The words get used interchangeably, but the difference matters to your budget. A renovation puts new cabinetry, counters and finishes into the existing layout. A remodel moves things: the sink to the island, the range to a different wall, the fridge out of the doorway, a wall out entirely.
Remodels cost more because the expensive part is never the cabinetry. It is the drain line that has to be re-run under a joisted floor, the circuit that has to be pulled from a panel two rooms away, and the beam that has to be sized by an engineer before the City of Vancouver will issue a permit.
What does a kitchen remodel cost compared to a renovation?
A kitchen remodel in Vancouver typically costs $8,000 to $30,000 more than the same kitchen renovated in place. Moving a sink adds $1,800 to $4,500, relocating a gas range $700 to $2,200, and removing a load-bearing wall $8,000 to $25,000 including engineering and permits.
Whether that is worth it depends entirely on what the layout change buys you. Moving a sink three feet to gain a window view is usually not worth $4,000. Opening a wall that turns a dark 90 sq ft galley into part of a living space usually is.
| Layout change | Added cost (CAD) | Permit needed? | Added time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move sink along the same wall | $1,200 – $2,500 | Plumbing permit | 1 – 2 days |
| Move sink to an island | $3,500 – $8,000 | Yes — plumbing | 3 – 5 days |
| Relocate gas range | $700 – $2,200 | Yes — gas | 1 – 2 days |
| Move fridge and add circuit | $600 – $1,500 | Electrical permit | 1 day |
| Remove non-load-bearing wall | $1,500 – $4,000 | Usually not | 2 – 3 days |
| Remove load-bearing wall + beam | $8,000 – $25,000 | Yes — building + engineer | 1 – 2 weeks |
| Add or widen a window | $3,500 – $12,000 | Yes — building | 3 – 6 days |
Designing the layout around how you cook
The classic work triangle — sink, range, fridge — still matters, but it was drawn for a kitchen with one cook and no dishwasher. Modern layouts are better planned as zones: a wet zone at the sink and dishwasher, a hot zone at the range, a cold zone at the fridge, and a prep run of uninterrupted counter between the wet and hot zones.
The single most common complaint we hear about an existing kitchen is not storage. It is that there is nowhere to put things down. A continuous prep surface of at least 900 mm between sink and range fixes more daily frustration than any amount of cabinetry.
- Minimum 1,000 mm of clear floor between opposing runs; 1,200 mm if two people cook
- At least 900 mm of uninterrupted counter between the sink and the range
- 400 mm of landing space beside the fridge on the handle side
- Dishwasher within 900 mm of the sink, and not blocking a walkway when open
- Nothing that opens into a doorway swing — the most common design mistake we correct
When a wall can come out, and when it cannot
Any wall can come out; the question is what replaces it. A non-load-bearing wall is a two to three day job. A load-bearing wall needs an engineered beam, a City of Vancouver building permit and temporary support during the work — $8,000 to $25,000 and one to two extra weeks.
In a concrete condo tower, structural walls and columns cannot be touched at all, and neither can the plumbing riser. Interior partition walls in a tower usually can, with strata approval and often an acoustic report.
In a house, the giveaway signs of a load-bearing wall are joists running perpendicular into it, a wall directly above it on the next floor, or a beam or post line in the basement below it. We check the framing before quoting rather than guessing from the floor plan.
Full detail on the open-concept conversion page.
What moving services actually involves
Drain lines are the constraint people underestimate. A kitchen drain needs a consistent fall of roughly 2% back to the stack, and in a house with a finished basement below, running that fall to a new island position may mean opening a ceiling. In a slab-on-grade house — common in Richmond and parts of Burnaby — it may mean cutting concrete.
Electrical is more forgiving but adds up. Modern code requires dedicated circuits for the fridge, dishwasher, microwave and range, plus split or GFCI-protected counter receptacles at set spacings. A kitchen from 1965 has a fraction of that, which is why remodels so often surface a panel upgrade.
