Kitchen Remodeler in Lakewood, CA

Kitchen remodeling priorities for Lakewood’s compact post-war homes

Heading up the 605 and the 5 for samples

1. 1

   Note the original footprint

   Measure wall lengths and the doorway widths; Lakewood’s small kitchens often have two doorways that limit cabinet runs.

2. 2

   Check what is under the carpet

   Lift a corner in a bedroom closet so you know whether there is oak to match.

3. 3

   Drive north

   The 605 to the 5, then the 170, brings you to Sherman Way; mid-morning usually avoids the worst of it.

4. 4

   Decide, then schedule

   Compare samples on the showroom floor, take a few home, confirm sizes, and book delivery or installation for your Lakewood address.

Lakewood city permits and an honest record

Lakewood is an incorporated city, and permits for a Lakewood address go through its building and safety counter rather than LADBS. Replacing cabinets, counters and floors in the same spots generally counts as cosmetic. Opening the kitchen to the living room, moving a sink or adding circuits is permit work for licensed trades, and the CSLB license lookup is the place to check them.

We don’t have Lakewood remodels to show yet and won’t pretend otherwise. Nearby Bellflower and Signal Hill homeowners make the same trip.

Lakewood Center, the 605 edge and two water systems

Lakewood Center, at Lakewood and Del Amo boulevards, was planned alongside the first tracts, and parks such as Mayfair and Bolivar sit among the neighborhoods. The San Gabriel River and the 605 run along the east side, which is also the line that matters for water: most homes are served by the city’s own utility, which pumps groundwater from wells in the Central Basin, while roughly 6,000 households east of the river are on Golden State Water.

Southern California Edison supplies electricity and SoCalGas supplies gas, which matters if a new range or vented hood is planned. Lakewood incorporated in 1954 and became known for the “Lakewood Plan,” buying services such as policing from Los Angeles County by contract. Building permits, though, are handled by the City of Lakewood’s Building and Safety counter at City Hall, so a Lakewood address never goes to LADBS.

Small kitchens and hidden oak in the Lakewood Park tracts

The original tracts were built fast, on a handful of floor plans, with modest two- and three-bedroom homes. Kitchens sit between the dining area and the service door, with short cabinet runs and little counter space. Owners usually get the most from better storage rather than moving walls, which keeps the project out of structural territory.

Underfoot, oak strip flooring is common in the living room and bedrooms, often under wall-to-wall carpet. The kitchen floor was usually vinyl or tile and is rarely worth saving. A waterproof plank or wood-look tile toned to the oak links the rooms.

Two period details deserve a check before demolition. Paint on original cabinets, trim and window frames in a pre-1978 house may contain lead, and the EPA’s RRP rule requires lead-safe work practices from renovators who disturb it. Nine-inch vinyl floor tiles and the black mastic under them, common in early-1950s kitchens, can contain asbestos, so have them tested before anyone scrapes them up; floating a new floor over them is the usual alternative. Lakewood sits a few miles inland from Long Beach, close enough for damp morning marine air, so oak and engineered planks should acclimate indoors before they go down, with expansion gaps set to the maker’s instructions.