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Kitchen Tear-Out

Kitchen tear-out is the full gut before the remodel — base and wall cabinets out, countertops off, sink and faucet pulled, range hood down, backsplash tile lifted, flooring up, dishwasher disconnected — handed over as bare framing ready for the next trade, from $1,800 for a standard galley to $5,000 for a primary kitchen with a large island, quartz counters, and a separate pantry. Cooking gas to the range is capped by a licensed plumber before we arrive; hardwired electric ranges are disconnected at the panel by an electrician first. Salvageable cabinets in good condition go to Habitat for Humanity ReStore at the homeowner's request, with a donation receipt. Pre-1980 kitchens get the popcorn ceiling, the vinyl flooring, and the joint compound tested for asbestos before any in-wall, ceiling, or flooring tear-out starts.

Kitchen tear-out image — wide shot of a Seattle galley kitchen mid-demo with base cabinets pulled out and staged for ReStore donation, granite countertop cut into removable sections, range hood down, backsplash tile partially lifted, dump trailer visible through the open kitchen door.

Service

What Does a Kitchen Tear-Out Include?

A Handis kitchen tear-out is the full gut that hands over bare framing for the remodel — base and wall cabinets, countertops, sink and faucet, range hood, backsplash, flooring, and dishwasher disconnect — from $1,800 for a standard galley kitchen to $5,000 for a primary kitchen with a large island, stone counters, and a separate pantry. Gas range disconnected by a licensed plumber at the gas valve BEFORE we arrive; electric range hardwired circuit disconnected by an electrician at the panel BEFORE we pull the appliance. Salvageable cabinets routed to Habitat for Humanity ReStore where you want.

Range, Dishwasher, Hood, Other Appliances Pulled

Gas line cap verified before the range comes out. Electric range circuit verified de-energized before we touch it. Dishwasher supply, drain, and power disconnected (we handle the plug-in cord and the supply quarter-turn; hardwired dishwashers route to an electrician for the disconnect). Range hood (ducted or recirculating) unscrewed from the cabinet or studs and pulled. Built-in microwave and any other appliance the homeowner wants removed.

Base and Wall Cabinets Out

Cabinets unscrewed from studs (face-frame and frameless), counters lifted off the base cabinets, then the cabinet boxes themselves removed in whole units where they will not bend through the door. Toe-kicks pulled. Cabinet salvage decision made on day one so good cabinets do not get bent through the doorway; donation drop-off at ReStore is on our way to the transfer station.

Countertops Cut and Carried

Laminate counters scored and removed in long sections. Granite and quartz counters cut into manageable carry sections with a wet saw (stone dust is heavy and needs dust control), or contracted to a stone fabricator for whole-piece carry where the entry path allows. Concrete and butcher-block counters cut and carried similarly. Counters to the dump trailer unless the homeowner wants to keep a section.

Sink, Faucet, Disposal

Supply lines disconnected at the angle stops under the sink, P-trap unscrewed, disposal unbolted and lifted, faucet unscrewed from the deck, sink lifted out of the counter cut-out. Sink and faucet salvageable for donation where the homeowner wants; disposal usually to the dump unless still functional.

Backsplash Tile Off

Backsplash tile (ceramic, porcelain, glass, stone) chipped off the wall with a small electric chipper and a long-handled scraper. Thinset scraped from the drywall; major residue knocked down. The drywall behind the backsplash often takes some paper damage during the tile removal — we note it for the next trade and patch or replace per the new layout.

Flooring and Drywall to Studs Where Layout Demands

Flooring pulled per the flooring removal sub-trade scope. Drywall removed to studs where the new layout demands the studs exposed (new electrical, new plumbing, vapor barrier replacement, new tile substrate).

Photo of a kitchen tear-out mid-job in a Seattle home — base cabinets out and staged in the dining room for ReStore donation, quartz countertop cut into three carry-sized sections on a drop cloth, gas range pulled with the gas line capped, range hood removed, backsplash tile partly chipped down to drywall.
Process

How a Kitchen Tear-Out Works

Six sequential steps from utility coordination through the cleaned framing handoff — the actual sequence we follow on every Handis kitchen tear-out.

Step 1/6

Booking-Call Coordination of Gas, Electrical, Water

On the booking call we identify every live utility in the kitchen — gas to the range, hardwired 240V to an electric range, dishwasher supply and drain, sink supply and drain, refrigerator water line, dedicated 120V circuits to small appliances. The right licensed trade caps gas (plumber) and disconnects hardwired electrical (electrician) BEFORE we arrive; we handle the plug-in disconnects and the supply quarter-turns ourselves.

Step 2/6

Pre-1980 Asbestos and Lead Test

Kitchens in homes built before 1980 get the popcorn ceiling, the sheet vinyl or 9x9 tile floor, the drywall joint compound on some vintages, and any older wall tile (lead glaze) tested before in-wall, ceiling, or flooring tear-out. Confirmed asbestos routes to a Washington State certified abatement contractor before we work in the same room.

Step 3/6

Appliances Out, Cabinets Out (Salvage First)

Range pulled after the utility cap is verified. Dishwasher disconnected and pulled. Hood unscrewed and removed. Salvageable cabinets identified on day one and pulled in whole units where they will not bend through the door — staged for ReStore donation. Non-salvage cabinets pulled to the dump trailer. Toe-kicks and crown molding off.

Step 4/6

Countertops Cut and Carried Out

Laminate counters scored and removed in long sections. Stone counters (granite, quartz, soapstone) cut into manageable carry sections with a wet saw — dust controlled, wet-cut to limit airborne silica. Concrete and butcher-block similar. Whole-piece carry where the entry allows; cut-and-carry where it does not.

Step 5/6

Sink, Backsplash, and Flooring Pull

Sink supply lines disconnected at the angle stops, P-trap unscrewed, disposal unbolted, sink lifted out. Backsplash tile chipped off the wall with a small electric chipper. Flooring pulled per the flooring sub-trade scope (carpet, vinyl, tile, hardwood, laminate). Subfloor scraped clean of thinset and adhesive residue.

Step 6/6

Drywall to Studs, Sort, Haul, Sweep

Drywall scored and pulled in panel sections where the new layout demands the studs exposed (new electrical for the island, new plumbing for the relocated sink, new vapor barrier, new tile substrate). Debris sorted at the dump trailer — clean wood, painted wood, drywall, metal, stone, fixtures-for-salvage. Hauled to a licensed transfer station with a dump weight receipt. Final HEPA vacuum on the framing, the subfloor, and the doorway.

Pricing

Kitchen Tear-Out Pricing

Final pricing depends on cabinet count, counter material, appliance count, backsplash area, flooring scope, and any pre-1980 abatement handoff. Cabinet salvage coordination and Habitat ReStore drop-off are free; you get a donation receipt for tax records. Granite and quartz counters add cut-and-carry time.

Send the kitchen layout, the range fuel (gas or electric), the counter material, and the home year — we will sequence the trades and quote the tear-out.

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Why Handis for Kitchen Tear-Out
Trust

Why Handis for Kitchen Tear-Out

Most kitchen tear-outs fail one of three ways — the gas line to the range was not capped before the crew arrived and the demo had to halt while a plumber drove out (and bill an emergency call-out), the homeowner wanted to donate the cabinets but they got pulled too fast and bent through the doorway, or the quartz counter was treated like laminate and the homeowner ended up paying to replace tile and drywall the kitchen-counter chunk broke on the way out. After hundreds of kitchen tear-outs across Seattle and the Eastside, every one of those failures has a checklist item on our booking call — sequence first, salvage second, careful carry third.

Gas and hardwired electrical capped by the right trade first

A gas range with a live line behind it is a fire we will not start. A hardwired 240V electric range with the circuit hot is a shock hazard we will not take. On the booking call we identify both, name the licensed plumber for the gas cap and the electrician for the hardwired disconnect, coordinate the sequence so they arrive before us, and verify each cap or disconnect on arrival. Plug-in cords, dishwasher quarter-turns, and sink supply lines are within our scope; the licensed-trade work explicitly is not.

Cabinet salvage decisions made before anything is dusty

Cabinets in good condition are valuable to Habitat for Humanity ReStore and tax-deductible at fair market value to the homeowner. We make the salvage decision on day one, pull the donation-bound cabinets in whole units (no bending through doorways, no broken doors, no missing hardware), stage them in the garage or driveway, and drop them at ReStore on the way to the transfer station. You get a donation receipt for tax records. Salvage decisions made after a cabinet is split is no longer salvage.

Stone counters cut-and-carried, not dropped on the floor

Granite, quartz, and soapstone counters are heavy enough to crack the floor they fall on (and the floor they land on). We wet-cut stone into manageable carry sections to limit airborne silica dust, and we carry stone two-person on a sling rather than tipping it onto the floor. Whole-piece carry where the entry path allows; cut-and-carry where it does not. The kitchen floor stays intact for the next trade.

Pre-1980 surfaces tested before in-wall work

Popcorn ceilings sprayed before about 1978, sheet vinyl or 9x9 vinyl tile floors with mastic underneath, drywall joint compound on some vintages, and older wall tile with lead glaze are all real possibilities on a pre-1980 kitchen. We test before in-wall, ceiling, or flooring tear-out. Positive results route to a Washington State certified abatement contractor before we work in the same room.

Insured, background-checked, 30-day workmanship guarantee

Every Handis demolition tech carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening. The 30-day workmanship guarantee covers what we did to the site — a hallway floor scuff from a cabinet carry, a doorframe scrape from a counter cut-out section, a debris-pile dent in the adjacent room's drywall, a surface adjacent to the kitchen we should have protected. Demolition damage to the items being removed (the cabinets, the counters, the backsplash, the drywall) is by design and outside the guarantee.

Estimate

Tell us the kitchen layout (galley, L-shape, U-shape, island), the cabinet count, the counter material (laminate, granite, quartz, butcher block), the range fuel (gas or electric), whether you want cabinets donated to ReStore, and the home year. We will sequence the trades and quote the tear-out.

Service cost estimate illustration
Reviews

Customer Reviews

Kitchen tear-out reviews from real Handis customers.

Full kitchen gut before our remodel. Gas range, quartz counters, six wall cabinets and seven base cabinets, glass backsplash tile. Handis coordinated the plumber gas cap (Tuesday) and ran the demo Wednesday and Thursday. Quartz counters wet-cut into three carry sections; cabinets all good and went to ReStore (donation receipt in my inbox by Friday). Framing handed over clean for the new install.

Christopher and Yael R., Full Kitchen Tear-Out

1968 Capitol Hill kitchen. Tech tested the popcorn ceiling and the 9x9 vinyl floor on day one — vinyl tested positive for asbestos, ceiling negative. They paused while an abatement contractor pulled the floor, then came back the next week and tore out everything else (cabinets, laminate counter, range hood, sink, backsplash tile). One day of actual demo work spread over two weeks of total elapsed time, exactly as they predicted.

Felix and Wren K., Pre-1980 Kitchen Tear-Out

Galley kitchen swap, plug-in electric range, simple layout. Tech walked it Monday, came back Tuesday — pulled everything in one long day. Laminate counters were straightforward, base and wall cabinets all came out clean. Two upper cabinets went to a friend; the rest to ReStore. The kitchen was empty walls and subfloor by 5 pm.

Tonya M., Galley Kitchen Tear-Out

Big project — primary kitchen with an 8-foot island, quartz counters, walk-in pantry. Three days on-site. Crew was three people, two on the cabinet pull and one on the counter cut. Coordination with the plumber for the gas range cap on day one was seamless — the plumber came Friday morning, Handis started Monday. Donated the island base to ReStore at my request; the rest to the dump.

Brett and Avery L., Primary Kitchen with Island

L-shape kitchen with a tile backsplash that I assumed would be quick. The thinset behind it was so thick the chipper barely touched it, and the drywall behind took some damage. They told me upfront the drywall was going to need a fresh layer rather than a patch — my contractor agreed. The fact that they told me before I saw it themselves saved a phone call I didn't want.

Patricia D., L-Shape Kitchen Tear-Out
FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about kitchen tear-outs — pricing, scope, gas and electrical, cabinet donation, and what stops the demo.

How much does a kitchen tear-out cost?
A standard galley or single-wall kitchen tear-out starts at $1,800. An L-shape or U-shape kitchen runs about $2,600. A mid-size kitchen with an island runs about $3,400. A primary kitchen with a large island, premium cabinets, stone counters, and a separate pantry runs about $5,000. Granite, quartz, and soapstone counters add a $400 cut-and-carry surcharge for the wet-saw work. A hardwired dishwasher disconnect adds $150 for the electrician coordination. Pre-1980 asbestos and lead testing runs $180 per surface tested. Cabinet salvage coordination and ReStore drop-off are free.
What is included and what is not?
Included — gas-cap and hardwired-disconnect coordination with the right licensed trade (we do not perform the cap or disconnect ourselves), plug-in appliance disconnect, sink/dishwasher water disconnect, range and appliance pull, cabinet removal (with optional salvage staging), countertop cut and carry, sink and faucet pull, backsplash tile removal, flooring removal per the sub-trade scope, drywall to studs where the new layout demands, and debris sort and haul. NOT included — the gas-line cap itself (licensed plumber), the hardwired electrical disconnect itself (electrician), structural framing changes, asbestos or lead abatement, mold remediation, and the new kitchen build.
Do I need to schedule a plumber and an electrician before the demo?
For a gas range, yes — a licensed plumber must cap the gas line at the gas valve before the range comes out. For a hardwired electric range, yes — an electrician must disconnect the 240V circuit at the panel before the range is pulled. For a plug-in electric range, the demo crew handles the plug pull. For a plug-in dishwasher and a sink with angle stops, the demo crew handles the disconnect. We coordinate the sequence on the booking call, give you names from our referral list if you do not have a plumber or electrician already, and arrive after each cap or disconnect is verified.
Can my cabinets go to Habitat for Humanity ReStore?
Yes, and we recommend it for cabinets in good condition. ReStore accepts intact cabinet boxes with all doors, drawers, and hardware. We pull donation-bound cabinets in whole units (no bending through doorways, no broken doors), stage them in the garage or driveway during the demo, and drop them at the nearest ReStore on the way to the transfer station. ReStore drop-off is free; you get a donation receipt for tax records (cabinets at fair market value, deductible under IRS rules). We make the salvage decision on day one of the demo so cabinets stay intact.
How do you handle granite and quartz countertops?
Wet-cut into manageable carry sections (about 4-foot lengths for a 3 cm slab) with a stone-rated wet saw, dust-controlled to limit airborne silica, and two-person carried on a stone sling. Whole-piece carry where the entry path allows (kitchens with a wide entry, single-piece counters under 8 feet); cut-and-carry where the entry does not. Counters to the dump trailer unless the homeowner wants to keep a section for a workshop or vacation property. Stone counters are heavy enough to crack the floor they fall on; we do not drop them.
Pre-1980 kitchens — what do you test for?
Popcorn ceilings (sprayed-on texture before about 1978), sheet vinyl flooring, 9x9 vinyl floor tile and the black mastic underneath, drywall joint compound on some vintages, pipe wrap, and lead glaze on older ceramic backsplash tile. Confirmed asbestos routes to a Washington State certified abatement contractor before we work in the same room. Lead-paint disturbance over the EPA RRP threshold routes to a certified RRP contractor. We test before tear-out where no abatement documentation exists.
How long does the tear-out take?
A galley or single-wall kitchen runs one to one-and-a-half days. An L-shape or U-shape runs one-and-a-half to two days. A mid-size kitchen with an island runs two days. A primary kitchen with a large island and pantry runs three days. Stone counter cut-and-carry adds about half a day per stone counter run. Pre-1980 abatement handoff adds whatever the abatement contractor's schedule requires (usually one to two weeks elapsed time), with our two-to-three days of actual demo running before and after the abatement window.
Will I have a working kitchen during the demo?
No — the kitchen is out of service during the demo days and until the new kitchen is installed. Plan for restaurant meals, a temporary microwave and a coffee maker set up in another room, and a cooler if you want refrigerated items beyond what fits in the refrigerator (which can stay in place during the demo if you want, or get rolled to the garage). We coordinate the demo schedule with your contractor's install schedule so the gap is as short as possible.
What happens if you find rot, mold, or active water damage?
We stop and document with photos before going further. Mold remediation routes to a separate licensed trade with the right containment and PPE. Active water leaks route to a plumber to find and fix the source. Rotting structural framing routes to a licensed Washington L&I contractor for repair. You get the updated scope before any extra work goes on the invoice; we resume the non-structural demo after the underlying issue is handled. Most kitchens we tear out have at least one finding — soft subfloor under the dishwasher, rot at the sink base from a slow drain leak, water staining behind the refrigerator from an ice-maker line. We surface what is there.
Can you handle a tear-out and a fresh install or do I need a separate contractor?
Handis is the tear-out trade, not the kitchen install trade. The new cabinets, counters, gas range hookup, hardwired electrical, in-wall plumbing supply or drain, and full kitchen build is your kitchen contractor's scope (typically a kitchen design firm, a general contractor, or a cabinet installer plus the licensed sub-trades). We hand over bare framing, swept subfloor, and capped utilities; the next trade builds from there. We can coordinate the demo schedule directly with your contractor if you connect us.
Is the work guaranteed?
Yes. 30-day workmanship guarantee on what we did to the site — a hallway floor scuff from a cabinet carry, a doorframe scrape from a counter cut-out, a debris-pile dent in the adjacent room's drywall, a surface adjacent to the kitchen we should have protected, a poorly capped sink drain that leaked sewer gas, a damaged finish on a salvaged cabinet that should have been intact. Demolition damage to the items being removed is by design and outside the guarantee. Pre-existing rot, mold, or structural issues we surfaced during the demo are documented findings, not workmanship issues.

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