South Bay kitchen remodel with island by DECOMA Industries

Residential

Kitchen Remodeling

Full-service kitchen remodels in the South Bay — design, permits, structural, plumbing, electrical, cabinetry, stone, tile, and finish carpentry under one GC.

Why kitchen remodeling

A kitchen remodel is the single highest-ROI project most homes will ever take on.

It's also the project where the most goes wrong. The cabinet line you fell in love with has a 22-week lead time. The wall you wanted to open is structural. The footprint you sketched on a napkin doesn't pass code clearance. The contractor you started with disappears at week six. We've seen all of it.

DECOMA does kitchen remodels the way we do everything else — design, permits, structural, plumbing, electrical, cabinetry, stone, tile, and finish carpentry under one general contractor with a Class A and B license. One contract. One schedule. One person whose phone you call when something needs to change.

We've remodeled kitchens in 1920s Old Torrance bungalows, 1950s Manhattan Beach ranch houses, 1970s Palos Verdes hillside homes, and brand-new Redondo Beach builds where the original kitchen never made sense. The pattern is the same: figure out what the homeowner actually does in the room, design backwards from that, build it without the surprises.

If you're somewhere between "I want to look at cabinets" and "the contractor we called last spring ghosted us," start with a free 30-minute consultation. We'll tell you whether the project pencils, whether it needs permits, and what a real timeline looks like for your specific home.

Start with a free consultation → — or browse our Projects for finished work.

Written by John Notaro, President & CEO, DECOMA Industries — CSLB A/B #375508, California Real Estate Broker.

What you get

Everything we deliver.

01
Design & layout
Reworked floor plans, island vs. peninsula studies, sight-line analysis from living areas, code-compliant clearances. Drawn at scale before a single cabinet gets ordered.
02
Permits & plan-check
Full permit package when the scope triggers it — moving walls, relocating gas, adding circuits, expanding the footprint. We handle the city submittal and the inspector relationships, not you.
03
Structural & framing
Load-path analysis when you want that wall gone. Engineered beams, posts to footings, headers sized to span. CSLB Class A engineering license means we self-perform this work.
04
Cabinetry & millwork
Frameless, face-frame, semi-custom, or fully custom shop-built. We spec for your storage habits and your appliance package, not a catalog elevation.
05
Stone, tile & finishes
Quartz, quartzite, granite, marble, soapstone — fabrication and templating from local South Bay yards. Backsplash, flooring, lighting, and hardware coordinated as one design package.
06
Appliances & coordination
Subzero, Wolf, Thermador, Miele, GE Monogram. We coordinate delivery timing with cabinet install so the panels and trim land right.

How we run it

Scope to sign-off.

01
Walk & scope
On-site visit, measure the existing kitchen, photograph everything. You tell us what works and what doesn't. We leave with enough detail to draw a real plan.
02
Design & specification
Schematic plans, two or three layout options, finish samples. We refine until you're confident, then we lock the design and price the build to it.
03
Permits & ordering
Permit submittal in parallel with cabinet ordering and stone selection. Lead times on premium appliances are the long pole — we order early.
04
Demo, rough-in & install
Tear-out, structural and rough plumbing/electrical, drywall, then cabinets, stone, tile, and finishes. Typical timeline 8–14 weeks on-site depending on scope and structural work.
05
Punch & warranty walk
Two-pass punch list under full lighting, manufacturer registrations, written one-year workmanship warranty. We come back at the six-month mark to address anything that has settled.

Why DECOMA

One license, three disciplines, forty years.

Family-run South Bay general contractor since 1978. We design, build, and manage — under one license — so the team you start with is the team that hands you keys and the team that answers the phone when something needs fixing in year ten.

Years building: 48+
Projects delivered: 3,000+
Repeat clients: 300+
CSLB Class: A/B

FAQ

Common questions.

How long does a kitchen remodel actually take?

Cosmetic refresh (cabinets, counters, backsplash, no walls moving): 6–8 weeks on-site. Full remodel with structural changes (opening to living, adding an island, relocating plumbing): 10–14 weeks on-site. Add 4–8 weeks before that for design, ordering, and permits. We give you a real schedule at design lock — not an aspirational one.

Do I need permits to remodel my kitchen?

Cosmetic-only — usually no. Anything that moves a wall (structural or non-structural), relocates gas or plumbing, adds new electrical circuits, or expands the footprint — yes. Each South Bay city has different thresholds. We tell you the answer on the walk-through, before you spend money on design.

Can I keep cooking during the remodel?

Set up a temporary kitchen — fridge, microwave, hot plate, sink alternative — somewhere else in the house. Most clients move it to the garage or dining room. Plan on the kitchen itself being unusable for the entire on-site duration.

Who picks the cabinets and finishes?

You do, with our designer's help. We bring layouts and finish boards; you make the final call. We have long-standing relationships with cabinet shops in Torrance, Carson, and Vernon — your choices aren't limited to a catalog.

What kind of warranty comes with the work?

One-year written workmanship warranty on everything we install. Manufacturer warranties pass through on appliances, cabinetry, and stone. For repeat clients, we honor warranty walks well past the formal term — we've been operating here since 1978 and we're not going anywhere.

Will you give me a price before design is finalized?

An order-of-magnitude range, yes. A real fixed price, no — anyone who quotes a real number without finalized scope is either lying or padding 40% to cover what they didn't see. The fixed price comes at design lock, with line-item allowances for owner-selected finishes.

Service areas