Portland Kitchen Remodel Checklist

Not what you want it to look like — what specifically doesn’t work. Traffic flow. Not enough counter. Cabinets you can’t reach the back of. This list becomes the brief that every contractor quotes from. Without it, you’ll get wildly different scopes and no way to compare them.

A Portland kitchen remodel that touches layout, plumbing, and electrical typically starts around $45,000–$55,000. Add 10–20% contingency for a home built before 1960. If your budget is $18,000, a contractor should tell you that upfront rather than quote a scope that doesn’t match reality. See our cost guide for what drives pricing.

Removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room changes the project scope, permit requirements, and budget significantly. Knowing your position on this before contractor conversations saves everyone time. If you’re unsure, ask each contractor to show you both options.

Homes in designated historic overlay zones have additional design review requirements through the Bureau of Development Services. This affects exterior changes and sometimes interior structural work. Look up your address at portland.gov before getting any quotes.

Check license status, expiry date, and complaint history. Takes two minutes and tells you more than any review platform. A contractor without an active CCB license cannot legally pull permits for your job.

Ask each contractor to break their quote down line by line. A quote that says “kitchen remodel — labor and materials” and one number is not a quote you can hold anyone to. If one quote is 40% lower than the others, ask specifically what they’ve left out.

No additional work should proceed without your written approval and a signed change order with a stated cost. This is the clause that prevents the “we opened the wall, it’ll be $6,000 more, and we already did it” situation.

Portland’s Bureau of Development Services issues the permits and schedules inspections. Your contractor should handle this process entirely — if they suggest you pull your own permits as a homeowner to save money, that transfers liability to you. See our permits guide.

Ask each reference: did the project come in near the quoted price, were there surprises, was communication reliable, and would they hire this contractor again. Reviews tell you what people were willing to say publicly. A phone call tells you what actually happened.

Microwave, electric kettle, coffee maker, and a hot plate in a spare room or basement. A mini-fridge if you don’t have room for the main refrigerator in a usable location. You’ll use this for 6–12 weeks minimum — it’s worth setting it up properly.

Dishes, food, small appliances, cleaning products, everything. Label boxes by category so you can find things during the project. Items left in the kitchen during demo are at risk and create scheduling conflicts.

Every cabinet, every wall, every corner. Your phone photos are time-stamped evidence of the condition of the space before work started. Useful if any dispute arises about pre-existing conditions vs. project damage.

Portland’s BDS should have issued or at minimum approved the permit application before demo starts on any work requiring permits. Ask for the permit number and confirm it’s been issued, not just applied for. Unpermitted work discovered later is significantly more expensive to fix.

Kitchen demo in an occupied home generates significant dust and debris. Ask your contractor how they plan to seal off the work area from the rest of the house. In older Portland homes with forced-air HVAC, dust gets everywhere fast. Temporary plastic sheeting across doorways is a minimum expectation.

Rough electrical, rough plumbing, and structural work all require BDS inspections before they can be closed in. Ask your contractor for the inspection record as each phase completes. A missed inspection that gets discovered at final is a real problem.

If a wall opens up and reveals a condition that changes the scope, your contractor should stop, document it, and get your written sign-off before proceeding. If they don’t, ask for this in writing immediately — not after the work is done.

When cabinets, countertop slabs, tile, and appliances arrive — verify they match what you ordered. It’s far easier to correct a wrong delivery before installation than after. Check quantities too.

Your contract should have a payment schedule based on what’s been completed: permit issued, rough-in passed inspection, cabinets installed, etc. Never pay ahead of completed work except for the initial deposit.