A full gut in San Marcos with one deliberate exception: the flooring stayed. Everything else came out and the appliance layout was rebuilt from scratch.
Keeping the floor
The existing floor was in good condition and the owners liked it, so we worked around it rather than replacing it for the sake of a clean sweep.
That is a harder way to build, not an easier one. Protecting a finished floor through demolition and a full cabinetry installation takes real care, and the new cabinetry has to meet what is already there rather than the other way round. But replacing a floor that has years left in it is spending on something nobody asked to change, and it adds days to a schedule for no gain.
Relocating the appliances
Every appliance moved. That means gas, water, waste and power all rerouted to suit a plan built around how the room is actually used, rather than inheriting whatever the original builder found convenient.
It is the least photogenic part of any kitchen project and usually the one that decides whether the finished room works. Landing space beside the oven, a refrigerator door that does not block the walkway, a sink positioned so two people are not reaching across each other — all of it comes from where the services end up.
Semi-custom cabinetry
Semi-custom rather than full custom, and that was the right call for this room. Semi-custom is built to order from a defined range, with modifications available where they are needed — a depth adjusted here, a height changed there.
Where a room divides reasonably well into standard widths and has no unusual structure to work around, full custom buys flexibility you will not use. The tier should follow what the room demands. This one did not demand it, so the budget went into the counters and the layout instead.
Finished in white, which keeps a room bright and lets the counters carry the character.
Quartzite counters
New quartzite throughout. Quarried stone, so the slab is unique, and it takes heat in a way engineered surfaces do not — a pan straight off the burner will mark quartz but not this.
The result
A completely rebuilt kitchen that kept what was worth keeping. New layout, new cabinetry, new stone, on a floor that had plenty of life left in it. Seven weeks from demolition to final walkthrough.
