Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
IKO Kitchen Remodeling: The Los Angeles Owner’s Guide
If you have an IKO kitchen and a component has failed or is wearing out, you’re likely looking at a full or partial remodel rather than a simple part swap. IKO doesn’t manufacture kitchen cabinets, counters, or fixtures as a standalone consumer brand in the U.S. market. What homeowners in Los Angeles usually mean when they say “IKO kitchen” is either a kitchen remodel completed with IKO-branded building materials (most often roofing or waterproofing underlayment used during the original construction) or a kitchen in a home where IKO products were used elsewhere and now need matching work done.
We see this regularly across Los Angeles, from Sherman Oaks to Silver Lake. The homeowner has a kitchen that’s 15 to 25 years old, the cabinetry is delaminating at the edges, the counter substrate has water intrusion, or the tile work is failing because the waterproofing layer beneath it was never properly installed or has degraded over time. The kitchen needs real remodeling work, not a patch job. Typical full kitchen remodeling in Los Angeles runs $16,520 to $53,100, and we can usually start within a week of the initial estimate, not months out.
Isaac Pruett has seen this exact situation hundreds of times. The good news is that a kitchen built around IKO waterproofing materials can be rebuilt properly, and we know what to look for when we open the walls.
Which IKO Models This Applies To
IKO is primarily a roofing and waterproofing manufacturer. In Los Angeles kitchens, their products most often appear as IKO AquaBarrier or IKO ArmourGard underlayments used behind tile backsplashes, under floor tile, or as a moisture barrier behind cabinets on exterior walls. If your kitchen was remodeled in the last 10 to 20 years by a contractor who specified IKO waterproofing, there’s a solid chance that’s what’s underneath your tile or behind your drywall.
The key identification point is not a model number stamped on a visible surface. It’s the layer you can’t see. When we demo a kitchen in Los Angeles, we check for the telltale blue or gray IKO membrane rolls. If it’s there, we can assess whether it was installed correctly. The compatibility issue that matters most is not the IKO product itself but what’s going on top of it: tile, stone, or cabinetry. IKO membranes work with all standard thin-set mortars and modified adhesives, so the field is wide. We also work with KraftMaid and Wellborn cabinetry, and Cambria, Silestone, and Caesarstone countertops, all of which integrate cleanly with IKO waterproofing when the substrate is prepped right.
One thing to know: Mason Remodeling Co Los Angeles is an independent service provider. We are not affiliated with IKO, but we use their waterproofing products regularly because they hold up well in Southern California’s climate, especially in kitchens where humidity and occasional plumbing leaks are a reality.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your IKO Kitchen Remodeling Is Failing
If any of these sound familiar, you’re not imagining it. We’ve diagnosed every one of these in Los Angeles homes, and the cause is usually the same: water got where it shouldn’t have.
- Tile grout cracking or crumbling along the backsplash. This typically means the substrate behind the tile is swelling or shifting. In kitchens with older or improperly installed IKO membrane, moisture has worked its way through seams and is now expanding the backer board.
- Base cabinets staining or swelling at the toe kick. That’s the lowest point in the kitchen, and water always finds the lowest point. If the IKO underlayment wasn’t lapped correctly at the floor-to-wall transition, every sink splash and mopping is now feeding the cabinet bases.
- A musty smell that comes and goes, especially under the sink. That’s not old sponges. It’s trapped moisture behind the cabinet back panel or under the floor tile. By the time you smell it, the wood is already degrading.
- Countertop seams separating or lippage between slabs. If the counter substrate has absorbed moisture, it expands unevenly. Stone and engineered stone don’t flex, so the seams open up. In Los Angeles, where we get temperature swings from cool coastal mornings to hot afternoons, that expansion cycle makes it worse.
- Floor tile hollow-sounding when tapped, or tiles popping loose. This is the classic sign of a failed bond layer, often because the waterproofing below wasn’t properly primed or the thin-set was applied over a wet membrane. Once one tile goes, the rest aren’t far behind.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
In Los Angeles, a full kitchen remodel runs $16,520 to $53,100. The range is wide because kitchens vary enormously. A compact galley kitchen in a 1920s bungalow in Highland Park is a very different job from a 400-square-foot open-plan kitchen in Brentwood with an island, custom cabinetry, and stone counters.
Here’s how the numbers break down for the major components:
- Kitchen remodel (full): $16,520 – $53,100
- Small kitchen remodel: $10,620 – $23,600
- Cabinet installation: $4,720 – $15,340
- Countertop installation: $2,360 – $7,670
- Backsplash installation: $945 – $2,950
- Kitchen island installation: $3,540 – $11,800
Every quote we give is a written price before any work starts. That means the number on the page is the number on the final invoice, unless you ask us to add scope. We don’t do verbal estimates that grow. And every job carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the work isn’t right within a year of completion, we make it right at no cost to you.
DIY or Call Us?
Let’s be straight about this. A failing kitchen waterproofing layer is not a weekend fix. You can do some things safely: check for visible water stains under the sink, run your hand along cabinet bases to feel for swelling, tap a few floor tiles with a screwdriver handle to hear if they’re hollow. That’s diagnosis, and it helps you know what you’re dealing with.
But the actual repair means removing tile, cabinets, or counters, finding the water source, replacing the damaged framing or substrate, and reinstalling everything with proper waterproofing. That’s not a caulk-and-paint job. If the IKO membrane is the problem, it’s because water breached it, and the fix requires opening the wall or floor. We’ve done this work across Los Angeles for two decades, and we’ll tell you plainly if a repair is possible or a full replacement is smarter. Isaac trained at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and has spent the better part of twenty years working residential jobs across this county. He’s seen every variation of this failure. Call (213) 632-5711 for an honest assessment.
FAQs
Properly installed IKO waterproofing membrane should last 20 to 30 years or more, which is effectively the life of the kitchen. The failure point is almost always installation error or physical damage (a plumbing leak, a cracked tile that let water in), not the membrane breaking down on its own. In Los Angeles, with our dry climate, the membrane itself ages slowly. It’s what happens on top of it or around it that causes trouble.
Sometimes, yes. If the damage is localized, say behind one section of backsplash or under a single cabinet run, we can open that area, replace the damaged substrate and membrane, and patch it properly. If water has traveled, which it usually does in kitchens because gravity pulls it down and sideways along seams, the repair area grows fast. We’ll tell you honestly which situation you’re in before any money changes hands. Call (213) 632-5711 and we’ll take a look.
A full kitchen remodel typically takes 6 to 10 weeks from demo to final walkthrough, depending on the scope, whether you’re moving plumbing or electrical, and how fast your selected materials arrive. A smaller job, like cabinet and counter replacement with a new backsplash, can be done in 3 to 4 weeks. We give you a written schedule before we start, and we stick to it.
We keep IKO AquaBarrier and standard thin-set and backer board materials stocked on our trucks for most jobs, along with common Schluter profiles (the metal trim that seals the edge where tile meets flooring). If your job requires a specific IKO product or a specialty order, we source it through our supply partners in Los Angeles, usually within a few days. We also handle KraftMaid cabinetry, Cambria surfaces, and Silestone counters through those same channels.
Know who’s coming, know what it costs, know it’s guaranteed. Everything else is just noise. Call (213) 632-5711 for your free estimate.
Written by Isaac Pruett, Owner, Mason Remodeling Co at Mason Remodeling Co Los Angeles, serving Los Angeles and nearby areas.
