Hillsborough County · about 75 min (60 mi) from the shop
Kitchen Remodeling in Town 'n' Country, FL
Solid-wood cabinetry and refacing for Town 'n' Country's block ranches, built in Sarasota and set in place over consecutive days.
- Built in our Sarasota shop since 2011
- 4.4★ from 52 Google reviews
- 3D model before anything is built
- Solid-wood boxes, dovetail drawers
For kitchen remodeling in Town 'n' Country, the starting point is usually a concrete block ranch from the 1960s or 1970s whose kitchen was never meant to be open. We design, build and install the cabinetry from our Lewis Ave shop, about 75 minutes and 60 miles away.
What makes this area different is how consistent the houses are: tract homes northwest of Tampa International Airport, built in large numbers with the same compact footprints, so the same few layout fixes come up again and again.
Measure, model, build, install: the Town 'n' Country sequence
First visit
We measure the room, check soffits and the slab for level, and mark where the sink, range and outlets sit today.
Design review
Working drawings and a 3D model show the new layout; we revise them with you by video or at the Sarasota shop.
Shop build
Boxes, face frames and doors are made from hardwood on Lewis Ave and finished before they leave.
Installation
Finished cabinetry comes north in one load and goes in on consecutive days, followed by countertop templating.
Ranch houses off Hillsborough Avenue and Memorial Highway
Town 'n' Country had 85,951 residents at the 2020 Census, and most live in single-story homes from the 1960s through the 1980s along Hillsborough Avenue, Memorial Highway, Hanley Road and Sheldon Road. Kitchens here are typically galley or L-shaped, closed off from the living room, with soffits boxed over the uppers and terrazzo or tile on slab underfoot. Original cabinets have often been replaced once already, sometimes with budget boxes that have since sagged. Removing a soffit or a pass-through wall can change the room completely, though ducts and wiring inside them call for licensed trades.
The suburban history here starts in 1958, when the LaMonte-Shimberg Corporation bought a 525-acre dairy farm near the Hillsborough Avenue and Memorial Highway intersection and began the Town 'n' Country Park subdivision; roughly 8,000 houses and townhouses followed over the next twenty years. Building that many homes from a short list of plans is why the same soffit, duct run and window-over-the-sink arrangement turns up street after street, and why a fix that works in one kitchen usually transfers to the next. Original terrazzo is worth protecting during demolition, so we draw the new toe-kick line to cover the old cabinet footprint exactly or leave a clean, even margin.
Refacing or new cabinets for a 1960s block kitchen
Our recommendations here depend on what the last remodel left behind.
Cabinet Refacing
If an earlier remodel left plywood boxes in good shape, new doors, drawer fronts and veneer are the faster, lighter project. On LaMonte-Shimberg-era ranches it also leaves terrazzo or tile floors undisturbed at the toe kick.
Custom Cabinetry
Where boxes are sagging budget stock, hardwood cabinetry with dovetail drawers is built to the existing footprint. Galley runs in these 1960s plans are short, so each box is sized to the inch rather than padded with filler strips.
Kitchen Remodeling
When soffits and the dividing wall come out, a full redesign with licensed trades turns a galley into a real work kitchen. The pass-through wall between galley and living room is the usual candidate in these ranches.
Cabinet Repair
Loose hinges, broken drawer runners and delaminated panels repaired when the rest of the kitchen still works. It also suits rental houses near Tampa International Airport between tenants, when a full remodel is not justified.
Pantry & Kitchen Storage
Compact 1960s footprints off Hanley and Sheldon Roads rarely include a real pantry, so we turn a broom closet or the end of a galley run into pull-out storage on full-extension slides.
Cabinet Painting
Some Town 'n' Country kitchens already have solid-wood doors from a 1990s update; a properly prepared painted finish modernizes them with far less disruption than replacing the cabinets.
Permits, Veterans Expressway trips and nearby pages
Town 'n' Country is unincorporated Hillsborough County, so regulated work is permitted by the county rather than by Tampa, despite the shared border. Our trips here run along the Veterans Expressway corridor, which also serves Westchase and Citrus Park. To weigh the two routes, read cabinet refacing vs. replacement, which sets out the trade-offs.
The county's Town 'N Country Community Plan, in effect since January 2005, describes an area of about 37 square miles, far larger than the original 1958 subdivision. Regulated work anywhere in it goes through Hillsborough County Development Services, filed on HillsGovHub by the licensed trade. Soffit removals are the item to plan for: if a soffit hides a duct, a licensed HVAC contractor relocates it under the county's permit, and our upper cabinets are drawn to the height that new duct route leaves. Deliveries come up the Veterans Expressway, which keeps a loaded truck clear of downtown Tampa traffic.
Reviews
What customers near Town 'n' Country say
4.4★ average from 52 reviews on Google. Quotes are from public Google reviews, shortened where marked.
“No fancy showroom. No pretentious anything. Just evidence of a working shop that builds and repairs cabinetry & furniture and that does a wide variety of other work involving wood and engineered wood alternatives. Everything they've done for me has been top notch.”
“SRQ recently installed lovely built-in shelves that has become the focal point of our living room. i highly recommend Graham's workmanship.”
FAQ
Town 'n' Country kitchen remodeling questions
Can the soffits come out of a Town 'n' Country kitchen?
Often, but check what is inside first. In many 1960s and 1970s ranches the soffit is empty framing; in others it carries ductwork, a vent stack or wiring that a licensed trade must reroute under a county permit. We look during the measure visit, and the 3D model shows the room both ways so you can decide whether full-height cabinets are worth the extra work.
Should I reface or replace my Town 'n' Country cabinets?
Reface if the boxes are plywood, square and dry; replace if they sag, show water damage at the sink or block the layout you want. Many homes here had a 1990s remodel with decent boxes, which makes refacing a strong option. We check every box during the first visit and show both paths in the drawings so the comparison is concrete.
Nearby
Also serving near Town 'n' Country
- Westchase, FLAbout 80 min (64 mi) from the shop
- Citrus Park, FLAbout 80 min (65 mi) from the shop
- Egypt Lake-Leto, FLAbout 75 min (60 mi) from the shop
- Carrollwood, FLAbout 80 min (64 mi) from the shop
- Oldsmar, FLAbout 80 min (64 mi) from the shop
1121 Lewis Ave, Sarasota
About a quarter mile east of US 301, off 12th Street. Shop visits are by appointment. Please call ahead before stopping by Lewis Ave.
Living Well Crafted
Planning a kitchen in Town 'n' Country? Talk it through with the shop.
- Built in our Sarasota shop since 2011
- 4.4★ from 52 Google reviews
- 3D model before anything is built
- Solid-wood boxes, dovetail drawers