Kitchen & Bathroom Remodeling in Dunedin, FL
Serving ZIP Codes: 34698, 34697
Dunedin Houses Have Character. We Remodel With It, Not Over It.
Dunedin isn't a tear-down town. The bungalows off Victoria Drive went up when the Fenway Hotel was new, and people fight to keep them. When you remodel here, the job isn't erasing a house, it's making a 1920s cottage or a 1960s ranch work for 2026.
That's the work we like. We're TGA Kitchens & Remodeling, a Florida certified building contractor (CBC1268077) based 25 minutes south in Pinellas Park. We design in photorealistic 3D first, so you see the finished kitchen or bath before demo starts. Then the same licensed team pulls your City of Dunedin permits and builds it.
It's a small-scale town by design. Golf carts are street-legal inside the grid from Curlew Road down to Union Street, and the Pinellas Trail runs straight through downtown. Lots are tight, houses sit close, and neighbors notice construction. That shapes how we stage every job here.
Below: how we handle the bungalows, the mid-century ranches, the flood rules near the causeway, real 2026 costs, and the city's permit process. Kitchens and bathrooms both, it's most of what we do.
Opening Up a Bungalow Kitchen Without Losing the Bungalow
The kitchens in Dunedin's pre-war cottages were built for one cook and a closed door. Most run galley-style, walled off from the dining room, with maybe 40 square feet of counter. The houses around Victoria Drive and the original downtown plat are pushing a century old. Their kitchens usually got one bad update in the 1980s and nothing since.
Here's how we open them up without flattening what makes them worth owning. First we find out what's load-bearing, in houses this age, the wall between kitchen and dining room often is. An engineered beam carries the load, permitted through the city, and the ceiling line stays clean.
Then we design to the house. Cabinets get scaled to eight-foot ceilings, not stock boxes that die a foot short. Trim profiles get matched to the originals. If heart-pine floors hide under old linoleum, we plan around saving them. You see all of it in 3D before demo, the beam, the island, the sightline to the porch.
Expect the unglamorous work too. Houses from the 1920s to 1940s usually need panel upgrades and new circuits to pass inspection. That's not an upsell, it's what keeps a remodel from becoming a fire risk. We price it up front so it never lands as a surprise.
Sometimes the answer isn't opening walls, it's adding room. We build home additions too, and on the small downtown lots that takes care. Setbacks are tight, and a boxy bump-out can wreck a cottage's proportions from the street. We design additions that read as original: matched rooflines, matched siding, windows that repeat the existing rhythm. The 3D model shows the street view, so you'll know the house still looks like Dunedin.
Ranch Kitchens and Original Baths Near the Donald Ross Course
North Dunedin grew up around golf. Fairway Estates filled in during the late 1950s and early '60s beside Dunedin Golf Club. That's the Donald Ross course where the PGA of America was headquartered from 1945 to 1962. Dunedin Isles added waves of homes from the 1950s on. The club finished a $6 million restoration in 2025, and the neighborhoods around it are renovating to match.
These ranches share a bathroom problem. The hall bath is usually five by eight feet, with a cast-iron tub and tile that stops halfway up the wall. Sixty years on, the tub is the thing people trip over. We convert tubs to low-threshold showers in about two weeks, or install walk-in tubs where soaking matters. Both keep you in the house you like as knees get older.
If you're planning to stay put, we build that in now. Grab-bar blocking goes behind the tile while the wall is open, whether you want bars today or not. Curbless entries, handheld sprayers, and lever handles cost little during a remodel and plenty as a retrofit. A comfort-height toilet and better lighting finish the job. None of it looks clinical, you've seen these features in nice hotels without noticing.
The kitchens hide better bones than the bungalows downtown. Ranch layouts usually let us drop a soffit, take a non-bearing wall to the Florida room, and gain a real island. Terrazzo under the carpet is common, worth restoring, not covering. And concrete-block walls mean fewer framing surprises than in the pre-war streets.
Near the Causeway, the 50% Rule Sets Your Budget
Along Edgewater Drive and the streets off the Dunedin Causeway, flood math comes before design. FEMA's substantial improvement rule is blunt. If your remodel costs 50% or more of the building's market value, the whole house must be brought up to current flood code. The city publishes its own guide to the rule and reviews the numbers when you permit.
That's the building's value, not your lot, and in Dunedin the lot is often worth more than the house. So a $90,000 kitchen-and-bath project can trigger the rule on a modest cottage near the water. We run this calculation in the first meeting, using your appraisal or a private one that values the structure fairly. Sometimes the answer is phasing the work. Sometimes it's staying under the line. Either way, you'll know before you commit.
One more thing people miss: everything counts toward the total. Cabinets, tile, labor, structural work, the whole contract value goes into the substantial improvement math. You can't carve out the countertops to duck the threshold. Honeymoon Island sits at the end of Curlew Road, and the closer you live to that water, the more your elevation certificate matters. Bring yours to the first meeting if you have it. If you don't, we'll help you get one.
Honest 2026 Numbers for Dunedin Kitchens and Baths
Full kitchen remodels we design and build in 2026 mostly land between $45,000 and $85,000. That covers new cabinets, counters, lighting, and finishes, with appliances usually on top. Opening a load-bearing wall in a pre-war house adds roughly $4,000 to $10,000 with engineering. A cabinet-and-countertop refresh without layout changes can come in under $30,000.
Bathrooms in 2026: a hall bath runs $20,000 to $35,000 done right. A primary bath with a curbless shower and double vanity runs $35,000 to $70,000. Tub-to-shower conversions land between $15,000 and $25,000, depending on plumbing moves and tile.
Old houses earn a contingency. In Dunedin's pre-war streets, we recommend holding 10% to 15% for what hides behind plaster, wiring, subfloor, old handyman fixes. In the block-built ranches, 10% is usually plenty. If your home sits in a flood zone, the 50% rule can matter more than any line item above. Start there.
Your Permit Goes to Louden Avenue, Not the County
Dunedin runs its own Building Division out of City Hall at 737 Louden Avenue. Permits file online through the city's Citizen Self Service portal, where plans, surveys, and product approvals upload with the application. As your contractor of record, we prepare and file all of it, you never touch the portal.
What needs a permit here: moving plumbing or electrical, structural changes, window and door replacement, and shower or water heater work. What doesn't: paint, most flooring, and swapping cabinet doors. When it's genuinely unclear, we ask the Building Division directly at (727) 298-3210 rather than guess.
One Dunedin-specific note: staging. Downtown lots are small, streets carry golf carts, and the Pinellas Trail crosses the neighborhood grid. We plan dumpster placement and delivery windows so your remodel doesn't become the block's problem. Small town, long memories.
Dunedin Remodeling Questions, Answered Straight
Do I need a City of Dunedin permit for a kitchen remodel?
If plumbing, electrical, or walls move, yes. A same-footprint cabinet and countertop swap generally doesn't need one. We confirm the edge cases with the Building Division before work starts, in writing.
How long does permitting take in Dunedin in 2026?
Simple trade permits often come back within days through the online portal. A full kitchen or bath remodel with structural work typically takes a few weeks in review. Flood-zone properties add a substantial-improvement check on top. We build the wait into your schedule, so it's never dead time.
Will the FEMA 50% rule apply to my remodel?
Only if your home sits in a mapped flood zone and the project cost reaches half the building's value. Plenty of Dunedin sits high and dry east of Alt 19, where the rule never comes up. Near the causeway, Edgewater Drive, and the sound, we check before quoting. It takes one meeting and your property appraisal to know.
Can you open the wall between my bungalow's kitchen and dining room?
Usually, yes. Most of these walls carry load, so the opening needs an engineered beam and a city permit. Budget roughly $4,000 to $10,000 for the structural portion. You'll see the finished opening in 3D before we cut anything.
What does a bathroom remodel cost in Dunedin in 2026?
Hall baths run $20,000 to $35,000. Primary baths run $35,000 to $70,000. Tub-to-shower conversions land between $15,000 and $25,000. Pre-war houses should hold an extra 10% to 15% for what's behind the walls.
Can you match the original trim and details in an older Dunedin home?
Yes, that's most of why people call us here. We match trim profiles, reuse solid doors where they survive, and scale cabinetry to the house. The 3D model shows the new work sitting inside the old room, so you can judge the fit honestly.
Do you handle condo remodels near the marina and causeway?
We do. Condo work adds board approval and insurance paperwork, and we prepare that package as part of the job. The building's rules on wet-over-dry layouts and work hours shape the design, so we read them before drawing.
See Your Dunedin Remodel Finished Before Demo Day
Every project starts the same way: we measure your house, then build a photorealistic 3D model of the new kitchen or bath. You walk through it, change it, and approve it before a single wall opens. In a town this protective of its houses, that preview matters. You're not gambling a 1926 cottage on a sketch.
Our Design Center is at 3851 62nd Ave N, Suite A, Pinellas Park, FL 33781. From downtown Dunedin, it's about 25 minutes south via Keene Road or US 19. Cabinet lines, counter slabs, and shower systems are on the floor to touch. Call (727) 800-4050 to book a design consultation.
We're a Florida certified building contractor, bonded and insured, with a 4.9-star rating across 110+ Google reviews. Recent finished work sits across Pinellas. There's a full kitchen and living remodel in Kenneth City, a spa bath in Gulfport, a master bath in Treasure Island. Your Dunedin house wouldn't be our first old one. It'd be in good company.