Kitchen & bath remodel
in San Diego.

Kitchen & bathroom remodeling across San Diego

Not every kitchen or bath needs to be gutted to the studs. Easy Break does the full range — from a refresh (new countertops, backsplash, fixtures, paint and hardware) to a full remodel (new cabinets, tile, vanity, flooring and layout updates). You get a clear written scope and price before we start, and a single local crew that actually shows up — no disappearing for three weeks.

San Diego homes run the gamut: dated 80s/90s kitchens in established neighborhoods, builder‑grade baths in newer Chula Vista and Carlsbad tracts, and condos in La Jolla and PB with HOA rules we know how to work within. We'll tell you honestly where to spend and where to save.

What we remodel

• Cabinets — new, reface, or repaint & re‑hardware
• Countertops — quartz, granite & solid surface
• Tile — backsplashes, shower & tub surrounds, floors
• Vanities, sinks, faucets & fixtures
• Flooring — LVP, tile & more
• Lighting, paint & finishing touches

Remodel cost ranges in San Diego

Remodels vary a lot with scope and finishes, so every job gets a free on‑site estimate and a written quote. Rough San Diego starting points:

Ranges are typical for San Diego and depend on size, finishes and layout changes — your free estimate gives the real number.

How our remodels actually go

We keep it refreshingly normal: a free on‑site estimate, a clear written scope and fixed price, a realistic timeline, and updates as we go. We protect the rest of your home, keep the site tidy, and don't spring surprise change orders. For specialty trades we coordinate the right licensed pros so it's one point of contact for you.

Why San Diego chooses Easy Break

• Refresh or full remodel — we scope to your budget
• Clear written pricing — no surprise change orders
• Licensed, insured & workmanship‑guaranteed
• Honest advice on where to spend vs. save
• One local crew & point of contact — start to finish

Areas we serve

Kitchen & bath remodeling throughout San Diego County, including:

Remodeling FAQ

Refresh vs full remodel — the honest decision

This is the single most useful conversation we have during an estimate. Two different projects with very different budgets and timelines:

• Refresh ($5–15k) — keep the existing footprint and layout. Paint cabinets (or reface fronts), swap hardware (Top Knobs, Schaub & Co), new countertops with new sink and faucet, fresh backsplash, light‑fixture swap, maybe new flooring. No moved walls, no moved plumbing, no permit needed. 1–3 weeks.
• Full remodel ($30k–80k+ kitchen, $20–45k bath) — layout changes, new cabinets, plumbing relocation, electrical re‑routing, possible structural work (load‑bearing walls). City of San Diego or county DSD permit required when you move plumbing, gas, electrical or structure. 4–12 weeks.

We do all the refresh scope ourselves, and we partner with a licensed GC plus licensed plumber and electrician for the full‑remodel scope that requires permits and trade licenses. Either way you get one point of contact.

Cabinet quality tiers & box construction

Cabinets are the single biggest line item in a kitchen and the easiest place to overspend or undercut. Three real tiers:

• Stock — IKEA SEKTION (24"–36" cabinets in fixed sizes, 2–3 week lead, very good box at low price), KraftMaid stock door styles from Lowe's. Locks you into manufacturer sizes; if your wall is 38" wide you'll have filler strips.
• Semi‑custom — KraftMaid made‑to‑order, Wellborn, Wolf, Diamond (Home Depot), Schuler, Kemper, Yorktowne, Aristokraft. 6–10 week lead, most door styles, most sizes in 3" increments. Our most‑common spec for full‑remodel kitchens.
• Custom — KitchenCraft, Plain & Fancy, or a local SD mill shop. 12–16 weeks, exact‑inch sizing, any finish, any insert. Premium price.
• Refacing — new doors and drawer fronts plus veneer over the existing boxes. Sears Home and Granite Transformations do this; sometimes worth it on a strong box layout you don't want to change.
• RTA (ready‑to‑assemble) — CabinetsToGo, Cabinet Joint, plus IKEA SEKTION with Semihandmade fronts for the design‑forward IKEA look

Box construction matters more than door style. We recommend 5/8" plywood boxes even on the lower tier — they hold screws, won't sag under stone counters, survive a roof leak. Avoid MDF or particleboard boxes for anything you plan to keep more than 10 years; once they get wet from a sink leak they swell and never recover.

Countertop pick guide — what to spec where

• Quartz (engineered stone) — Cambria (US‑made), Caesarstone, Silestone (Cosentino), MSI Q Premium, Vicostone, Hanstone. Low maintenance, heat‑OK to about 150°F, scratch‑resistant, color is consistent slab to slab. SD favorites: Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo and Cambria Brittanicca. Our default recommendation for most kitchens.
• Sintered porcelain — Cosentino Dekton, Neolith, Stratus by MSI. UV‑stable so it doesn't fade (only stone you can use on an outdoor kitchen), no resin so heat‑proof to over 1000°F. Harder to fabricate, so labor is higher; premium price.
• Granite (natural stone) — heat‑proof, needs sealing once a year, color varies slab to slab so a yard visit is required. Local SD slab yards: California Stone Source, MSI Surfaces. Great if you want a one‑of‑a‑kind look.
• Solid surface (Corian, Wilsonart) — seamless, scratches repair with sanding, lower price. Stains under colored liquids; less heat tolerant. We still spec it in laundry rooms and budget baths.

Backsplash & tile depth

Tile choices that show up in our SD jobs constantly:

• Subway tile — 3×6 traditional, or 4×16 elongated modern. Cheapest, timeless, lots of grout work.
• Large‑format (24×48 porcelain panels) — Iris US, Crossville. Fewer grout lines, very modern look. We need two installers to set these because the panels are heavy and brittle.
• Zellige (handmade Moroccan) — irregular faces and tone variation; very on‑trend in San Diego right now. Slower to set because every tile is slightly different.
• Penny rounds, hex, fish‑scale — feature walls and shower floors

Tile brands we install regularly: Daltile, Florida Tile, MSI, Marazzi, Anatolia, EmilGroup, and the SD designer‑favorite Lunada Bay. Setting bed matters: we install Schluter DITRA uncoupling membrane over plywood subfloors before tile (San Diego homes settle, and DITRA absorbs the movement instead of cracking the grout). For shower walls we use Schluter KERDI waterproofing membrane or Wedi foam panels — never trust greenboard alone in a wet area, and never tile straight to drywall in a shower.

Plumbing & fixture choice

• Kitchen faucets — Moen 1‑handle Adler for budget, Delta Trinsic with Touch2O for premium hands‑free, Kohler Artifacts for traditional looks, Grohe LadyLux for high‑end European pull‑down, Hansgrohe for clean modern, Brizo and Newport Brass for designer specifications
• Bath shower valves — pressure‑balanced (single temp control; cheaper, code‑compliant) vs thermostatic (separate temp and volume; premium; required for body spray systems). We spec pressure‑balanced for most baths.
• Mount type — deck‑mount sits on the counter or vanity; wall‑mount projects from the wall and requires solid blocking inside the framing (must be planned at the framing stage, not after drywall)

Vanities, tubs & showers

Vanities we fit regularly: Restoration Hardware and RH Modern, Pottery Barn, James Martin, Wyndham Collection, ARIEL, Strasser. Tubs and showers: Kohler (including Sterling), Maax, American Standard, DreamLine framed and frameless enclosures, and Aquatica for premium freestanding tubs. Heated floors when the budget allows: Schluter DITRA‑HEAT (combines uncoupling and heating in one membrane — our favorite), WarmlyYours TempZone, and NUHEAT mats.

Permits & inspections — the reality

If your project moves plumbing, electrical, gas, or any load‑bearing wall, you need a City of San Diego (or county DSD) building permit. Plan check and permit together usually run $600–1500 for a kitchen, less for a small bath. Plumbing permits are separate for plumbing relocation work. Electrical work that goes beyond fixture‑swap‑in‑place needs an electrical permit and a licensed electrician on the paperwork. We handle the handyman scope (paint, hardware, cabinets installed in existing locations, countertop swap‑in, fixture swap, backsplash, light‑fixture swap‑in‑place); for permitted scope we bring in our partner GC, plumber and electrician and coordinate the inspections so you don't have to.

Edge cases & older SD homes

• Popcorn ceilings in 1970s/80s kitchens (Clairemont, Allied Gardens, parts of La Mesa) — we test for asbestos first on anything pre‑1979, then scrape and skim before any cabinet paint goes on so falling popcorn dust doesn't end up in fresh enamel
• 1950s tile bathrooms with original mud‑set tile floors (lots of these in Kensington, Talmadge, Mission Hills) — we don't pry out mud‑set on a handyman scope; that's a demo crew plus new plywood subfloor and a structural look. We'll quote with a GC partner.
• Condo renovations (PB, La Jolla, Hillcrest high‑rises) — HOAs have strict sound transmission rules: cork underlayment under any new hard flooring on upper units, and many HOAs require no hardwood at all above the ground floor. We read the HOA letter before we quote materials.
• 1970s avocado tile in baths — sometimes salvageable as a retro feature; usually demoed

What we do, what we don't

We do: stock and semi‑custom cabinet install, countertop selection plus install via partner fabricator, faucet and fixture swap, backsplash tile install, full vanity install, mirror and medicine cabinet install, light‑fixture swap‑in‑place, hardware swap, paint, and minor non‑structural drywall.

We don't: full demo plus structural changes (load‑bearing wall removal needs a GC and an engineer — we partner), gas line moves (licensed plumber), electrical panel upgrades or new circuits (licensed electrician), sewer line work, asbestos abatement (pre‑1985 popcorn ceilings need a lab test first; positive results go to a licensed abatement company, not us). We'll tell you which bucket your job falls into during the free estimate, and bring in the right partner where needed.

Other handyman services