The fire is out. The kitchen is not. Grease smoke coats cabinets two rooms over, and firefighting water is under the toe kick. That is the job kitchen fire repair actually is.
This is the rebuild side of the five most common kitchen fire causes. Causes belong in that post. This one is what we replace in Lakeland after the fire department leaves.
What to do in the first hours
Do not re-enter until the fire department says it is safe. Open a claim and write down the number. Photograph every room before anyone wipes a wall. Do not wipe soot. Improper cleaning sets the stain.
Leave the power and water off if firefighters shut them down. Board the openings. Keep receipts for hotels and meals.
Firefighting water sits under the toe kick and in the subfloor. Extraction and drying belong to True Plumbers at trueplumbers.com. We do not run that scope. We take the kitchen once it is dry.
What usually has to come out
A range fire rarely stops at the range. The boxes above the cooktop take the heat. The ones beside it take the soot. The room behind the kitchen takes the smell through the return.
We photograph that spread before anyone wipes a wall. Then we tear out what cannot be cleaned and keep what can. A lot of Lakeland kitchens from the 1990s have particle-board boxes. Once those swell from hose water, they do not get a second life.
Cabinets that come out go through kitchen cabinet installation. Counters that crack or stain go through kitchen countertop installation. If the layout was already wrong, this is when a kitchen remodel makes more sense than putting the same plan back.
Soot and odor sit on smoke damage remediation. Framing, electrical, drywall, and finishes sit on fire damage restoration. One project manager, one contract.
How far the soot traveled
Grease-borne smoke coats everything in the room. It also rides the return into the next space. That is why a “small” range fire becomes cabinets, paint, and the room next door.
A box that is only stained on the face might clean. A box that took heat at the cooktop usually does not. Particle board that took hose water at the toe kick does not get a new door. Replacement is the line.
If the house itself is gone, that is complete-loss fire rebuilds, not this kitchen scope. If the fire was in Plant City and you need who pulls the permit, that is who rebuilds after a house fire in Plant City.
How long the kitchen stays open
A single room is usually four to eight weeks of construction on the fire hire page. That band assumes the house is dry and the scope is written. Cabinet lead times sit inside it.
Florida general contractor license CRC1335717. We pull the permit when the rebuild needs one. An unlicensed cleanup crew cannot.
Do not run the air conditioning or heat until the home has been assessed. The system can pull soot through the ducts and spread it into rooms the fire never touched. That note is already on the site as the fire-side expert tip.
What the number looks like, as market context
HomeGuide puts a kitchen or grease fire at $11,000 to $18,000 and smoke and soot removal at $500 to $5,000. Those are published industry ranges, not a True Builders quote. Your number moves with how far the soot traveled and whether the boxes can be saved.
A Class A fire in wood, paper, and textiles is listed lower, $8,000 to $14,000. Grease smoke is why the kitchen band sits higher. Water removal and drying after firefighting is listed at $2,000 to $6,000 or more on the same guides, and that line is True Plumbers.
Put the same kitchen back, or change it
If the layout already worked, we put boxes and a top back on the same footprint. That is a kitchen fire repair, not a remodel sales pitch.
If the island never fit, or the wall you always wanted open is already open because the fire took it, this is the moment a kitchen remodel is cheaper than building the old plan twice. Say that when we walk the house. The add gets written separately from what the policy covers.
We are the contractor. We are not a public adjuster. The insurer prices the claim. We price the work.
Photograph the soot trail into the dining room and the hallway, not only the range. Those rooms decide whether you are in the $11,000 kitchen band or a whole-house smoke job. The fire hire page puts smoke through the house at three to six months. This post is the kitchen that stayed a kitchen.
If the range is gone and the boxes beside it are gone, the appliance package is part of the rebuild, not a later shopping trip. Mid-tier appliances sit in the kitchen-remodel budget split at about 14 percent. On a fire job they are often an insurance line. We write them in the scope so they arrive when the boxes can take them.
We put a written scope in front of you after we walk the house. Call (863) 647-1800 or get a quote. The Lakeland office is at 2829 Badger Rd #19. The sooner soot comes off, the less of the kitchen has to be replaced.
