From a cosmetic refresh to a fully reimagined floor plan, every Neil Kelly project comes with a fixed-price contract, a 5-year warranty, and in-house craftspeople who know Seattle homes inside and out.
Seattle kitchens vary as much as Seattle neighborhoods. These three tiers help you find your starting point and understand what's actually possible at your budget.
New Finishes, Same Bones.
The layout stays. The cabinets stay. What changes is everything you see and touch: countertops, hardware, fixtures, backsplash, paint. A Refresh is the right call when your kitchen's bones are solid but the finishes have run their course.
Same Footprint, Brand-New Kitchen.
New cabinets, new countertops, new appliances, fully rebuilt within the existing layout. No walls move, but nothing from the old kitchen carries over. A Replace makes sense when the layout works but the kitchen itself is totally worn out or no longer reflects how you live.
Walls Move. Layouts Change.
A Reimagine starts with a question: what would this kitchen be if we didn't have to work around what's already here? Walls come down, plumbing relocates, the floor plan opens up. This is a ground-up redesign built around how your household actually cooks, gathers, and moves through the space.
Neil Kelly's Seattle designers bring profound experience across Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, and beyond. They know the housing stock—the Craftsman bungalows of Capitol Hill, the Northwest Contemporary homes overlooking the sound, the mid-century ranches of the Eastside. They know the permit process. And they know what works in Seattle kitchens because they've built hundreds of them.
Every designer on our Seattle team has a distinct perspective—on materials, on how light moves through a Pacific Northwest kitchen, on what a space needs to function through a long, wet winter and open up beautifully in summer. That range of perspectives is what makes the team stronger than any single designer working alone.
Here's what Seattle-area homeowners say about working with Neil Kelly.
4.6 out of 5 · 2,200+ verified reviews on GuildQuality
Neil Kelly is great with old homes! Just finished my 2nd project with them in my 1901 house. Their Design Team (Anne Bauer in particular) is creative, knowledgeable and fun, and their carpenters took great care with the details. Only regret is that I have run out of projects.
They are very skillful, trustworthy and reliable. They guided us through the process without overwhelming us with decisions. We could leave all the management of the project parts to them and still make decisions that were important to us. They handled all the subcontracting. They all came up with solutions to just about everything. The carpenter(s) knew how to do and fix everything!
We are currently halfway through a kitchen remodel and house upgrade with Neil Kelly, and it has been an excellent experience. I’m glad we decided to go with a full-service contractor. Our designer listened carefully to our goals, preferences, and budget. Our Project Manager contacts us promptly for any issues that arise, sends out weekly updates, and has been extremely responsive if we raise any concerns. The day-to-day Neil Kelly carpenters are polite, respectful of our property, and do a thorough clean up at the end of each day. And best of all, despite our adding several extra work orders, they are ON-TIME with the construction schedule! Fabulous.
A Seattle kitchen remodel is a significant investment. Neil Kelly manages every phase in-house—design, permitting, and construction—so nothing falls through the cracks.
A Neil Kelly designer comes to your home for a free 60-to-90-minute conversation. We'll look at your kitchen, talk through what's working and what isn't, and give you an honest picture of what's possible at your budget. No commitment required.
Layout options, material direction, and scope confirmation. You’ll see alternatives, ask questions, and shape the direction before we make any detailed drawings.
Full plans, full specifications, every material selected and priced. This is where your kitchen concept becomes a buildable project and your contract number gets finalized.
The number you see is the number you pay. Permits filed, materials ordered, schedule set. No surprises when construction starts.
Built by Neil Kelly's in-house craftspeople, coordinated by a dedicated project manager who handles the schedule, the trades, and the daily details. You'll get a detailed update from us every week.
Final walkthrough with your project manager. Anything that isn't right gets resolved before you sign off. Your five-year warranty starts on completion.
Seattle's housing stock presents specific challenges that affect every kitchen remodel. Knowing them up front saves time, money, and frustration.
Seattle's permitting process is among the most complex in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections is known for rigorous review cycles and timelines that can catch unprepared contractors off guard. Eastside jurisdictions like Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland have their own codes and requirements—more navigable, but still specific to each city. We work across all of them regularly. We know what triggers delays, we file early, and we build accurate timelines into every contract from the start.
A significant portion of Seattle homes were built before 1950, particularly in neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, Fremont, and Ballard. Balloon framing, lath-and-plaster walls, and non-standard stud spacing are common. We assess these conditions during the home visit and build them into the scope, not as change orders after demo.
Seattle has eight designated landmark districts, including Pioneer Square, Harvard-Belmont, and Ballard Avenue. Interior kitchen remodels are generally unaffected by landmark restrictions, but exterior changes visible from the street may require a Certificate of Approval from the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board. We flag any potential issues during the consultation.
Still present in many older Seattle homes. Kitchen remodels that involve new circuits, dedicated appliance lines, or panel upgrades require addressing legacy wiring. We coordinate this work through trusted electricians who know what to expect in older Seattle homes.
Seattle sits in an active seismic zone, and many older homes in this area were built over soft or sloping ground on foundations that have shifted over time. Structural changes like removing walls, adding headers, or opening floor plans require engineering that accounts for both lateral loads and foundation conditions. Our designers and structural engineers work together early in the design process so seismic requirements are built into the project from the start No CTAs in this section — informational content per brief.
The cost of a kitchen remodel with Neil Kelly depends on the scope of the project, materials chosen, your home type and condition, and the city. Given those variables, kitchen remodels with Neil Kelly cost anywhere from $55,000 up to and beyond $290,000. The best way to learn specifics is to meet with one of our designers.
The Seattle office serves the greater Seattle metro area including Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mercer Island, Shoreline, Edmonds, and surrounding Puget Sound communities.
Neil Kelly serves clients across the Seattle metro. Common areas include Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Bellevue, Kirkland, Madison Park, Mercer Island, and the Eastside.
A remodel isn’t just construction. The process moves through three phases: design (typically 12-16 weeks), permitting (6-8 weeks), and construction (12-20 weeks). From first meeting to finished project, most kitchen remodels take somewhere in the range of 7-11 months, though every project is different. The scope of your project, the complexity of your home’s existing conditions, the jurisdiction you’re in, and how quickly decisions get made along the way all factor into the final timeline. If you have a target completion date in mind, that’s a great place to start the conversation with your designer.
Generally yes — labor costs and permit fees tend to run higher in the Seattle market than in Oregon markets. Material costs are comparable. Your designer will provide a market-specific estimate.
Yes. When preparing for a kitchen remodel, Neil Kelly recommends clearing out cabinets and countertops, setting up a temporary kitchen, and ensuring children and pets cannot access construction zones. Neil Kelly crews will protect adjacent parts of the home not being remodeled from tools, materials, or debris.
The best kitchen layout depends on your space, how you cook, and how your household moves through the room. Common starting points include L-shaped layouts for open, flexible spaces; U-shaped designs that maximize storage and counter space; galley kitchens that work efficiently in narrower footprints; and island configurations that add prep space and a natural gathering spot. That said, the right layout for your home isn’t always obvious from a floor plan alone. A designer can spot opportunities and constraints that are easy to miss, and the conversation is often where the best ideas start. We offer free initial consultations if you’d like to talk it through.
Visit us at our Georgetown design center or start online. Free consultation, fixed-price contract, five-year warranty. No pressure—just a straight conversation about what's possible in your home.
