Nelson Kitchen & Bath serves homeowners in Sewickley Heights with custom kitchen and bathroom remodeling. Our showroom is at 637 Route 228 in Mars, accessible via Interstate 79 from either direction, north from Sewickley Heights through the Mt. Nebo exit or south from Mars through Cranberry Township. Sewickley Heights is one of the most prestigious residential communities in western Pennsylvania, and we are proud to serve homeowners here who expect the highest standard of craftsmanship and care.
Sewickley Heights: One of Pennsylvania’s Most Distinguished Communities
Sewickley Heights sits on the northern shore of the Ohio River in southwestern Allegheny County, about 15 miles west of Pittsburgh. The borough covers just over seven square miles and had a population of 857 at the 2020 census, making it one of the smallest incorporated municipalities in the region by population. But what Sewickley Heights lacks in size, it more than compensates for in character, history, and the quality of the properties within its borders.
The early history of Sewickley Heights is intertwined with the broader settlement of the land north of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers. Like much of this area, the early Heights was part of the Depreciation Lands, parcels surveyed and sold to veterans of the Revolutionary War. One of the original land patents was issued to Thomas McKean, the first governor of Pennsylvania. When his daughter married a Spanish national, McKean’s land passed into Spanish hands from 1804 to 1881, and the legacy of that ownership lives on today in Spanish Tract, a private roadway in the northwestern portion of the borough. The first documented settler in what is now Sewickley Heights is believed to be Frederick Merriman, who arrived around 1808 and whose name is preserved in Merriman Road on the eastern edge of the borough. The area was largely agricultural through the 19th century, with small settlements clustered near Little Sewickley Creek and Kilbuck Run.
The character of Sewickley Heights changed fundamentally in 1902 when the Allegheny Country Club relocated from the City of Allegheny to its current location in the borough. That move was the catalyst for the community as it exists today. Wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists and businessmen who belonged to the club began acquiring land in the Heights, constructing estates that combined the comfort of the city with the space, privacy, and natural beauty of the hilltops above the Ohio River. These were not modest summer cottages. Some estates occupied hundreds of acres, with main houses of immense scale surrounded by farm buildings, servants quarters, and elaborately landscaped grounds. Among the grandest was As You Like It, the estate of banker and investor William Thaw. The borough was formally incorporated in 1935, giving legal structure to a community whose social and physical character had already been firmly established over the preceding three decades.
The 1920s and 1930s represented the peak of the estate era, with lavish properties dotting the hilltops separated by wooded tracts and open fields. In the decades since, many of the original estates have been subdivided and some of the great houses have been demolished. What remains are stone walls, iron gates, gatehouses, and outbuildings that speak to the community’s history, along with the wooded hilltop setting that made the Heights attractive in the first place. Today, Sewickley Heights is one of the most sought-after residential communities in western Pennsylvania, consistently ranking among the highest-income municipalities in both the state and the country.
The numbers reflect that status clearly. The median household income in Sewickley Heights exceeds $203,000, which is more than double the Allegheny County average and well over double the national average. The per capita income approaches $156,000. The poverty rate is approximately 1.2 percent, among the lowest of any municipality in the Pittsburgh metro area. The Quaker Valley School District serves the borough, and Pittsburgh International Airport is less than 30 minutes away. These are the conditions that attract and retain a very specific kind of household: established, accomplished, and deeply invested in the quality of the home they have chosen to call their own.
Who We Serve in Sewickley Heights
Sewickley Heights homeowners who come to us are among the most discerning clients we work with anywhere in our service area. These are households where the home itself is a significant expression of who they are, and where the quality of the work done in it is held to a genuinely high standard. They are not looking for a contractor who will take a job and deliver something adequate. They are looking for someone who takes the work as seriously as they take their home.
The housing stock in Sewickley Heights reflects the borough’s history and its ongoing evolution. Some properties are original estate-era homes that have been maintained and updated over the decades, with kitchens and baths that have been touched multiple times but never fully reimagined. Others are newer homes built on subdivided estate land, constructed to a high standard but with kitchens and baths that the current owners want to bring fully in line with their vision for the property. And there are homes that are being significantly renovated or rebuilt by new owners who see the potential in a property and are committed to realizing it.
What Sewickley Heights homeowners consistently share is an expectation that the people they hire will show up prepared, work carefully, communicate clearly, and deliver a result that reflects genuine skill. They have typically worked with contractors before and they know the difference between someone who is good at the work and someone who is merely willing to do it. We are the former, and that is what brings clients from Sewickley Heights to Nelson Kitchen & Bath.
Sewickley Heights Kitchen Remodeling
Kitchens in Sewickley Heights homes tend to be large, well-positioned, and full of potential that has not always been fully realized by previous renovations. Estate-era homes often have kitchen spaces that were designed for a very different style of household management, with layouts oriented around domestic staff rather than the modern open-plan kitchen that flows into the family’s daily life. Updating these kitchens requires both technical skill and genuine design thinking, not just the ability to install new cabinets in an existing footprint.
Nelson Kitchen & Bath designs and builds custom kitchens from scratch on every project. We do not work from preset packages or standard configurations. We start with a conversation about how you use your kitchen, what works and what does not, and what the finished room needs to feel like for it to be right. In a home of this caliber, that conversation matters more than it does anywhere else. The kitchen should be indistinguishable in quality from the rest of the home, and achieving that requires a design process that is genuinely custom from the start.
Here is what kitchen remodeling with Nelson Kitchen & Bath typically covers in Sewickley Heights homes:
- Cabinet design and installation: Custom and semi-custom cabinetry designed around your specific layout, your storage needs, and the overall aesthetic of the home. In larger estate-era kitchens especially, the opportunity to get the cabinetry genuinely right is significant, and we take full advantage of it. No standard configurations that your kitchen has to fit into.
- Countertops: Quartz, granite, and solid surface options selected for durability and the overall look of the room. We help you find a surface that performs as well as it looks for years of serious daily use.
- Flooring: Hardwood, luxury vinyl plank, and tile installed as part of the complete project. We match the material to the character of the home, the traffic level, and the finishes throughout the surrounding spaces.
- Backsplash and tile work: Custom tile installation that ties the design together with the precision that a home of this caliber demands. Grout line consistency, pattern alignment, and clean transitions at every edge and corner. We treat these details with the same care we bring to everything else.
- Lighting: Under-cabinet lighting, recessed lighting, and pendant placement that makes the kitchen functional and welcoming at every hour. Lighting design in a larger kitchen is a significant undertaking, and we give it the attention it deserves.
- Appliance integration: Built-in appliances, panel-ready refrigerators, range installations, and custom ventilation handled as part of the overall design so every element finishes consistently and at the level the home requires.
You work with Ray Nelson directly from the first conversation through the final walkthrough. In a home of this significance, having the principal directly accountable for every aspect of the project is not a luxury. It is the only way to ensure the result is right.
Bathroom Remodeling in Sewickley Heights
The primary baths in Sewickley Heights homes occupy some of the most significant real estate in the property. In estate-era homes, these rooms were often designed with genuine grandeur, generous proportions, quality original materials, and a sense of permanence that newer construction rarely achieves. The challenge in remodeling these baths is doing justice to the character of the original while bringing the room fully into the present in terms of function, fixtures, and finish.
In newer homes built on subdivided Heights property, the primary bath often has the square footage to be something truly exceptional but has not yet been realized at that level. These are the projects where the starting point is a room of significant size and a homeowner with a clear vision, and the outcome should be a bath that feels like it was designed for this specific home and this specific owner rather than assembled from catalog options.
Nelson Kitchen & Bath remodels primary baths, guest baths, and powder rooms throughout Sewickley Heights. We approach every project with the same level of care regardless of scope, and the process always starts with an honest assessment of what the room needs and what the homeowner envisions. Some projects are complete gut-and-rebuilds. Others are more targeted renovations that bring specific elements up to the standard of the rest of the home. The right scope depends on the room, the goals, and the budget.
Here is what bathroom remodeling with Nelson Kitchen & Bath covers:
- Shower and tub work: Custom tile showers, freestanding soaking tubs, frameless glass enclosures, steam systems, and built-in niches constructed on a properly waterproofed substrate. In a home of this caliber, the shower and tub are design statements as much as they are functional fixtures, and we build them accordingly.
- Vanity and storage: Custom cabinetry designed around the scale of the room and your specific storage needs. In a larger Sewickley Heights primary bath, the vanity is a central focal point and every detail of its design and construction matters.
- Tile work: Floor tile, wall tile, and accent tile installed with the precision and care that a home of this significance demands. Pattern alignment, grout line consistency, and transition details are treated as carefully as the primary surfaces.
- Plumbing fixtures: Faucets, showerheads, body sprayers, handheld fixtures, and toilet selections chosen for quality and coordinated consistently across the room at a level that matches the home.
- Lighting and ventilation: Layered bath lighting that serves every function the room is used for, combined with ventilation that meets modern standards and protects the investment in the finishes. We design the lighting and ventilation as part of the project, not as an afterthought.
- Flooring: Heated tile floors, natural stone, and luxury vinyl options installed on a properly prepared substrate so they perform beautifully for years.
Why Sewickley Heights Homeowners Use Nelson Kitchen & Bath
Sewickley Heights homeowners choose their contractors carefully, and they should. A home in this community represents a significant investment and a deeply personal statement about quality and taste. The contractor who works in that home needs to be someone who understands that, takes it seriously, and has the skill to deliver work that reflects it.
Ray Nelson has been doing this for over 30 years. He is not a franchise operator or a project coordinator managing crews on behalf of a larger organization. He is the craftsman and business owner who is personally responsible for every project that goes out under his name. When you hire Nelson Kitchen & Bath, you are hiring Ray and his oversight and execution skills. He’s the person you meet at the first consultation, the person who designs your project, and the person you can reach throughout the process. That level of personal accountability is what clients in Sewickley Heights expect, and it is what we deliver.
Our showroom is at 637 Route 228 in Mars, accessible via I-79 in either direction. We welcome Sewickley Heights homeowners to come in, see materials and finished examples in person, and have a detailed conversation about their project before making any commitment.
Here is what you can count on when you work with us:
- Craftsmanship at the level your home demands: Sewickley Heights homes are built and maintained to a high standard. The work we do here reflects that standard in every detail.
- Direct access to Ray Nelson: You work with Ray from the first consultation through the final walkthrough. He is personally accountable for your project and reachable throughout.
- Custom design for your specific property: Every home in Sewickley Heights is different. We design around your space, your household, and your vision rather than around a package or a standard configuration.
- Transparent pricing before work begins: You will know exactly what you are paying before any work starts. No estimates designed to win the job that balloon into something else by the end.
- 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 Sewickley Heights 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 Sewickley Heights 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, Franklin Park, and throughout the western Pennsylvania region.