Kitchen and bath remodeling in Millcreek's postwar neighborhoods

A young city with 1950s bones

Voters approved a city government in 2015, and Millcreek officially incorporated on December 28, 2016.¹ Its houses are much older. Suburban growth expanded massively here from the mid 1930s to the 1960s,¹ and the 1950s are still the biggest single decade, with 5,412 of the city's 28,104 homes.² Overall, 62.2% predate 1980, and the median home dates to 1973.²

The city's history page sums it up: from old pioneer farm homes to mid century starter home subdivisions.¹ Owners live in 61.4% of homes, and the median value is $627,200.² Depending on the house, you may be looking at a kitchen that's been redone once or twice, or one that's close to original.

Canyon Rim, Olympus Cove and Evergreen Avenue

The city is organized into four community councils: Canyon Rim, East Mill Creek, Millcreek and Mount Olympus.³ Canyon Rim got its name as homes went up near the rim of Parleys Hollow in the 1950s.³ Veterans of World War II and the Korean War bought in Canyon Rim and Olympus Cove,¹ and much of Olympus Cove was orchards and grazing land before suburban building spread after the war.³

The oldest layer runs along Evergreen Avenue, where summer homes for wealthy Salt Lake City residents went up beside Mill Creek in the early 1900s.¹ The city has also posted a National Register nomination for the Mountair Acres subdivision.¹

Starter homes were built to be affordable, so kitchens tend to be compact and baths few. Remodels here often focus on making a small kitchen work harder, or turning a dated hall bath into one that fits how you live now.

The permit line: finish work versus everything else

Millcreek keeps its own Building Department, which reviews plans, issues permits and inspects construction in the city.⁴ You apply online through Millcreek's iWorQ portal. The rule is broad: a building permit is required for all construction in Millcreek, apart from a short exempt list.⁴

So a straight cabinet and countertop swap needs no permit in Millcreek. Don't assume that carries over: the Municipal Services District, which covers unincorporated county areas, lists changing or lowering kitchen cabinets and countertops as work that does need one.⁵

Lead paint paperwork and historic surveys

EPA has authorized Utah to run its own lead renovation program.⁶ Under EPA's rule, a firm renovating a home built before 1978 must give the owner EPA's lead pamphlet no more than 60 days before work starts.⁷ If a remodeler hands you a booklet called Renovate Right, that's why.

Millcreek's code lets its Historic Preservation Commission designate neighborhoods, buildings, sites or districts as historic resources,⁸ and the city has posted reconnaissance level surveys from June 2023 and September 2024.¹ If your plan changes the outside of a house in a surveyed area, check with the city first. Budget ranges are on our Salt Lake remodel costs page.

Millcreek neighborhoods we get requests from

• Canyon Rim
• Olympus Cove
• Mount Olympus
• East Mill Creek
• Evergreen Avenue
• Mountair Acres
• Highland Drive and 3300 South