Nelson Kitchen & Bath serves homeowners throughout Franklin Park with custom kitchen and bathroom remodeling. Our showroom is at 637 Route 228 in Mars, a straightforward drive northeast through Marshall Township or up from the Wexford area via Route 19. Franklin Park sits at a crossroads between the communities we have served for decades, and it is a borough we know well. We have been remodeling kitchens and baths for homeowners in the North Allegheny corridor for over 30 years, and the work we do in Franklin Park reflects everything we have learned doing it.
Franklin Park: Farmland Turned Family Borough
Franklin Park is one of the larger boroughs in Allegheny County by land area, covering just over 13.5 square miles in the northwestern corner of the county. With a population of around 15,479 at the 2020 census, it sits comfortably between the density of McCandless to the east and the more rural character of Ohio Township and Sewickley to the south and southwest. Two interstates run through the borough’s boundaries, giving Franklin Park residents access to downtown Pittsburgh in about 15 minutes and to Pittsburgh International Airport in about 20. For a community that is genuinely residential in character, that kind of access to the broader metro is a significant asset.
The story of Franklin Park starts in August 1823, when residents in the northwestern corner of Allegheny County successfully petitioned to secede from Ohio Township and form their own municipality, which they named Franklin Township after Benjamin Franklin. For the next century and more, the township moved at what local historians have described as its own unhurried pace. There were no villages, no central business districts, no defining commercial corridors. Churches, one-room schoolhouses, blacksmith shops, and country stores were scattered across gently rolling farmland. A brief oil and gas boom at the turn of the 20th century brought some economic activity, and a small number of those wells still supply natural gas to Franklin Park homes today, which is a genuine piece of local history that most residents discover only when their neighbor mentions it.
The transformation from farm township to residential suburb happened almost entirely after World War II. Returning veterans and their growing families began buying land and building homes, and the first subdivisions appeared in what had been farmland. The population grew, the demand for services grew, and in 1948 Franklin Township joined with Marshall, Bradford Woods, McCandless, and Pine to form the North Allegheny School District. Pine left the following year, but the district that remained went on to become one of the most highly regarded school systems in Pennsylvania. Franklin Township became the Borough of Franklin Park in August 1961, completing the transition from rural municipality to the suburban community it is today.
What makes Franklin Park genuinely interesting as a residential community is the combination of its history and its present character. There is still no traditional downtown, no commercial village center, no strip of shops that defines Main Street. Franklin Park is, by design and by history, a place people live rather than a place people visit. The community is built around its neighborhoods, its parks, its schools, and the families who have chosen it as the place to put down roots. Northland Public Library serves the borough along with McCandless and Marshall Township, adding a community anchor that complements the school district in building the kind of place where families stay.
The North Allegheny School District is the most powerful draw for buyers in Franklin Park, and it has been for decades. Ranked first in the Pittsburgh area and second in all of Pennsylvania in the 2026 Niche rankings with an overall grade of A-plus, the district operates two high schools, three middle schools, and seven elementary schools including Franklin Elementary and Bradford Woods Elementary within the borough’s boundaries. North Allegheny is the largest suburban district in Allegheny County by enrollment, which means students have access to a breadth of Advanced Placement courses, athletics, and extracurricular programs that smaller districts simply cannot match. Families move to Franklin Park because of that school district and stay because of the community.
The housing numbers reflect Franklin Park’s appeal. The median household income runs well above the Allegheny County average, home values have climbed steadily, and owner-occupancy is high. Notably, Franklin Park’s location spans three different ZIP codes. Homes here carry Wexford, Pittsburgh, or Sewickley mailing addresses depending on which part of the borough they sit in. That geographic spread is a reminder of how large and varied the borough actually is, and it means the housing stock here is more diverse than a single zip code search would suggest.
Who We Serve in Franklin Park
The homeowners who call us from Franklin Park tend to reflect the borough’s character. Established, invested in their community, and clear on what they expect from the people they hire.
A large portion of Franklin Park’s housing was built during the suburban expansion of the 1960s through the 1980s, when the farmland was steadily converted to residential subdivisions. These homes were built well and have been maintained carefully by long-term owners, but the kitchens and baths in them reflect their era. Cabinet boxes that feel lightweight by today’s standards. Countertops that were fine when they were installed but have run their course. Layouts that were designed around a different idea of how families use a kitchen than what prevails in most households today. The bones of these homes are solid. The rooms themselves are overdue.
A second group of Franklin Park homeowners comes to us from the newer construction that went up in the borough from the 1990s through the 2010s. These homes tend to be larger and more deliberately appointed than the earlier builds, but the builder’s standard kitchen and bath packages have a ceiling that most homeowners eventually bump against. A kitchen where the cabinet boxes are a step up from base grade but still not custom. A primary bath that has the square footage to be something exceptional but was finished with materials that do not match the ambition of the floor plan. These homeowners know exactly what they want, and they have usually been thinking about it for a while before they make the call.
There is also a consistent stream of Franklin Park homeowners who come to us at a particular inflection point in life. The children are finishing school or have already left. The household income is stable and the mortgage is well under control. The kitchen and bath that were always on the list have finally reached the top of it. These clients are often some of the most enjoyable to work with because they have a clear vision, realistic expectations, and a genuine appreciation for work that is done right.
Kitchen Remodeling in Franklin Park
The kitchens in Franklin Park homes vary more than you might expect given how uniformly residential the borough is. An older 1960s ranch in the Ingomar area has a completely different floor plan and a different set of opportunities than a larger colonial built in the 1990s near the Marshall Township border. Both are different from the newer custom construction that went up in more recent years on the remaining parcels of land that were slow to be developed. Each type of home requires a genuinely tailored approach, and that is how we work.
Nelson Kitchen & Bath designs and builds custom kitchens from scratch on every project. We do not begin by showing you a set of package options. We begin with a conversation about how your household actually uses the kitchen. What gets cooked, how often, by how many people, and what about the existing layout has never worked the way it should. Those answers drive the design. The materials come later, after we know what we are building and why.
Here is what kitchen remodeling with Nelson Kitchen & Bath typically covers in Franklin Park homes:
- Cabinet design and installation: Custom and semi-custom cabinetry built around your specific layout and storage needs. In older Franklin Park homes, this often means making creative use of ceiling height, working around structural walls that cannot move, and designing storage solutions that a standard cabinet line would never produce. We do that work on every project.
- Countertops: Quartz, granite, and solid surface options chosen for durability and the overall look of the room. We help you find a surface that holds up to real daily use for years, not just one that looks appealing when it is new.
- Flooring: Hardwood, luxury vinyl plank, and tile installed as part of the complete project. We match the material to the visual weight of the room, the traffic level, and the finishes throughout the rest of the home. In older Franklin Park homes, subfloor condition is a factor we assess and address correctly before new flooring goes down.
- Backsplash and tile work: Custom tile installation that finishes the room with the precision it deserves. Consistent grout lines, clean transitions, and correct pattern alignment are the details that make a tile job look professionally done rather than simply completed.
- Lighting: Under-cabinet lighting, recessed lighting, and pendant placement that makes the kitchen work at every time of day. Homes built in the 1960s through the 1980s rarely have kitchen lighting that was designed with the kitchen in mind. We address it as part of the project.
- Appliance installation: Built-in appliances, panel-ready refrigerators, and range installations handled as part of the overall design so every element finishes consistently and cleanly.
You work with Ray Nelson directly from the first conversation through the final walkthrough. No handoffs to a project coordinator you have never met, no crews arriving without a clear understanding of your home and your project.
Bathroom Remodeling in Franklin Park
Bathroom remodeling in Franklin Park is where we consistently hear the same thing from homeowners in slightly different words. The room has never been right, and they are finally ready to fix it properly. Sometimes that means a primary bath that was partially updated in the 1990s and has felt disjointed ever since. Sometimes it means an original bath from a 1960s home that has been maintained but never truly reimagined. And sometimes it means a newer home where the primary bath has the potential to be genuinely impressive but has never been finished to the level the floor plan suggests.
Nelson Kitchen & Bath remodels primary baths, guest baths, and powder rooms throughout Franklin Park. The scope depends entirely on the specific room and what it needs. Full gut-and-rebuilds, targeted tub-to-shower conversions, vanity replacements, tile work, fixture upgrades — we do all of it, and we always start by figuring out what will actually make the room work better rather than what will generate the most billable work.
In older Franklin Park homes, bathroom remodeling almost always requires more preparatory work than the homeowner initially expects. Older tile backer was not waterproofed to current standards. Plumbing configurations that were standard in the 1960s and 1970s need to be evaluated and sometimes updated as part of a remodel. Subfloors in bathrooms that have been in continuous use for fifty or sixty years need to be carefully assessed before new tile goes down. We do not skip those steps, and we do not allow a homeowner to skip them either. A bathroom that looks finished but was built on compromised substrate is a bathroom that will fail, and we have been doing this long enough to have seen exactly what that looks like.
Here is what bathroom remodeling with Nelson Kitchen & Bath covers:
- Shower and tub work: Tub-to-shower conversions, custom tile showers, frameless glass enclosures, and built-in niches on a properly waterproofed substrate. We build showers that are structurally sound before they are visually impressive.
- Vanity and storage: Custom and semi-custom cabinetry designed around the scale of the room and how the bathroom is actually used. We do not drop in a replacement vanity from a home improvement store and call it a remodel.
- Tile work: Floor tile, wall tile, and accent tile installed with the care and precision that makes a bathroom feel designed rather than assembled. The details, grout line consistency, pattern alignment, transitions at edges, are what separate our work from a contractor who focuses only on what shows in the photos.
- Plumbing fixtures: Faucets, showerheads, handheld sprayers, and toilet replacements selected for quality and coordinated consistently across the room so everything finishes at the same level.
- Lighting and ventilation: Layered lighting that serves every function the bathroom is used for, combined with ventilation that meets modern standards. Poor ventilation is one of the most persistent causes of long-term moisture damage in older homes. We address it during the remodel rather than leaving it as someone else’s problem later.
- Flooring: Heated tile floors, luxury vinyl, and natural stone options installed on a properly prepared substrate so they stay flat and grout-tight for years after the project is done.
Why Franklin Park Homeowners Build w/ Nelson Kitchen & Bath
Franklin Park is a community where people are deliberate about where they live and careful about who they invite into their homes. The families who chose this borough did so for specific reasons, and the standards they apply to every aspect of their lives extend to the people they hire for remodeling work. They are not looking for the fastest option or the lowest bid. They are looking for someone who does the work correctly and stands behind it.
Ray Nelson has been doing this work in the North Allegheny corridor for over 30 years. He is not a franchise operator managing other people’s work or a project coordinator standing between the client and the crew. He is the craftsman and business owner who is directly responsible for every project that goes out under his name, and he is the person you will work with from the day you first walk into our Mars showroom. That personal, direct accountability is the foundation of how we operate, and it is what consistently brings Franklin Park homeowners to us rather than to one of the regional or national contractors competing for the same work.
Our showroom at 637 Route 228 in Mars is a straightforward drive from any part of Franklin Park. Come in during the week, see materials in person, and have a real conversation about your project before making any commitment.
Here is what you can count on when you work with us:
- A contractor who knows the North Allegheny corridor: We work regularly in Franklin Park and the surrounding communities. We know the housing stock across every decade of development and we bring that knowledge to every project we take on.
- Direct access to Ray Nelson: You work with Ray from the first consultation through the final walkthrough. He is the person responsible for your project and he is reachable throughout the process.
- Custom design for your specific home: Franklin Park homes span six decades of residential construction. We design around your space, your household, and your goals rather than around a standard configuration or a package we are trying to sell.
- Transparent pricing before work begins: You will know exactly what you are paying before the first nail goes in. We do not win jobs with low estimates and recover the margin in change orders.
- Work we stand behind: If something is not right when the project is finished, we make it right. That has been Ray’s standard since 1994 and it has not changed.
Schedule a Consultation
If you are a Franklin Park homeowner thinking about a kitchen or bathroom remodel, the first step is a conversation. Visit our showroom at 637 Route 228 in Mars or reach out to schedule a consultation with Ray Nelson directly. We serve Franklin Park and the surrounding communities of Cranberry Township, Mars, Seven Fields, Adams Township, Middlesex Township, Valencia, Evans City, Pine Township, Wexford, Warrendale, Gibsonia, Butler Township, Hampton Township, Marshall Township, Zelienople, Harmony, Jackson Township, Allison Park, McCandless, Richland Township, Sewickley Heights, and throughout the Northern Pittsburgh suburbs.