In Vancouver, replacing your cabinets, counters, and appliances in the same positions usually does not need a permit. Moving plumbing, gas, or electrical, or removing or opening a wall, usually does, and the licensed trades doing that work normally apply for the permits for their part. The City of Vancouver is the authority on what applies to your address, and the rules differ again in a strata building or a heritage house. What follows is the general picture, not legal advice, so you know which questions to ask before you commit to a layout.
A like-for-like kitchen keeps the services where they are. New cabinets on the same walls, new counters, a new backsplash, paint, and new appliances in the old positions are generally cosmetic in the City's eyes, because nothing behind the walls changes. Swapping a faucet or a sink in the same spot, connected to the same supply and drain, usually falls in the same category. This is the majority of our projects: the room stays the room, and the cabinetry is built to fit it. It is also why a cabinet-first renovation is the fastest and least disruptive kind.
The moment the plan touches the services, permits enter the picture. Moving a sink or a dishwasher to a new location means new drain and supply runs, which is permitted plumbing work. Moving a gas range, or running a new gas line to an island, is permitted gas work. Adding circuits for a new appliance layout, moving receptacles, or upgrading the panel is permitted electrical work. Removing a wall, or opening one up to widen a doorway, is permitted building work, and if the wall carries load it also needs structural review.
None of this should put you off a layout you want. It means the layout carries trades, permits, and inspections, and those belong in the plan and the budget from the first conversation.
For plumbing, gas, and electrical, the licensed contractor doing the work typically applies for the permit for their trade and books the inspection before the wall closes. For a wall or structural change, a building permit is applied for on the project, often by the general contractor. In every case, ask each trade one plain question: who is pulling the permit for this? If the answer is nobody, take that seriously. For your specific address and scope, the City of Vancouver is the right place to confirm what applies. Outside the city boundary, in the other Metro Vancouver municipalities, the process is similar but not identical, so check with that municipality.
A strata building adds a second approval on top of the City's. The strata council usually has to sign off on anything that touches shared plumbing stacks, shared walls, or the building envelope, and it sets rules on work hours, elevator use, and access. A heritage-listed house may need additional review before exterior or structural changes. A laneway home or a secondary suite has its own rules on what a kitchen may include. None of these are reasons to skip a kitchen. They are reasons to settle the paperwork before the cabinets are designed around a layout that cannot be approved.
The permit fees themselves are a small part of a kitchen. What a permit really changes is sequence. Rough-in inspections happen before the drywall closes, so the trades' work and the inspections sit between removing the old kitchen and installing the new one, and that gap runs longer than a straight swap. The cabinetry runs on its own track, about 4 weeks as our standard, and is not held up by permits on the trade side. On cost, most of our projects land in the $30,000 to $50,000 range, and when a layout moves services, the permitted trades are a named line in the quote rather than a vague allowance. A quote that leaves them out is not cheaper. It is incomplete.
Skipping a permit to save a fee is the kind of saving that costs more later. Unpermitted plumbing, gas, or electrical work can surface when you sell, when an insurer reviews a claim, or when the next trade opens the wall and has to redo it. Permitted, inspected work is documented and done to code. It protects the house and it protects you.
We design, build, and install cabinetry and coordinate the project around it. We do not do plumbing, gas, electrical, or demolition ourselves. Licensed trades do, and we will tell you in the first conversation whether the layout you are drawn to touches any of them. If it does, we can say what that work typically involves and make sure it is in the schedule and the number. If it does not, your kitchen is the simple kind, and it moves quickly.
For a rough band on your own kitchen, the Vancouver Kitchen Cost Calculator takes size, finish tier, and appliance package and returns a price band, assuming a fairly standard layout. It is an estimate, not a quote. To see how moving services changes a number, read what drives the cost of a kitchen up or down, and for the full picture, start with how much a custom kitchen costs in Vancouver. When you have a layout in mind, book a free consultation and we will walk through what it touches, plainly.