Kitchen Remodeler & Custom Cabinetry in Sarasota, FL

How Does a Kitchen Remodel Work With Our Shop?

The kitchen remodel process runs from consultation to final walkthrough in a fixed order: measure, design, approve, build, install. Shop-built cabinets have to fit the room exactly, and the room has to be ready when they arrive.

1. 1

   Measure and listen

   We measure the kitchen, note out-of-square walls and window heights, and talk through how you cook, what you store and what frustrates you about the current room.

2. 2

   Working drawings and a 3D model

   You receive plans and a rendering of the new kitchen before anything is built. Revisions happen here, where they are easy to make. Nothing is built before design approval.

3. 3

   Coordinate the licensed trades

   If plumbing, wiring, gas or walls change, your licensed contractor and trades scope that work and handle the permits. We share our drawings so their rough-in lands where the cabinets need it. Their rough-in inspections pass before drywall closes the walls.

4. 4

   Build in the shop

   Cabinets are cut, joined and finished at our Lewis Ave shop in the hardwood and finish you approved.

5. 5

   Install and scribe

   We set and level the cabinets, scribe them to your walls, hang the doors and adjust every drawer.

6. 6

   Countertops and final fit

   A stone fabricator templates and sets the tops once the cabinets are in, or we build wood tops ourselves. Then we return for trim, panels and hardware.

7. 7

   Final walkthrough

   We walk the kitchen with you, adjust doors and drawers and clear the punch list.

Comparing firms? Read kitchen remodeler vs. cabinet maker to see where the roles overlap.

Kitchen Design in Sarasota You Can See Before It Is Built

Design is where a remodel succeeds or fails, so we never rush it. Our kitchen design and 3D renderings turn your measurements into working drawings and a model you can rotate, from the sink wall to the inside of a corner cabinet.

The model settles questions that paper cannot: whether the island leaves room to open the dishwasher, how tall uppers can run under a soffit. It is also the moment to plan for everyone who will use the room. An accessible kitchen design with lower work surfaces, pull-down shelves and drawers in place of deep base cabinets is far simpler to draw now than to retrofit later.

Custom Cabinetry Built for Gulf Coast Humidity

Kitchen cabinets fail in Sarasota for a predictable reason: moisture. Particleboard and low-grade MDF boxes drink water at a cut edge or a dishwasher leak, swell, and never return to shape. That is why our custom cabinetry is built from domestic and exotic hardwoods and never from mass-produced MDF or particleboard boxes.

Solid wood still moves with the seasons, so joinery carries the load. Our drawers are dovetailed and our face frames are mortise-and-tenon, joints that stay tight as air-conditioned winters give way to sticky August afternoons. We never use endangered species, and we help you match wood and finish to where each cabinet sits, whether that is the sink base, the range wall or a bar beside the lanai door.

Appliance integration is settled in the same drawings: panel-ready refrigerators and dishwashers get matching doors.

Not every kitchen needs new boxes. If your layout works and the cabinets are structurally sound, cabinet refacing with new doors, drawer fronts and finished faces changes the look with far less disruption.

Open Concept Kitchen Remodel, Islands and Storage: What Can Change?

Most layout changes come down to three moves: opening a wall, adding an island and rethinking storage. Each is worked out in the 3D model first.

Kitchen layout redesign in a Sarasota home starts with the sink, range and refrigerator triangle. Moving any of them is permit work.

Opening the kitchen to the living area

An open concept kitchen remodel usually means removing or cutting into a wall. In a Sarasota kitchen, load-bearing wall removal needs an engineered beam, a licensed general contractor and a building permit. Once that is settled, we design cabinetry that reads like furniture from the living-room side.

Islands

A custom kitchen island needs clearance on every working side, a decision about seating overhang and a plan for any sink, cooktop or outlet it carries. We build islands as one piece of cabinetry with finished ends and panels, not a row of stock boxes wrapped in trim.

Pantries and storage

Storage is where custom work earns its keep. Pantry and kitchen storage can mean a floor-to-ceiling pantry wall, roll-out shelves behind doors or deep drawers sized for your stockpots.

Kitchen cabinets and countertops, inside and out

Cabinets and tops are planned together. For quartz, granite and other stone in Sarasota kitchens, we coordinate countertop installation with a fabricator who templates after our cabinets are set and level; butcher block and walnut tops we build in the shop. The same planning extends to outdoor kitchens on lanais and patios, where salt air and sun decide the materials.

Remodeling Condo Kitchens and Older Sarasota Homes

Condos and older houses bring constraints a new subdivision kitchen never has.

Condo buildings

A condo kitchen remodel in a Downtown Sarasota, Longboat Key or Siesta Key building starts with the association: plan approval, allowed work hours, elevator reservations and paperwork from every trade that enters the unit. Shop-built cabinets arrive ready to install, which keeps noisy days in the building to a minimum.

Mid-century and block homes

Sarasota School modern houses, 1950s and 1960s block homes and 1970s ranches rarely have square walls or level floors. We scribe cabinets and filler strips to the walls as they are, and design around soffits, low windows and original details you want to keep. Opening walls in these houses can turn up outdated wiring or plumbing, which your licensed trades will need to correct before cabinets go in.

When every detail is custom

For inset doors, exotic hardwood, paneled appliances and furniture-style islands, our luxury kitchen remodeling takes the same shop process further, with more time spent on finishes and fine detail.

Who Handles Permits When You Hire a Kitchen Remodeler in Sarasota, FL?

Licensed trades and their contractors handle permits; we handle design, cabinetry and installation. SRQ Woodworks Co. is a custom cabinetry and woodworking shop, not a general contractor.

In practice, work that moves plumbing, wiring, gas lines or walls needs a Florida-licensed contractor and a permit. A licensed plumber relocates the sink, a licensed electrician adds circuits for new appliances and lighting, and a licensed general contractor manages structural changes. Our drawings give them exact locations for supply lines, drains and outlets, and cabinet installation follows once their rough-in inspections pass.

Homes in a flood zone face one more rule. Under the FEMA/NFIP substantial-improvement rule, enforced by local building departments, a project whose cost reaches half of the building's market value can trigger full flood-code compliance. Read more on kitchen remodel permits in Sarasota County and the FEMA 50% rule.

Does your kitchen remodel need a building permit?

Expect one if your plans include any of these:

• Moving or removing a wall
• Moving the sink, dishwasher or a gas line
• Adding circuits or changing the lighting layout
• A new window or exterior door

Same-footprint cabinet and top swaps often need none; confirm locally.

Kitchen remodel plan review and inspections before drywall

1. 1

   Application

   In unincorporated areas, the licensed contractor files the kitchen remodel permit on Sarasota County's Accela Citizen Access portal, with plans and a project valuation that sets the fee.

2. 2

   Plan review

   Reviewers check drawings against the 2023 Florida Building Code, 8th Edition; check the portal for timing.

3. 3

   Inspections

   Framing, plumbing and electrical rough-in pass before drywall; a final inspection closes the permit.

How Do You Check a Kitchen Contractor's License in Florida?

Before hiring any kitchen remodeling contractor in Sarasota, check the license of whoever pulls your permit. Florida licenses contractors under Chapter 489; only small jobs under $2,500 that need no permit and touch no structure, plumbing or wiring are exempt.

1. 1

   Get the numbers

   Ask for the general contractor's and each trade's license number in writing.

2. 2

   Look them up

   Search each on myfloridalicense.com, the Florida DBPR/CILB license search.

3. 3

   Match the work

   General or building contractor for walls; plumbing contractor for drains; electrical contractor for circuits.

4. 4

   Check status and insurance

   Confirm each license is active and ask for a current certificate of insurance.

Owner-builder permits make you responsible for code compliance, so use them cautiously for structural, plumbing or electrical work. Ask who does what: with us, our in-house crew builds and installs the cabinetry and licensed trades handle everything behind the walls.

Compare three written estimates line by line, since scope explains most price gaps, and put later changes in a signed change order.

What Sets Kitchen Remodel Cost in Sarasota, and How Long Does It Take?

We price every full kitchen remodel in Sarasota from its drawings, so the honest answer is a set of factors rather than a number. These are the ones that move a budget most:

• Size and cabinet count: cabinetry is usually the biggest line in a kitchen budget, and tall pantry and oven cabinets add up.
• Wood species and finish: domestic or exotic hardwood, stained or painted, inset or overlay doors.
• Layout changes: moving a sink, range or wall brings in licensed trades and permits.
• Countertops: stone material and edge details from the fabricator, or wood tops from our shop.
• Interior fittings: roll-outs, drawer organizers, pantry systems and appliance panels.
• House condition: out-of-square walls, uneven floors or outdated wiring found when walls open.
• Access: condo elevators, work-hour limits and parking on the barrier islands.

Our guide to kitchen remodel cost in Sarasota walks through each factor in more depth.

Which scope tier is your kitchen?

Kitchen renovation cost in Sarasota starts with scope tier.

Kitchen remodel timeline factors in Sarasota

Cabinets are built while your old kitchen still works, so the stretch without one starts at demolition; most owners stay home with a temporary kitchen elsewhere.

Which Kitchen Materials Hold Up to Sarasota Humidity and Salt Air?

Pick surfaces that shrug off water: Sarasota County averages about 54.8 inches of rain a year (BestPlaces), and Siesta Key and Longboat Key homes add salt air.

Signs the current kitchen is losing to moisture:

• Swollen cabinet doors next to the dishwasher
• A musty smell under the sink
• A soft floor near the sink

Hurricane impact windows and flood zones in Sarasota kitchens

In coastal Sarasota County, a new kitchen window or slider generally needs impact-rated glazing or approved opening protection, because much of the county sits in the Florida Building Code's wind-borne debris region; a licensed contractor installs it under permit. In a flood zone, also read our storm-damaged kitchen repair page.