Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeling in Laguna Beach, CA
Laguna grew as a cottage town on a hillside, and it still behaves like one. Streets are narrow and steep, driveways are short or absent, and many houses are reached by steps rather than by a level path. Inside, the homes are irregular — additions layered onto 1920s to 1950s cottages, split levels following the slope, and kitchens shaped by whichever wall the hill allowed. Almost nothing here is a standard dimension.
The hill decides more than the design does
Laguna Beach began as a cottage town on a hillside and never stopped behaving like one. The streets are narrow and steep, driveways are short or missing entirely, and a good number of houses are reached by steps. For most trades that is an inconvenience. For a company delivering cabinetry and stone slabs it is a genuine constraint that has to be in the plan.
So we ask about access at the first visit: the driveway, the steps, the street, the turn at the top. It changes how material is staged, how slabs are cut, and how long the installation takes. Planning it costs nothing. Meeting it on delivery day costs a day and sometimes a slab.
Why almost every Laguna kitchen is custom
Inside, these houses are irregular in a way that is hard to overstate. Original 1920s to 1950s cottages have been extended more than once, split levels follow the slope, ceiling heights change between sections, and wall lines are rarely parallel. After a century of that, standard cabinetry does not fit — not approximately, not with filler.
Custom cabinetry is not a luxury choice in Laguna, it is the practical one. Cabinets are drawn to the house that exists, scribed to walls that move, and sized to ceilings that vary room to room.
The view problem
A striking number of Laguna houses put the living room on the view side and the kitchen behind it, which means the household cooks facing a wall in a house bought for the ocean. Where structure and services allow, reorienting the kitchen toward the view is the single most transformative change available here — considerably more so than any finish.
It is not always possible, and we would rather establish that early than let it become an expectation. Where it cannot happen, borrowing a sightline by lowering or removing one wall usually gets a surprising amount of the way there.
Low ceilings, and being honest about them
In the original cottage sections the ceiling often will not carry a full-height wall-cabinet run. The honest answer is not a short wall cabinet pretending to be intentional. It is deeper, better-organised base units, open shelving where it suits the room, and storage relocated elsewhere in the house — plus a worktop and flooring chosen to make a low room feel calm rather than compressed.
Coastal specification
Laguna sits on the water, so hardware, hinges and finishes are specified for salt air as they are in Newport and Huntington Beach. Bathrooms carry the same logic — ventilation and waterproofing lead, material follows. See bathroom remodeling.
Getting started
Kitchen Cabinets and Beyond has worked across Orange County since 1995 and holds California contractor license #902246.
Start a Laguna Beach project with us — and tell us about the access. In Laguna it is part of the design.
Recent work in Laguna Beach
Our most recent Laguna Beach kitchen — graphite cabinetry with stainless — is written up with the material choices behind it: Laguna Beach Graphite and Stainless Kitchen (October 2025).
Near Laguna Beach
We also work in Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills and Newport Beach — see every Orange County city we serve.
Steep streets, irregular houses
Laguna Beach is hillside cottages on streets that were never designed for a delivery truck. The kitchens are small, the houses are irregular, and access is a scheduling constraint we plan for rather than discover.
- Woods Cove
- Three Arch Bay
- Top of the World
- Laguna Canyon
- North Laguna
- Emerald Bay
What we build in Laguna Beach
Custom cabinetry dominates here for one practical reason: after decades of additions on a hillside, very little in these houses is a standard size.
- Cabinet Refacing Same boxes, new doors and fronts Cabinetry
- Custom Cabinets Built to your measurements Cabinetry
- Kitchen Remodeling Designed, supplied and installed Remodeling
- Bathroom Remodeling Vanities, tile, glass and stone Remodeling
- Countertops Quartz and stone, seen full-slab Surfaces
- Flooring Hardwood, tile and luxury vinyl Surfaces
What Laguna Beach homeowners ask
Tell us about the driveway, the steps and the street. In Laguna those details change the schedule and the staging, and we would rather plan them than meet them.
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Our house is up a flight of steps with no driveway. Is that a problem?
It is a planning constraint, not a barrier — we work on houses like this regularly. What it changes is staging: smaller deliveries more often, slabs cut so they can be carried, and a schedule that accounts for the extra handling. All of that is far cheaper to plan than to improvise, which is why we ask about access at the first visit.
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Why is custom cabinetry so common in Laguna?
Because after decades of additions on a slope, almost nothing in these houses is standard. Ceiling heights change between sections, walls are not parallel, and floors step. Stock cabinetry in that context is filler strips and compromise; built-to-size cabinetry fits the house you actually have.
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Can we move the kitchen to the view side?
Sometimes, and where it is possible it is transformative — a great many Laguna homes have living space facing the view and the kitchen tucked behind it. Whether it can happen depends on structure and on where the plumbing and venting can reasonably go, which we assess before it becomes an expectation.
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Do low ceilings limit what is possible?
In the original cottage sections, yes. Where the ceiling will not carry a full wall-cabinet run, the answer is usually to go wider and deeper in the base units, use open shelving above rather than pretending a short wall cabinet looks intentional, and put the storage somewhere else in the house.
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How far is Laguna Beach from your showroom?
About forty minutes, and genuinely longer on a summer weekend. We plan site visits around that rather than pretending the traffic is not there.
Access is part of the quote.
- Showroom hours Mon–Sat 10am–5pm · Sunday closed
- Showroom 2910 E La Palma Ave, Ste B, Anaheim, CA 92806
- Service area 24 Orange County cities we serve
Reviewed by Orange County homeowners
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Tom & Glenna Laguna Beach Rated 5 out of 5 stars“You have a great design showroom. It was a wonderful place to start with our remodel and gave us some great ideas. The cabinet installer was a true craftsman. The whole process went smoothly and was on time.”
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Naz Alibhai Home owner Rated 5 out of 5 stars“Our kitchen was in desperate need of a complete remodel. Emad not only came up with the most amazing design we could have imagined, but delivered it from the drawing board to the end result.”
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The Gouldies Newport Coast Rated 5 out of 5 stars“Emad and his team transformed our first home in Newport Coast into our dream home. He guided us through the entire process, stayed within our timeline and finished the entire kitchen and bath.”