing what you’re dealing with before demolition starts is what keeps a project on schedule and on budget.
From there, the design phase produces a 3D model of your finished kitchen before any work begins. You see exactly what you’re getting the cabinet layout, the countertop material, the flow of the space and you can make changes at the design stage, when adjustments cost nothing. Once the design is approved, we handle the permit application with the Town of Huntington Building Department, including the notarized forms, construction drawings, and inspection coordination that the process requires. Most homeowners have never navigated that process before. You won’t have to.
Construction follows a clear sequence: demolition, rough work (plumbing, electrical, structural), cabinetry installation, countertops, flooring, and finish work. One team, one point of contact, one contract. The project doesn’t get handed off to a subcontractor halfway through. When the final walkthrough happens, it’s the same people who started the job finishing it.
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A full kitchen remodel with us covers the complete scope: layout redesign, custom cabinetry, countertop installation, flooring, plumbing and electrical updates, lighting, and all finish work. The process is designed to handle the full range of what Melville homes present from newer builds near the Villages West that need a design upgrade, to older homes closer to the Half Hollow Hills school district that may require structural or environmental work before the cosmetic phase can begin.
That environmental piece is where our background becomes genuinely relevant. Homes built before 1980 and a significant portion of Melville’s residential stock falls into that category frequently contain asbestos in floor tiles, pipe insulation, or drywall compound, and lead paint in original cabinetry. Most kitchen remodeling companies aren’t equipped to handle those discoveries. They stop the project, bring in a third-party abatement contractor, and restart the clock. We hold the licensing to handle asbestos abatement and environmental remediation in-house, which means the project keeps moving and you’re not managing two separate contractors through a situation that was already stressful.
Material selection is guided by what actually performs in Long Island’s climate cabinetry that handles humidity without warping, countertops that hold up through temperature swings, flooring that survives what gets tracked in from a Long Island winter. The goal is a kitchen that looks right on the day it’s finished and still looks right five years from now.
It depends on what the remodel involves. If you’re painting, replacing cabinet hardware, or swapping out a faucet, no permit is required. But if the project touches plumbing, electrical, gas lines, or any structural element which most full kitchen remodels do you need a building permit from the Town of Huntington Building Department. Melville is an unincorporated hamlet within the Town of Huntington, so all permits run through that office, not a separate village authority.
The application process is more involved than most homeowners expect. It requires notarized forms signed by the property owner, multiple copies of a recent survey from a licensed land surveyor, a plot plan, construction drawings, and a certificate of workers’ compensation before anything gets approved. Skipping permits isn’t just a legal risk it creates real problems when you sell. Unpermitted work can trigger stop-work orders, fines, and delays that are far more expensive than the permit itself. We manage the entire permit process on your behalf, from the first application to the final inspection sign-off.
The honest answer is that it depends heavily on the scope of the project and the condition of what’s behind your walls. A mid-range kitchen remodel in the New York metro area averages around $27,765, but full renovations especially in homes where plumbing, electrical, or structural updates are needed commonly run between $50,000 and $107,000 or more. In Melville, where the median home value sits above $965,000, most homeowners are investing in the upper range of that spectrum because the finished product needs to match what the home is worth.
A few factors specific to Melville tend to affect the final number. Homes built in the 1950s through 1970s which make up a meaningful portion of the residential stock near Half Hollow Hills often require environmental remediation work before the cosmetic phase begins. Asbestos abatement, lead paint removal, or water damage remediation are not uncommon discoveries during demolition, and those add to the cost if your contractor isn’t licensed to handle them in-house. We provide a detailed, itemized estimate after the initial home visit so you know exactly what you’re looking at before any work begins no vague ballparks, no surprise additions mid-project.
For a full kitchen remodel demo through final finishes you’re typically looking at six to twelve weeks once construction begins, depending on the size of the kitchen, the complexity of the layout changes, and whether any unexpected conditions are discovered during demolition. The design and permitting phase adds time on the front end. Getting a permit approved through the Town of Huntington Building Department takes several weeks in most cases, which is why starting that process early matters.
The most common cause of timeline blowouts isn’t the construction itself it’s surprises that weren’t accounted for. An older Melville home that hasn’t had its walls opened in 40 years may reveal plumbing that needs to be brought up to code, electrical that doesn’t meet current standards, or materials that require remediation before new work can proceed. When your contractor can handle those discoveries in-house rather than stopping the project to bring in a third party, the timeline stays far more predictable. We build contingency planning into the project schedule from the start, so a discovery mid-demo doesn’t automatically mean a month-long delay.
Start with licensing. In New York, kitchen remodeling contractors are required to hold a Home Improvement Contractor license, and that license should be verifiable not just claimed on a website. Ask for the license number and look it up. Beyond the basic license, ask whether they carry workers’ compensation insurance. Under New York State law, if an uninsured worker is injured on your property, you can be held financially liable. That’s a documented risk that Melville homeowners face any time they hire a contractor who isn’t properly covered.
After credentials, look at process. Does the contractor provide a 3D design before demolition begins? Do they handle permits with the Town of Huntington, or do they leave that to you? Do they have in-house capability for environmental issues, or do they subcontract anything unexpected? A contractor who can answer all of those questions clearly and back up the answers with documentation is operating at a fundamentally different level than one who gives you a verbal quote and asks when you want to start. In a market where Melville homes are worth $1 million or more, the contractor selection decision deserves the same scrutiny you’d apply to any major financial commitment.
In Melville’s current market, the numbers make a strong case. Approximately 54% of realtors recommend a kitchen upgrade before listing, and in a market where Melville home values have risen 25 to 37% in a single year, buyers walking through a $1 million home expect a kitchen that matches. An outdated kitchen in an otherwise well-maintained home is one of the most common reasons buyers negotiate down or walk away.
The key is making sure the remodel is done correctly and permitted properly. Unpermitted kitchen work even work that looks good creates disclosure problems at closing and can delay or kill a sale. Buyers’ attorneys and home inspectors in Suffolk County look for permit records, and a kitchen remodel that doesn’t have a final sign-off from the Town of Huntington Building Department is a red flag that shows up in due diligence. A properly permitted, well-executed kitchen remodel in Melville isn’t just an aesthetic upgrade it’s a clean, documentable improvement that adds to your home’s marketable value without creating legal complications down the road.
This is one of the most important questions to ask before you hire anyone, and most homeowners don’t think to ask it until it’s already a problem. In Melville, homes built between the 1940s and 1970s which represent a significant portion of the residential neighborhoods near Half Hollow Hills were commonly constructed with asbestos-containing materials in floor tiles, pipe insulation, and drywall compound. Mold is also a frequent discovery in kitchens, particularly in homes where a slow plumbing leak went undetected inside a wall for years.
When a contractor without remediation licensing encounters these materials, the project stops. They’re legally required to bring in a licensed abatement contractor, which means you’re now coordinating two separate companies, waiting on scheduling, and watching the timeline stretch. We hold active asbestos abatement and environmental remediation licenses the same credentials that qualify us for full environmental remediation projects, not just remodeling work. When something is found behind your walls, the project doesn’t stop. The same team that started the job handles the remediation and keeps moving. For homeowners in Melville’s older residential core, this isn’t an edge case it’s a realistic scenario, and having a contractor equipped to handle it without missing a beat is genuinely valuable.
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