Code first
A licensed rental must meet the Building Code, the Fire Code and the Electrical Code. A new kitchen is built to all three.
Oshawa kitchen renovations
Oshawa kitchen renovation
Oshawa grew with the car business, and plenty of its houses are decades old. Some are rented to students. Each of those facts changes how we plan a kitchen here.
How much does a new kitchen cost?
A new kitchen costs the sum of what you choose for cabinets and counters, plus the trades needed to put them in. Keep the old layout and the trade lines stay small. Move a wall or a drain and they grow, with a permit added. We give you each line in writing before you commit.
Motor city roots
Kitchens in a town the car built
The McLaughlin car company became General Motors of Canada in 1918, and Oshawa was its home. The city then grew fast in the 1920s, and again in the decades after the war.
A house from those years often has a small, closed kitchen with one window. The walls are often plaster, and the panel may be too small for modern appliances.
That does not stop a good kitchen. It just means we open things up carefully and test the wiring before we promise a price.
If you rent it out
Kitchens in licensed rental homes
Rental homes in the area around Durham College and Ontario Tech University need a City licence. That licence has rules a kitchen job must respect.
Fresh electrical check
The City asks for an electrical inspection after electrical work or renovations. We keep the ESA paperwork ready for you.
Tough finishes
Tenants are hard on doors and counters. We price sturdy hinges, laminate or quartz, and a sink that stands up to daily use.
Four year forms
The licence also wants a new electrical inspection form every four years. A kitchen renovation calls for one sooner, so plan the dates together.
Behind the cabinets
What we test in an older Oshawa house
Old kitchens hide their problems behind the boxes. Once the cabinets are off, we can see the pipes, the wires and the state of the subfloor.
Plaster walls crack if wall cabinets are driven on hard. We find the studs first, or add solid backing wherever a wall is opened up.
We price the likely fixes on the first quote as separate lines. That way a soft floor or a tired drain is never a shock halfway through.
Our licensed plumbers and electricians are on our own crew. A single crew lead stays in charge of your kitchen every day.
Permit or no permit
Where Oshawa draws the permit line on a kitchen
Oshawa lets you replace a sink without a permit, as long as the plumbing behind it stays put. Laying a new floor finish needs no permit either.
New cabinets with no plumbing change sit on the City's no permit list as well. That covers many refresh and update jobs in older Oshawa houses.
A new ceiling with no fire rating is exempt too, so a fresh pot light layout can often skip the building permit. The pot light wiring still goes to the ESA.
Moving pipes, taking out a wall or gutting the room is different. Interior gutting is its own application type on the City's Application Portal.
Oshawa raised building permit fees by 3% on January 1, 2026. The fee is worked out from the kind and size of job, so we show it as a separate line.
Ready for a visit
Bring these answers to your free Oshawa site visit
Short answers are fine. They help us price your new kitchen on the same day we measure.
- Roughly when the house was built
- Whether the house is, or will be, rented out
- Which appliances you plan to buy new
- Whether a second kitchen for a basement unit is part of the plan
- If you want the kitchen opened to another room
- The finishes you love, and the ones you would skip to save
Oshawa facts
Permits and travel for an Oshawa kitchen
| Building permits | City of Oshawa Building Permit and Inspection Services. The region is not involved. |
|---|---|
| Second kitchen downstairs | A kitchen built for a basement unit makes it an accessory apartment, which is registered through the building permit itself. |
| Rental licence area | Homes around Durham College and Ontario Tech University, including the Simcoe Street corridor. |
| How far we come | Close to 82 km from our office in Oakville, measured straight, via the 407 or the 401. |
Close by
Kitchen pages east and west of Oshawa
Pictures here are model kitchens meant to give you ideas. They are not rooms we finished in Oshawa.
Sources we checked for this page