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Unilock Kitchen Remodeling: The Houston Owner’s Guide
If you’re planning a kitchen remodel in Houston and want Unilock pavers, retaining wall block, or dimensional stone worked into the design, we handle those materials every month. Typical Unilock kitchen remodels here run $14,000 – $45,000 depending on the size of the kitchen, the cabinet line you pick, and how much Unilock product actually goes into the build. Most owners find us either because their current kitchen has failed material (buckled flooring, cracked counters, settling pavers near the door) or because they bought a home in Meyerland, Spring Branch, or Katy where the original kitchen was never built to survive Houston’s humidity and shifting clay soil.
What we see most often in Houston: a kitchen floor that’s starting to heave because the slab wasn’t prepped for our soil, or a Unilock paver transition from the kitchen door to the patio that’s sunk an inch and a half at the threshold. The materials themselves are solid. The install and the prep are usually where things went wrong. That’s the conversation Trevor Nash has with every homeowner before we quote a single cabinet pull.
Give me the straight story on what you need, and I’ll give you the straight number on what it costs.
Which Unilock Products This Applies To
Unilock makes a few product families that regularly show up in Houston kitchens even though the company is known for outdoor hardscape. The most common: Unilock Elegance dimensional stone used as kitchen backsplash accent panels or feature walls, Unilock Thornbury and Richcliff pavers used at kitchen threshold transitions and mudroom entries, and Unilock Brussels Block pavers that sometimes carry from the patio right into an indoor-outdoor kitchen layout. If you have a Unilock product label left over from the original build, it’ll usually be stamped on the back or edge of the paver, or printed on the original packing slip tucked with the appliance paperwork. No label? A photo and a measurement of the paver thickness will tell us which line it came from.
One compatibility gotcha we run into all the time in Houston: Unilock’s paver thickness varies by line. Brussels Block runs about 60mm thick. Thornbury runs 70mm. Richcliff runs 70mm as well. If a previous contractor mixed lines or used a different paver for the interior threshold than the exterior landing, the height difference will create a step or a lip that trips you every single time you walk through the door. Matching the exact line matters more than matching the color. We stock the most common Unilock paver dimensions on the truck, and we can order any full line direct within a week through our supplier.
On the OEM versus aftermarket question: for Unilock dimensional stone and pavers, there isn’t really an “aftermarket” equivalent worth buying. The color blends, the edge treatment, and the precise thickness are proprietary to the original manufacturing run. A knockoff paver from a different Texas supplier will be close in color for about six months, then fade at a different rate than the original and you’ll see the patch. With genuine Unilock, you get the original blend and a color that stays matched. Penhallow Remodeling Houston is an independent contractor, not a Unilock dealer or affiliate, which means we quote the work honestly and source the real product rather than whatever’s cheapest at the yard.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Unilock Kitchen Remodeling Is Failing
- Floor heave or buckling at the threshold: Houston’s clay soil expands and contracts with moisture. A slab that wasn’t prepped with proper compaction will lift at the kitchen door and crack any tile or paver set over it.
- Grout cracking in a straight line across the floor: That line usually traces a control joint in the slab that was tiled over instead of being honorably carried up through the tile. It will re-crack no matter how many times it’s re-grouted.
- Unilock paver transition sinking at the exterior door: Water pools at the threshold when it rains. The paver base underneath has eroded. This is the one we fix twice a year for homeowners in Westbury and Bellaire.
- Cabinet doors that no longer close square: Not always a cabinet problem. If the floor has shifted or the subfloor has rotted from a slow dishwasher leak, the cabinets ride the same movement and the doors bind.
- A backsplash that looks good for three weeks, then shows hairline cracks behind the range: Heat cycling plus a plastic mastic instead of a proper cement board substrate (the moisture-resistant layer behind your tile) will crack any stone accent panels, including Unilock dimensional pieces.
See the difference
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
For a Unilock-involved kitchen remodel in Houston, the full project typically lands between $14,000 and $45,000. On the lower end, that’s a smaller kitchen with stock KraftMaid or Wellborn cabinets, a laminate or solid-surface counter, simple backsplash, and a modest amount of Unilock material at the threshold or entry. On the higher end, that’s a full gut with custom cabinet configuration, Cambria or Silestone quartz counters, a kitchen island, Unilock dimensional stone feature walls, and full floor replacement down to the slab.
What drives the number up or down: cabinet line (stock versus semi-custom), countertop material (entry quartz runs about $2,000 – $6,500 for installation depending on square footage, premium quartz runs higher), how much of the old floor has to come out, and whether the slab itself needs repair before we can set anything. We quote every line item in writing before any work starts. No ranges presented as handshake numbers, no change orders at the door unless you add scope. The price on your written estimate is the price on the invoice. And every project carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if the work fails inside that year, we come back and fix it at no charge. You’ll have that in writing too.
DIY or Call Us?
You can safely pull a floor register and look at the subfloor. You can check whether the Unilock paver at your kitchen door rocks when you step on it. You can measure the gap under the threshold with a dime. What you shouldn’t do is pull up tile, cut into the slab, or re-set the pavers yourself. Slab work in Houston is unforgiving, and a paver base that’s failing will just fail again if the subgrade isn’t recompacted correctly. We’ve been called to fix enough homeowner attempts in the Meyerland area to know the second repair always costs more than the first job would have.
If you’ve got a failing threshold, a cracked floor, or you’re planning a Unilock kitchen remodel and want the price in writing before any work starts, call us at (254) 527-5340. Trevor or one of our background-checked technicians will walk the job, explain exactly what’s failing, and hand you a written quote. No estimate games, no pressure.
FAQs
A properly installed Unilock kitchen remodel in Houston should last 20 to 30 years on the hardscape portions and 15 to 25 years on cabinets and counters, assuming the slab was prepped correctly and there’s no unresolved moisture problem. The paver threshold and any dimensional stone will outlast the cabinet finish if the base was compacted. Call (254) 527-5340 and we’ll tell you honestly whether your existing slab will carry a remodel or needs work first.
Yes, if the failure is isolated to a few sunken pavers and the base under them is still sound. We can pull the affected pavers, re-compact the base, re-set them, and re-sand the joints. If the water has washed out the base across the whole threshold, you’re better off replacing that section entirely. Repairs run anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to the low thousands depending on how much base has to be rebuilt. Estimates are free; call us for an exact number.
Most full kitchen remodels in Houston take three to eight weeks depending on scope. A simple threshold repair or backsplash replacement can be done in one to two days. We give you a defined arrival window and a schedule in writing before we pull the first cabinet, and a live person answers the phone 24/7 if you need to reach us mid-project.
We keep the most common Unilock paver sizes and a few dimensional stone pieces on the truck for threshold and transition repairs. Full line products and custom colors we order through our Houston supplier, which typically takes three to seven business days. We’ll tell you up front what’s in stock and what has to be ordered before we quote the job. Call (254) 527-5340 for a free estimate and we’ll walk the job together.
Written by Trevor Nash, Owner, Penhallow Remodeling Houston at Penhallow Remodeling Houston, serving Houston and nearby areas.
