Permits and code
Permits and code triggers, without a fee schedule we cannot back
There is no single national permit system for a kitchen remodel. Cities and counties each set their own requirements, so this page does not print a fee schedule that would be wrong for most readers by the time they read it. It covers what reliably triggers a permit review almost everywhere, and the two federal requirements that apply regardless of your local office.
What almost always triggers a permit, and what usually does not
| Work | Usually triggers a permit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Swapping cabinet boxes and doors in place | No, in most jurisdictions | Cosmetic work touching no systems |
| New flooring or countertops, nothing else moving | No, in most jurisdictions | Finish work, not a system change |
| Relocating a sink, dishwasher or gas line | Yes | A plumbing or gas permit reviews the new routing |
| A new dedicated circuit, or an island receptacle | Yes | An electrical permit reviews load and protection |
| Removing or altering a wall | Yes, plus a structural review if it may be load-bearing | Life-safety review of the load path |
| A new or relocated range hood termination | Often, alongside the electrical or mechanical permit | Makeup air and exterior termination review |
The sink-move tool, the electrical load tool and the layout-change tool each ask directly about the work in the table above, because those are the decisions your local office will actually review — not the cabinet brand.
Confirm the actual requirement with your own building department before you rely on the table above. Two ZIP codes on opposite sides of a city line can genuinely disagree about whether the same scope needs a walk-in permit or a full plan review, especially in a historic district, a floodplain or a jurisdiction with its own amendments to the model codes.
Who actually reviews the permit, and what they are checking for
A plan reviewer is not grading your design taste. They are checking a narrow, specific set of things: that the load path for a removed wall is accounted for, that a new circuit is sized and protected correctly, that a drain has the fall and venting the plumbing code requires, and that a range hood terminates where it is supposed to rather than into an attic or a soffit. Framing your submission around those specific questions, rather than a general description of "updating the kitchen," is usually what separates a walk-in approval from a request for more information.
The inspector who visits the job later is checking a different thing: that what got built matches what got approved, not what got approved matches what you eventually decided to build. A field change made without telling the office — moving an outlet, swapping a vent route because the framing did not cooperate — is the single most common reason a scheduled inspection turns into a failed one.
Homes built before 1978: a federal requirement, not a local one
EPA's Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule: firms that disturb lead-based paint while renovating a home built before 1978 must be EPA- or state-certified and must use a certified renovator following the rule's lead-safe work practices.
U.S. EPA — Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program Rules — epa.gov, Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program Rules
What it means for your kitchen If your house was built before 1978, this is not something a local permit office layers on — it is a federal work-practice requirement, and it applies to a FIRM you hire to do the work, cabinet demolition and wall-opening included. It does not apply the same way to a homeowner doing their own labour on their own home — the rule targets paid renovation firms. If you are hiring the work out, ask the bidding contractor directly whether they hold this certification, and treat "we’ll be careful" as a different answer than "yes, and here is the certificate."
The unknowns tool asks your home’s year built for exactly this reason — a pre-1978 house being opened to the studs carries this requirement on top of whatever your local permit office separately reviews.
Accessible design triggers, and where they legally apply
U.S. Access Board ADA Standards guidance: a kitchen work surface needs a 30-inch by 48-inch clear floor space, centered on the surface and sized for a forward approach.
U.S. Access Board — ADA Standards Guide, Clear Floor or Ground Space and Turning Space — access-board.gov, clear floor or ground space and turning space
What it means for your kitchen The ADA Standards govern public accommodations and commercial facilities, not an ordinary private single-family kitchen — so the 30-by-48 clearance above is not, by itself, a legal requirement for most readers of this page. Separate rules can require accessible design in specific situations — publicly funded construction, certain multifamily housing under the Fair Housing Act, or the terms of a disability-access grant — and each of those uses its own standard, which may or may not match this ADA dimension exactly. It is, at minimum, a genuinely useful design reference for anyone planning to age in place, whether or not any rule requires it.
If your project falls under any program that requires accessible design — a publicly funded build, a multifamily project, a modification tied to a disability-access grant — confirm the exact applicable standard with that program directly before you design around the 30-by-48 clearance above; do not assume the ADA Standards are the rule that applies without checking, because several overlapping accessibility rules exist depending on who is funding or licensing the work.
Where permits sit on your schedule, not just on your checklist
A permit is not a single event. It is an application, a review period that your office controls and you do not, and then one or more inspections that sit on the critical path between rough-in and finish work — the walls stay open until the inspector signs off, whatever your crew’s schedule would otherwise allow.
The schedule tool treats inspection waits as a named input rather than folding them into a vague contingency, because an inspection wait is not a risk you are pricing — it is a delay your own office’s calendar sets, and it is knowable in advance if you ask.
Sources for this page
- U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyLead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program Rules — the pre-1978 certified-renovator requirement paraphrased above (see the live page for the EPA’s own wording).
- U.S. Access BoardADA Standards Guide, Clear Floor or Ground Space and Turning Space — the kitchen work-surface clearance figure and its actual legal scope.