Kitchen remodeling in Orlando, without the horror stories.

You know the stories. The crew that vanished for three weeks. The number that started at one thing and ended at another. That's why people put a kitchen off for years — not the money, the dread.

I'm Johnny Kaplan. Kaplan Remodeling & Construction is a family business out of Lake Mary, and we build kitchens across Seminole County and Central Florida. When you call, you get me. I walk the house, I write the number, and the guys who show up Monday are my guys.

We come to you — no showroom, no pressure

I'd rather sit at your table and look at the actual kitchen, because the room tells me things a floor plan never will. Where the soffit runs. Which wall has plumbing in it. Whether the panel outside has room left. It's a conversation, not a pitch — what's easy, what's expensive, and what I'd skip if it were my house. If a wall can't come out, you'll hear it before you fall in love with a layout that isn't happening.

One clear number

You get one written proposal with one price. Labor and construction are fixed. Finishes sit in a written allowance, itemized line by line. Choose above or below it and the difference is handled by a simple written change order before we order anything. The labor stays the same.

What's actually included

• Layout planning at your table, including appliance sizing and clearances
• Permit drawings, the application, and every inspection through close-out
• Demolition, floor protection, dust control, daily clean-up
• Structural work — wall or soffit removal, headers and framing where the attic allows
• Plumbing: supply and drain relocation, slab work when a sink or island moves, dishwasher and disposal lines
• Electrical: dedicated small-appliance circuits, GFCI at countertops, appliance circuits, recessed and under-cabinet lighting, panel work when it's needed
• Range hood or microwave vented to the outside
• Drywall, matched texture, trim and paint
• Cabinet installation — stock, semi-custom, or custom cabinetry built for your room
• Countertop templating and install, backsplash, flooring, appliance hook-up
• A walk-through with me, a 1-year workmanship warranty, plus all manufacturer warranties

What we actually find in a Central Florida kitchen

Kitchens here aren't kitchens in Ohio. Block walls, truss roofs, slab foundations and Florida humidity change what's possible.

That wall — and that soffit

Most block homes here were framed with roof trusses spanning exterior wall to exterior wall, so a lot of interior partitions carry nothing but drywall. Usually. Not always. Girder trusses exist, and when a roof changes direction that load lands somewhere — sometimes on the wall you want gone.

So I go up in the attic before I promise anything: which way the trusses run, whether a girder sits over that wall, what's inside the soffit. Soffits above kitchen cabinets are rarely decoration here — they hide A/C ducts, plumbing vents and wiring. Taking one down is easy. Rerouting a 14-inch duct out of it costs money. If the wall is structural, we engineer a beam and permit it. Real cost, not a deal-breaker.

Moving a sink or adding an island means cutting slab

There's no crawl space here. If the sink moves more than a couple of feet, or you want a prep sink in an island, the drain gets re-routed through concrete: saw-cut, trench, new line at the right fall, proper venting, patch, re-level. It's the single biggest reason two kitchens the same size price very differently. Move plumbing because the layout needs it, not because it looks good on a drawing.

Electrical in an 80s or 90s house

Modern kitchens need more circuits than these houses were built with: dedicated small-appliance circuits and GFCI protection at the countertops, plus separate circuits for dishwasher, disposal, microwave and range. In a lot of Seminole County homes from the 80s and 90s the panel is already full, so we add a sub-panel or upgrade the service. In older houses we check for aluminum branch wiring — common from the mid-1960s into the mid-1970s — which has to be terminated properly, not buried behind a new backsplash.

Venting has to go outside

A recirculating hood is a filter, not ventilation. Cooking moisture that doesn't leave the house ends up in your cabinets and on your ceiling, so we duct hoods outside wherever framing allows.

Cabinets that survive Florida

Humidity is why I steer people toward plywood boxes instead of particleboard, especially under the sink and along exterior walls. Doors and face frames move seasonally here, and painted finishes telegraph that movement at the joints more than stained wood does. Cabinets acclimate inside a conditioned house, not in a garage in August.

What's behind the walls

• Polybutylene supply lines — gray plastic pipe in homes built roughly 1978 to 1995. It gets brittle and fails. If it's in your kitchen wall, I'll price replacing what's exposed and what a whole-house repipe would run.
• Cast iron drains — common in 60s and 70s homes. They rust from the inside out, so we inspect before tying new fixtures into old pipe.
• Aluminum branch wiring — handled correctly it's fine. Ignored, it's a fire risk.

None of that is a scare tactic. It's why I look first, instead of writing a low number and bringing bad news in week two.

How long it takes

Most kitchens run five to nine weeks on site, plus two to six weeks up front for selections and permitting. Cabinets are the long pole — stock can arrive in two weeks, custom can take eight or ten — so we don't start demo until they have a firm ship date. What stretches a schedule: slab plumbing, an engineered beam, a panel upgrade, stone counters, surprises behind the wall. What keeps it tight: choosing finishes early and sticking to them.

What it costs — ranges, not quotes

Anybody who quotes a firm price over the phone is guessing. These are honest ranges for permitted work with licensed trades in Central Florida:

• Same layout, mid-grade finishes, appliances staying put: often $30,000–$55,000.
• Full gut, same footprint — new electrical, better cabinetry, ducted hood, minor plumbing movement: commonly $55,000–$90,000.
• Layout change — wall removal, island with slab plumbing, custom cabinetry, higher-end appliances: $90,000 and up.

What moves it most: cabinets, whether plumbing moves, whether the wall is structural, counters, appliances. What barely moves it: paint color and hardware — the things people worry about first.

Permits are my problem

We pull every permit this project requires and handle all inspections from start to finish. As a licensed Florida General Contractor (CGC#1540583), that's part of our job, not an add-on or an upsell. Lake Mary, Longwood, Sanford, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Orlando — we know which counter to walk up to.

We build. You live your life.

You stay in your house. We seal the work area, protect the floors, clean up daily. Your house stays your house, even mid-project.

Kitchens often turn into more — a bathroom while we're already here, or a whole-home remodel under one permit instead of three separate disruptions. If the kitchen's real problem is that the house is too small, that's a home addition conversation. Finished work is in the gallery, and there's more on remodeling in Lake Mary nearby.

Things people ask before hiring us

From handshake to housewarming

If you're thinking about a kitchen anywhere in Seminole County or Central Florida, start with a conversation. I'll come out, look at the real house, and tell you what it takes. Even if we're not the right fit, you'll know more than you did before.

Same house. Different life. Let's talk about what yours could be.