Free written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Tamko Kitchen Remodeling: The Fort Lauderdale Owner’s Guide
A full Tamko kitchen remodel in Fort Lauderdale typically runs $14,000 to $45,000 installed, with most mid-sized kitchens landing between $18,000 and $28,000. We stock Tamko-compatible cabinetry hardware, drawer slides, hinges, and corner hardware on our trucks, and we can usually match most Tamko cabinet parts within 48 hours when a specialty piece isn’t already in the van. Most owners discover a problem the same way: a drawer that suddenly won’t close square, a soft-close hinge that slams instead of catching, or a cabinet door that’s drifted out of alignment and won’t come back no matter how many times you adjust the screw.
One thing worth knowing before you go down a YouTube rabbit hole: Tamko cabinetry uses a mix of European-style cup hinges and specific slide lengths depending on the cabinet series. The stamped code inside the drawer box tells us more than the door style ever will. That’s where we start.
Which Tamko Models This Applies To
Tamko has produced cabinet lines under a few different series names over the years, and the hardware spec changed between runs. The two most common we see in Fort Lauderdale homes are the Tamko Designer series (full-overlay doors, soft-close Blum-style hinges, 35mm cup bore) and the Tamko Classic series (standard overlay, self-closing hinges, often with a side-mount drawer slide that’s narrower than today’s standard).
Here’s the compatibility gotcha that trips up a lot of people: the 35mm cup bore on Tamko Designer hinges means most aftermarket Blum or Grass hinges will physically fit, but the mounting plate offset has to match or the door will sit proud of the frame by about 3mm. We bring both 0mm and 3mm plates on every call because guessing wrong means a second trip and a door that looks fine until you close it. For drawer slides, measure the slide body length, not the drawer box. A Tamko Classic 18-inch drawer often uses a 16-inch slide, and ordering by drawer length is the single most common misorder we see.
We’re an independent service provider, not affiliated with Tamko. What that means for you: we’ll always give you the honest choice between OEM Tamko parts when they’re available and quality aftermarket equivalents that match the spec. Sometimes the aftermarket part is better, especially the modern soft-close slides. Sometimes OEM is the only thing that fits right. We’ll tell you which is which and why.
Styles & brands we work with
Signs Your Tamko Kitchen Remodeling Is Failing
- Drawer drops or catches when closing. The slide bearing has worn or the slide has come out of its rear mounting clip. In Fort Lauderdale’s humidity, we also see the rear clip hole wallow out in particleboard. The fix is usually a new slide pair plus a repaired mounting point.
- Soft-close stops working, door slams shut. The hydraulic damper inside the hinge has leaked or dried out. Once one goes, the others usually follow within a few months. It’s a hinge replacement, not a cabinet problem.
- Cabinet door rubs the frame or won’t stay closed. Either the hinge plate has shifted or the door itself has absorbed moisture and swelled. Salt air near the coast makes this worse. We check the gap before adjusting anything so we’re not masking a frame issue.
- Drawer front has pulled loose from the box. This is a fastener failure, usually because the original screws were too short and stripped out of the particleboard. The fix involves larger-diameter screws and sometimes epoxy fill, then remounting the front square to the box.
- Lazy susan or corner cabinet hardware binds. The pivot ring or mounting post has worn or seized. These are Tamko-specific parts, and the aftermarket options don’t always line up. We order OEM when we need to and tell you the timeline before anything gets turned off.
See the difference
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After
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AfterReplacement Cost & What’s Included
Here’s what Tamko kitchen remodeling work actually costs in Fort Lauderdale, based on the scope:
- Cabinet hardware / hinge / slide replacement: $400 – $1,200 depending on how many cabinets and whether we’re doing full soft-close conversion. Parts are typically $8 – $25 per hinge or slide pair, and labor runs about $85 – $110 per hour.
- Cabinet installation (new Tamko or Tamko-compatible boxes): $4,000 – $13,000 for a full kitchen worth of cabinets, including removal of old boxes, leveling, and shimming.
- Countertop installation: $2,000 – $6,500 depending on material and linear footage.
- Backsplash installation: $800 – $2,500 for a standard kitchen run.
- Full kitchen remodel: $14,000 – $45,000, which covers cabinet install, countertops, backsplash, sink plumbing hookups, and fixture installation when you’re doing the whole room.
You get a written price before we start, and that price doesn’t change unless we open a wall and find something structural that nobody could have predicted. When that happens, we stop, show you what we found, and give you a new written number before we touch anything else. Every Tamko repair or cabinet install from us carries the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if it’s not done right, we make it right, in writing, for a full year. Luca Romano signs off on every scope personally.
DIY or Call Us?
You can absolutely check a few things yourself before calling. Look at the stamped code inside the drawer box and measure the slide body length. Pull a hinge and look at the cup bore and the mounting plate offset. If a drawer front is loose, look at the screws and see if they’re stripped before you drill anything bigger. These are safe checks, and they help us both know what we’re dealing with.
Where DIY goes wrong is drilling new holes into stripped particleboard without filling the old ones first, or trying to force a mis-matched slide into a cabinet that took a different spec from the factory. We’ve walked into kitchens where someone drilled a third hole pattern into a door, and now the door needs a veneer patch on top of the hardware fix. The cabinet boxes are the expensive part. Let us protect them. Call us at (754) 354-7423 and we’ll get it looked at.
FAQs
In Fort Lauderdale’s humidity and salt air, we typically see original Tamko soft-close hinges start failing around 8 to 12 years, and slides around 10 to 15 depending on how heavily the kitchen gets used. Drawers that hold pots and pans wear out first. That’s not a knock on Tamko; it’s Florida. Call (754) 354-7423 if your hardware is at that age and starting to act up, and we’ll give you an honest replacement cost before committing to anything.
Slides can sometimes be re-clipped or re-seated when the issue is just a popped rear mount, but once the bearing inside is worn or the slide body is bent, replacement is the only honest fix. We’ll tell you which one you have. If a repair will hold, that’s what you’ll get. If it won’t, we’re not going to sell you a band-aid. Estimates are free, so call (754) 354-7423 and we’ll assess it.
A full drawer slide and hinge swap on a typical 20-door kitchen takes us about a half day on site, 3 to 5 hours. We bring the common parts on the truck, so most jobs are one visit. That’s the whole point of stocking Tamko-compatible hardware before we roll up. Call (754) 354-7423 to schedule yours.
We stock the most common Tamko-compatible hinges, slides, and corner hardware on our service vans, and we can order OEM Tamko parts when a specific series needs them, usually arriving within 2 to 3 business days in Fort Lauderdale. You’ll know which route we’re taking and what it costs before any work starts. Call (754) 354-7423 or stop in, and we’ll check the part code with you.
Written by Luca Romano, Owner & Lead Contractor, Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale at Sawyer Remodel Fort Lauderdale, serving Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas.
