Cabinets and countertops San Jose

New cabinets and counters in a San Jose kitchen, and what pulls a permit

In San Jose, new cabinets and countertops are surface work that needs no building permit. The permits come with what the boxes hold: a dishwasher where there was none, a range hood vented outdoors, a new 240-volt circuit for induction, or a concealed drain replaced behind the sink base. The stone has its own rule: since SB 20, engineered quartz and high-silica natural stone must be cut wet.

Cabinet work
Refacing or replacement needs no building permit
First dishwasher
Permit for a new install; a swap needs one only if lines change
Induction circuit
Dedicated 240 V outlet on a 40-50 A breaker for a full-size cooktop
Permitted job debris
50% diversion to get the city's C&D deposit back
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  • Rules on this page checked against 11 public sources, October 2026
Hotel Valencia at Santana Row in San Jose
Hotel Valencia at Santana Row in San Jose. Photo: Payton Chung, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Permits and local rules

San Jose rules around the boxes and the stone

  1. Where the plumbing exemption ends

    San Jose exempts drain, faucet and leak repairs, clearing stoppages and minor parts replacement from plumbing permits. The line is concealed piping: if a concealed trap, drainpipe or vent pipe has to be replaced, the city treats it as new work that needs a plumbing permit, and tearing out an old sink base can expose exactly that pipe. On the electrical side, outlets and switches replaced in existing boxes need no permit, while a new outlet, receptacle or circuit does.

    Source: City of San José, When Is a Building Permit Required? (sanjoseca.gov)

  2. Wet cutting under SB 20

    SB 20, chaptered in October 2025, wrote silica rules for countertop fabrication into the Labor Code. Cutting, drilling, grinding or polishing artificial stone with more than 0.1 percent crystalline silica, or natural stone with more than 10 percent, must use effective wet methods, never dry ones, and cleaning up the resulting dust and debris counts as part of the task. Since July 1, 2026, fabrication shop owners must attest to Cal/OSHA each year that their workers are trained. Fired ceramic and porcelain panels are outside its definition of artificial stone.

    Source: California Legislature, SB 20 (2025-2026) (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)

  3. The debris deposit and the franchised box

    Once a kitchen job carries a permit, San Jose's Construction and Demolition Diversion Deposit can apply. The program, in Municipal Code Chapter 9.10, Part 15, covers residential alterations above a small valuation floor, charges a deposit set by the building's square footage, and refunds it when at least 50 percent of the debris is diverted, documented through Waste Tracking San Jose. Only franchised debris box companies may operate in the city, and material used as Alternative Daily Cover does not count toward diversion.

    Source: City of San José Environmental Services, CDDD program (sanjoseca.gov)

State license for this work: C-6 Cabinet, Millwork and Finish Carpentry, C-54 Ceramic and Mosaic Tile, C-61/D-12 Synthetic Products. Look up a contractor's license on the CSLB website (cslb.ca.gov).

The work

Cabinet and counter jobs, sorted by what they disturb

  1. Refacing or replacing the boxes alone

    Cabinet refacing or replacement is on San Jose's list of cosmetic work exempt from building permits, and the city's minor-remodel page puts new countertops in the same group. If the sink, dishwasher and range stay where they are and reconnect to the outlets and lines already there, the job stays permit-free; a plug-in appliance swap needs no permit either. Making and setting the cabinets is the work of the CSLB's C-6 Cabinet, Millwork and Finish Carpentry class.

  2. Making room for a first dishwasher

    When new base cabinets open a space for a dishwasher that was never there, San Jose requires a permit for the new installation; a replacement needs one only if the plumbing or electrical system changes. The city inspector checks the drain hookup and its high loop, an approved air gap device above the sink's flood rim under CPC 807.3, a GFCI outlet and its breaker, drain lines mounted and secured, and that the dishwasher is fastened to the surrounding cabinetry.

  3. Swapping a gas range for induction

    Changing a range or cooktop from gas to electric is a change of type, and San Jose's appliance page says that takes a permit, as does any electric cooktop or oven that needs new wiring or a new circuit. By the city's own induction guide, a full-size cooktop with power boost needs a dedicated grounded 240-volt outlet on a 40- to 50-amp breaker. San José Clean Energy's EcoHome program has a cooking-circuit prewiring add-on, but only paired with a heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC, one per home, and approved before work begins.

  4. Replacing a hood that vents outside

    A hood hung in the new upper cabinets and ducted outdoors needs a mechanical permit to replace. San Jose's rules for it: the duct is smooth metal, airtight, independent of other ducting and fitted with a backdraft damper; flexible corrugated duct is not allowed; the hood never discharges into an attic or crawlspace; and the termination sits at least 3 feet from other openings into the building. A listed recirculating hood with a carbon filter is the exception to venting outside.

  5. Building a refrigerator into the cabinet run

    A standard plug-in refrigerator needs no permit in San Jose. A built-in unit set into a run of cabinets is a different job: a permit applies if it needs a new circuit, extensive plumbing for an ice maker or structural changes, and the city notes that large or high-end built-ins may have to be secured to meet California seismic safety codes. It wants a dedicated 15- or 20-amp grounded circuit with the receptacle within 24 inches of the refrigerator's space.

Free request

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Get quotes for cabinet and countertop work in San Jose

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To send a request, call or text (415) 449-8213.

Free to request, and you agree the scope and price with the person you hire before work starts. In California, a job over $1,000 in labor and materials, or one that needs a building permit, must be done by a contractor licensed by the CSLB in the right class. Ask for the license number and check it at cslb.ca.gov.

A kitchen island with a quartz waterfall countertop over dark cabinets, during a remodel
A kitchen island with a quartz waterfall countertop over dark cabinets, during a remodel. Photo: Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The houses here

Postwar tract kitchens, Eichler slabs and flat roofs

Much of San Jose's kitchen stock dates from the postwar tract boom. The National Register study of the city's Eichler tracts names the neighbors: Kaiser Community Homes' Orchard Park, built in 1947 west of downtown beside the Rose Garden, and Mayfair Heights and Tropicana Village east of downtown in the early 1950s. Eichler's own 484 houses, in eight tracts in the Willow Glen and Western districts, joined kitchens to family rooms on concrete slabs with radiant heating, under flat or 2:12 roofs. That shapes a cabinet job: a nearly flat roof leaves little space above the ceiling for a hood duct, and anything fastened into the slab may sit over heating pipes. Houses built before 1978 also bring EPA lead-safe rules to painted cabinets.

Questions

San Jose kitchen cabinet questions, answered from city rules

Do I need a permit to swap my dishwasher when the new San Jose cabinets go in?

Only if the plumbing or electrical changes. San Jose requires a permit for a new dishwasher installation, and for a replacement that alters the plumbing or electrical system. A like-for-like swap that reconnects to the existing drain, supply and outlet does not need one, though the city's list of what it checks, an approved air gap above the sink and a GFCI-protected outlet, is still the standard to meet.

Can I try induction before the cabinet cutout is made for it?

San Jose's own Induction Cooktop Checkout Program is on hold, but the city points residents who are PG&E customers to PG&E's loaner program, which lends a portable induction kit for up to two weeks. A one- or two-burner portable unit usually runs on a regular 120-volt outlet, so it can be tried before an electrician runs the 240-volt circuit a full-size cooktop needs.

Is a porcelain slab countertop covered by California's new silica law?

Not as artificial stone: SB 20 says fired ceramic and porcelain tiles and panels are not artificial stone. Its high-exposure tasks still reach other silica-containing products, natural stone included, with more than 10 percent crystalline silica by weight, so ask the fabricator for the slab's data sheet and how the shop controls dust under Cal/OSHA's silica standard.

Our Willow Glen Eichler has radiant heat in the slab. Does that change a cabinet job?

It can. The National Register study of San Jose's Eichler tracts describes slab foundations with radiant heating, so anything fastened into the floor, such as an island base or a toe-kick anchor, needs the pipe locations known first. The same houses have flat or 2:12 roofs, which leaves little room above the ceiling for a new hood duct, so settle the venting route before the upper cabinets are ordered.

Can the old San Jose cabinets be donated instead of hauled to a landfill?

Yes, and on a permitted job it helps. San Jose's CDDD program counts reuse and donation toward its 50 percent diversion requirement when the owner documents it with photos, estimated weights or receipts from donation centers, and the city maps reuse and salvage businesses around the Bay Area. Its curbside junk pickup takes no construction debris, so torn-out boxes need another route.

Before you hire

Before you sign with a San Jose cabinet installer

  • Will the sink, dishwasher or range move or get new lines, and if so who pulls the plumbing, electrical or mechanical permit?
  • Ask the fabricator how its shop meets SB 20's wet-cutting rule and whether it filed this year's training attestation with Cal/OSHA.
  • If the new layout adds a ducted hood, where will the duct run and end, given the 3-foot clearance from other openings?
  • On an Eichler slab, how will the island and base cabinets be fastened without reaching the radiant heating pipes?
  • Which licenses cover each part at cslb.ca.gov: C-6 for the cabinets, C-54 for a stone top, and the trades for connections?

Where these facts come from

Checked against these public sources in October 2026. Rules and programs change: confirm permit requirements with the city before work starts, and a contractor's license on the CSLB website.

  • sanjoseca.gov: when is a building permit required (sanjoseca.gov)
  • sanjoseca.gov: kitchen bathroom minor remodels (sanjoseca.gov)
  • sanjoseca.gov: appliance installations (sanjoseca.gov)
  • sanjoseca.gov: induction cooking (sanjoseca.gov)
  • sanjosecleanenergy.org: ecohome rebate
  • sanjoseca.gov: construction and demolition diversion deposit cddd (sanjoseca.gov)
  • sanjoseca.gov: list of acceptable items (sanjoseca.gov)
  • npgallery.nps.gov: 2f497523 3628 4d23 aa75 28b253cc33ab (npgallery.nps.gov)
  • leginfo.legislature.ca.gov: billTextClient (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov)
  • epa.gov: lead renovation repair and painting program rules (epa.gov)
  • cslb.ca.gov: Licensing Classifications Detail (cslb.ca.gov)

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