In Fairfax County, replacing your kitchen cabinets and countertops requires no building permit at all. Move a plumbing, gas or electrical fixture and it does.

That line gets drawn when your layout gets drawn, in a showroom, weeks before anybody picks up a tool. It decides whether you have a two day cabinet swap or a project with an inspection in it, and it costs more than any door style you will choose afterwards.

We go through what the county actually exempts, what relocating a sink drags with it, and the part people find surprising: keeping the plumbing where it is does not mean keeping the same kitchen. Drawer banks instead of cupboards, wall cabinets to the ceiling, a U shaped pull out that wraps the trap rather than moving the drain. All cabinet work. None of it permitted work.

Then the four words th ...