Rancho Cucamonga Custom Countertops is San Bernardino County's leading team for countertop replacement in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, specializing in removing old tile, laminate and dated granite while your existing cabinets stay in place. We offer quartz and granite replacements cut to the cabinet run you already own.
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Or call (909) 922-1858. Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
Our team provides cabinet inspection and shimming before the new stone goes down, delivering new countertops on sound, level boxes for both residential and commercial projects. We template over your old tops so the kitchen keeps working while the stone is cut, and the same crew that tears the old surface off sets the new one.
From lifting a mortar-bed tile top without splitting the face frame to fitting a new undermount sink in place of the old drop-in, our team handles every detail. Serving Rancho Cucamonga as well as older kitchens in Claremont, La Verne and Glendora, we swap the surface, keep the cabinets and hand the kitchen back with as little downtime as the job allows.
How we work
Homeowners get a free template visit. Contractors, cabinet shops and builders get tops to their schedule.
On a countertop replacement in Rancho Cucamonga, the old top comes off on installation day, and what breaks depends on what it was: laminate lifts off cleanly, while a tile top set on a mortar bed is heavy, dusty and can pull the cabinet face frame or the wall behind it with it. Knowing which one you have tells you how long the kitchen will be out of use.
A laminate top is fastened to the cabinets from below and sometimes glued. Once the sink is out, the front edge is cut back and the top is pried off the cabinet frames in one or two pieces. The main risk is the backsplash: a laminate splash glued to drywall can tear the paper face when it is pried off.
Older kitchens across Alta Loma and Cucamonga were often tiled over a thick mortar bed. Under the tile sits a thick bed of mortar over a wood deck of plywood, particleboard or 2x6 lumber, and the tile and mortar have to come off before stone goes on, with the deck checked for water damage and level. It is removed in chunks, with the prying done over the cabinet cross members so the force goes into the frame, not the thin face. Even done with care, this is the removal most likely to crack a face frame joint or chip a painted cabinet edge, so we inspect those joints with you first and note anything already loose.
Many kitchens from the 2000s building wave in Etiwanda may carry a builder-grade granite top, and one like that is lifted off in its original pieces once the silicone is cut. It is heavy, not fragile, and the cabinets under it were already built to carry stone, which usually makes this the simplest swap of the three.
Cabinet faces and doors, taped and covered before the first pry bar. Floors along the path to the door, since tile debris is heavy and sharp. The wall behind a tile splash, where prying is kept to spots over the studs.
Your existing cabinets can carry a stone top if the boxes are sound, the joints are tight and the top edges can be brought level, which is often true of kitchen cabinets that have not had water damage. Stone is much heavier than laminate and far less forgiving of a twisted box, so the check is part of the job rather than an extra.
Level and flat. Stone makers want the top of the cabinets flat and true, one quartz manufacturer asking for 1/16 inch over 18 inches, and a 1970s run rarely starts there. The sink base. Years of small leaks swell particle board. A soft floor or a sagging side in the sink cabinet is the most common reason a box needs rebuilding. Support spacing. Stone wants support front to back about every 24 inches. Long open spans over a range or a wide drawer bank may need a ledger or a strip added. Fastening. Boxes that were never screwed to the studs, or were screwed to each other with a single screw, are fastened properly before the new top is set. Face frame joints. Loose joints on an older face frame cabinet are glued and clamped before tear-off, not after.
Old cabinets are almost never level, because floors settle and original installers shimmed to what they had. Bringing the tops of the boxes into plane with shims and strips is included in a replacement, and it is done after the old top is off and before the new one goes down. If one box cannot be saved, usually the sink base, it can often be replaced on its own with a matching carcass. If several are failing, the job has become a remodel, and we will say so before quoting stone for boxes that will not hold it.
The old sink rarely suits a new stone top, so most countertop replacements include a new undermount sink and often a new faucet. A drop-in sink hangs on its rim over a rough hole, and that hole shape and position seldom match what an undermount bowl needs, so reusing it usually means reusing the look you are trying to leave.
A tile backsplash or a laminate splash almost always comes off with the old top. What is left behind is torn drywall paper, old adhesive and a line of paint that stops where the old splash began. Plan for patching and paint, or for a new splash, before the new stone arrives. A new 4 inch stone splash covers a narrow damaged strip; a taller tile or slab splash covers more of the wall and more of the repair.
Countertop replacement for an average Rancho Cucamonga kitchen is typically estimated at roughly $2,500 to $6,000, with the old top, the new material and the condition of the cabinets moving the number most. A replacement carries line items a new-cabinet remodel does not, because something has to come off before anything goes on.
The figures here are estimates for Rancho Cucamonga and can change with slab prices and what we find under the old top. The written quote issued after the free template visit sets the final price, and it lists tear-out, cabinet work and plumbing as separate lines so you can see where the money goes.
During a countertop replacement you keep a working kitchen until installation day, because the template is taken over your old tops. The kitchen is out of use from tear-off until the plumber reconnects the sink, which is the stretch worth planning around.
Clear everything off the old counters and out of the sink base. Unplug small appliances and leave a clear path from the door to the kitchen. Keep access to the refrigerator, and set up a table elsewhere with a kettle and a microwave.
Tear-off, cabinet prep and installation run in sequence with the same crew, so there is no gap between the old top leaving and the new one arriving. The new sink is set on the day, and the faucet and drain are reconnected once the sink adhesive has cured. Until then, dishes go to a bathroom sink or a laundry tub. If you have a gas cooktop set into the old top, it is disconnected with the plumbing and reconnected after, and it is worth booking that visit with the plumber.
Most kitchens due for countertop replacement in Rancho Cucamonga tend to fall into two groups: 1970s and 1980s tract kitchens in Alta Loma and Cucamonga, many still carrying original tile or laminate, and newer kitchens from that later Etiwanda era, where a builder-grade top may now look its age. The cabinets in both groups are often worth keeping.
In the older group, the cabinets are usually solid wood face frame boxes that have aged better than the tops on them, and the questions are the mortar bed and the sink base. In the newer group, the cabinets are younger and already sized for stone, so the replacement is mostly a change of surface, sink and faucet, with a new splash to match. Property managers turning rental kitchens across the Inland Empire face the same choice on a smaller scale, and the same check of the boxes applies.
The process
Four steps, and nothing is cut until you have approved the slab and the seam layout.
Homeowners book a free template visit. Contractors and builders send plans and a finish schedule for a bid.
You pick the material and the slab, and we mark where every seam will fall before it is approved.
We template on your installed cabinets, then cut, edge and polish the tops in the shop.
The same crew sets the tops, fits the sink, joins the seams and leaves the room clean.
Questions
Yes, if the cabinet boxes are sound, fastened and can be brought level. We inspect them before quoting, shim and reinforce as part of the job, and tell you plainly if a box, usually the sink base, needs rebuilding first.
You lose the sink from tear-off until the plumber reconnects it after the adhesive cures. The template is taken over your old tops, so the kitchen stays usable while the new stone is being cut.
Removing tile on a mortar bed carries the most risk of the common tops, because it is heavy and has to be pried off in pieces. Prying over the cabinet cross members and checking face frame joints first keeps the risk low, and anything already loose is noted with you beforehand.
Usually. An old drop-in sink seldom suits a new undermount stone top, so most replacements include a new sink and often a new faucet. Choose both before the template visit so the openings and holes are cut to them.
Repair makes sense for a chip, a lifted seam or a loose sink on a top you still like. Replacement makes sense when the surface is worn everywhere, the grout is failing across a tile top or the look is the problem, which no repair changes.
An average kitchen is typically estimated at roughly $2,500 to $6,000, with tear-out, cabinet prep, material and the new sink moving the number. Your written quote after the template visit sets the final price.
Yes. Tear-out and disposal of the old top and splash are part of the replacement and appear as their own line in the quote, since a mortar-bed tile top weighs far more than laminate.
Yes. We replace tops across Rancho Cucamonga and in Claremont, La Verne, Glendora, Upland and the other cities on our service areas page. Call with your address and a photo of the current top to book the template visit.
Homeowners get a free template visit. Contractors and builders can send plans for a bid.
Licensed, bonded & insured · License #585047. Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
