Kitchen remodeling in Virginia Beach

27%³ of Virginia Beach city homes date from the 1980s alone, and just 2%³ predate 1950. Those decades overlapped a revival of colonial taste in new houses. Colonial Revival taste climbed again in the 1950s, and during the 1970s colonial styles ruled the furniture and homebuilding industries.¹⁹

Before the old kitchen floor comes up, find out what is under it. The EPA lists vinyl floor tile, vinyl sheet backing and flooring adhesives among products that may contain asbestos, which is released mainly when the material is disturbed.²⁰ The EPA advises having an accredited asbestos professional inspect before a remodel that could disturb suspect materials, and not sanding or power-stripping suspect flooring yourself.²¹ The city's alteration permit carries its own check. For a residential alteration permit, Virginia Beach asks for an asbestos exemption form with the owner's name and address, signed by the contractor's representative or by the owner doing the work.¹³

Solder is the plumbing question for a house finished before the mid-1980s. The EPA notes that lead can collect inside galvanized pipe and later reach drinking water, and that solder made before 1986 contained high levels of lead.²² Ask whether the lines feeding the new sink, dishwasher and refrigerator will be renewed or simply reconnected.

The EPA says a kitchen remodel may be a chance to seal electrical, plumbing and vent openings in walls that are opened, and that replacing cabinets can expose soffits that are otherwise hard to reach.²³ Taking the soffits down also frees room for taller wall cabinets, but some soffits hide a duct or a pipe, so ask what is inside before you count on the space.

Virginia's Board of Housing and Community Development adopts the Uniform Statewide Building Code, basing it on nationally accepted model codes with as few amendments as possible, and each local government's building inspections department enforces it.²⁴ The model rules for range hoods and countertop outlets on our kitchen remodeling page are the base Virginia starts from. The same code requires ground-fault (GFCI) protection on receptacles that serve kitchen countertop surfaces.²⁵

Switching from electric to gas cooking changes the permit list. Virginia Beach requires a gas permit to install or replace any gas line, and new or replacement gas piping gets a pressure test and a final inspection.¹⁵ Once a Virginia Beach inspector approves a gas line, at the pressure test or the final inspection, the city sends a release, and Virginia Natural Gas can then be contacted to schedule connection of gas service.¹⁵ Going the other way, to induction, may call for more capacity at the panel instead. Virginia Beach also requires an electrical permit to change or upgrade electrical service, or to relocate or replace a panel box, including changing from a fuse panel to a breaker panel.²⁶

Plan the new sink around how grease will be handled. Virginia Beach Public Utilities says fats, oils and grease poured down the drain cling to pipe walls and solidify, causing sewer blockages, backups and costly repairs.²⁷ The city's utility calls it a myth that grease is fine down the drain if you use the garbage disposal, and suggests a sink strainer to catch food scraps for the trash instead of running the disposal.²⁷ If you are deciding whether to keep a disposal at all, weigh that advice alongside the layout.

In a two-story house the kitchen sits on the main floor, which makes it one of the first rooms worth adapting for the long run. More than one in four adults 65 and older fall each year.²⁸ The National Institute on Aging suggests keeping frequently used pots, pans and utensils where they are easy to reach, and preparing food while seated to prevent fatigue or loss of balance.²⁹ Pull-out shelves in the base cabinets and a stretch of counter at seated height put that advice into practice.

Ask whether the company has remodeled kitchens for owners planning to stay through retirement, and what it changed for them. NAHB's Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) credential trains remodelers in home modifications for aging in place.³⁰

Dial the number on this page and your recorded call goes to one independent company that handles kitchen remodels in the Virginia Beach area. Describe the kitchen as it is now, including whether you cook on gas or electric and whether the soffits stay, and talk through timing and price with them directly.

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Virginia Beach trade permits list the contractor's state registration number, so you can match it against the state's records. Virginia's Board for Contractors licenses contracting businesses as Class A, B or C; the class sets the dollar value of jobs a firm may take on, and its classification or specialty sets the type of work it may do.³¹ Virginia's Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation advises hiring only licensed contractors, and its License Lookup shows a license's status and any past disciplinary actions.³² Check a Virginia license