Kitchen Remodeling in Seminole, FL

Lake Seminole Neighborhoods, 1970s Ranches and Condo Communities

Most single-family homes here went up in the 1970s and 1980s: concrete block, slab floors, and kitchens with the original oak or laminate cabinets, a soffit above the uppers and a peninsula separating the family room. Those soffits often hide nothing but air, so removing them lets wall cabinets run to the ceiling. Condos tend to have smaller L or galley kitchens and tub-shower baths, and many owners now want drawer bases instead of deep lower shelves, a higher vanity, or a pull-down shelf in the uppers. Humidity off the lake and long periods with the air conditioning set high while owners travel are hard on particleboard, which is one reason we build boxes from solid wood.

Lake Seminole itself dates from the 1940s. Pinellas County's fact sheet describes it as a brackish arm of Long Bayou until the building of Park Boulevard cut it off; today it covers 684 acres, runs just over three miles north to south and averages only five to six feet deep. A broad, shallow lake keeps the air around its shoreline streets damp most of the year. For lakeside kitchens we seal the hidden backs and undersides of every box, not just the faces, so the wood takes on and gives off moisture evenly, and we leave a small air gap behind tall pantry panels on exterior block walls.

Park Boulevard, Seminole Boulevard and Which Office Issues Permits

Park Boulevard and Seminole Boulevard cross near the city center, and Lake Seminole Park sits just east. Many homes with a Seminole mailing address are actually in unincorporated Pinellas County, so the permit office depends on where your parcel lies, not the name on your mail. A licensed contractor pulls permits for any plumbing, electrical or wall change. Neighbors in Bardmoor and Madeira Beach are on our route too, and our guide to aging-in-place kitchen design covers the reach and clearance details condo owners ask about.

Lake Seminole Park covers 258 county acres at 10015 Park Boulevard North, and its newer three-mile trail extension winds along the water past the lake's western neighborhoods. The city around it is young: voters approved incorporation in 1970, which is part of why so much land called Seminole is still county territory. The requests we expect here follow the housing: a 1970s family kitchen losing its soffit and peninsula, a condo galley converted from shelves to drawers, a hall bath where a low builder vanity gives way to a taller one with a linen tower beside it. Inside city limits, the City of Seminole runs its own building department; on county parcels with a Seminole address, Pinellas County's office at 440 Court Street in Clearwater issues the permit.

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Planning Around the Skyway: Measure, Model, Build, Install

Visit one is a careful measure, including ceiling height above any soffit and the condo association's rules if you live in a community. We then send working drawings and a 3D model you can review from home or at our Sarasota shop by appointment. After approval, everything is built and finished in our shop, and we return for a scheduled install. Condo projects add steps: board approval, elevator or parking arrangements and set work hours, all settled before the cabinets are loaded.