If you’re reading this, you are most likely in the beginning stages of researching your kitchen remodel. For many of our clients, this is the biggest, if not the only, remodel they have ever taken on. This is the heart of your home; it adds life and functionality to your daily routine and creates an environment for friends and family gatherings. Naturally, you will want it done right the first time, and you want to eliminate a majority of the guesswork upfront. We know this is a large undertaking, and it can cause some stress. We hope to offer some peace and valuable insight as you begin this journey.
Determining the Cost
To start, we understand one of the first, most important questions you will have is, “What will this kitchen remodel cost?”. You don’t want to go through all of the steps of saving money, planning, looking for a trustworthy kitchen remodeling contractor, and having the designs drawn up, only to find out what you need carries a bigger price tag than you were prepared for. Thankfully, we can help you develop a preliminary budget for your kitchen remodel before you get too far down the road and run out of exits.
Core Components and Their Costs
All kitchens have the same essential components. At its core, you will need cabinetry, countertops, and appliances. To compliment those key components, you will need finishes such as flooring, backsplash, fixtures, and paint. Before we delve into what those items typically cost, we want you to ask yourself some critical questions to best position yourself moving forward.
What is the main purpose for remodeling your kitchen? e.g., what have you been missing all this time that you need, and what do you want to take a sledgehammer to? What should this kitchen remodel look like when it’s done? Be realistic with yourself, and write down what you need to have and what would be nice to have but can live without. Will there be any significant structural modifications, like removing a wall? Will you want to move any necessary fixtures to another location, like your kitchen sink or oven? What grade of materials would you hope to use – would you compromise and use furniture board cabinets instead of plywood cabinets? Please let us answer that one for you, no! You don’t need to answer all of these questions right away, but they will come up when you start talking with kitchen remodeling contractors. All of these factors will affect what your kitchen remodeling costs will look like.
Aside from establishing your needs upfront, you must also find a designer that keeps your priorities at the helm and asks good questions when designing your kitchen remodel. A competent kitchen designer will be able to work with the below budgets and cater the design to your unique needs and aesthetic desires while molding the design to fit your home’s dimensions. They should have thorough knowledge, or even more so, previous hands-on experience with the construction process so the crews working in the field don’t have difficulty installing things the way they are designed. Communication is also very important while incorporating a well-documented process during the entire design phase. Small surprises can lead to big changes later on, and the initial walk-through of your existing kitchen will need a thorough set of eyes on the task. By being meticulous, you can positively affect your budget in many ways and eliminate the future possibility of change orders once the construction has started.
Without further ado, and since you have started thinking about those important questions, let’s talk about what each part of the kitchen can typically cost. Let’s discuss the core components first – your cabinets, countertops, and appliances. We have seen our clients spend anywhere from $7,500 to $25,000 on cabinets in the past. The higher end will get you some great custom cabinets that can fit the space with precision. If you choose to spend less, you still get nice, sturdy cabinets with plywood construction and soft close doors and drawers, but the sizes will be standard and not custom-tailored to your kitchen’s dimensions. The size of your kitchen and the quantity of cabinets will also affect those prices. Your countertops could likely range from $5,000 to $10,000. For $5,000, you could get beautiful, stone-look-alike solid surface counters, and on the higher end, you can have large slabs of beautiful, natural granite or quartz with a lot of countertop space, including a large island. Lastly, you will need to allow a budget for your appliances. Expect to invest at least $3,000, all the way up to $25,000, if you want high-end, designer appliances.
Fixtures, Finishes, and Other Costs
Those cover your core components, but you will also need to budget for your fixtures and finishes. Collectively, you can invest anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 for a simple kitchen, all the way up to $15,000 or more. Remember, this will include your flooring, backsplash tile, hardware, fixtures, and paint. Other items that sometimes fly under the radar are framing materials, HVAC components (if your kitchen has heat coming through the floor or walls where cabinets might be going), lighting, kitchen sink and faucet, handles for your cabinets, plumbing and electrical rough-in materials (wire, pipes, valves, breakers, switches and outlets) and trim like baseboard and casing around your windows and doors. Lastly, there is the cost to install everything listed above, and you can expect to pay roughly $15,000 to $50,000.
Many kitchen remodeling contractors, like ourselves, will use an in-house crew for the carpentry work and subcontractors for the licensed trades involving plumbing, electrical, and HVAC work. You must also know that the mechanical work can be some of the larger costs incurred, which is why we ask if you are considering moving appliances. Also, consider some older houses may require updates to the wiring, electrical panel, or plumbing systems if it has cast iron or copper drain pipes. These are things we look for upfront, as they can significantly affect the overall costs.
Overall Budget Ranges
Assuming those systems are fine, and we assemble the figures mentioned above, you could expect to pay anywhere between $30,000 to $125,000. To bring life to those numbers, let’s talk specifically about what each budget typically gets you once assembled. $30,000-40,000 would be a fairly small kitchen with new cabinetry and manufactured countertops, budget-friendly flooring like luxury vinyl plank, a simple backsplash with ceramic tile and a typical brick pattern, and simple fixtures. Your cabinetry layout would stay the same. Your sink, oven, and fridge wouldn’t move. To achieve this budget would also mean saving on appliances and sometimes reusing the ones you already have. If you like to paint, this would also be a great way to help you stay on track with this budget.
In the mid-range of $65,000 to $85,000, you get all-new cabinetry and countertops in a spacious, medium-sized kitchen. The countertops could be quartz or granite slabs and might include an island. You will have access to various flooring options, like hardwood, engineered, or tile floors. There is typically more room in the budget for moving appliances, like your stove, sink, and dishwasher. At the higher end of the range, you may also have room in the budget to remove a non-load-bearing wall, which wouldn’t require structural engineering fees (which would otherwise add to your costs). You get dependable, hard-working, name-brand appliances. Your finishes will compliment the kitchen wonderfully with beautiful backsplash with inlaid patterns, unique light fixtures, and repainted ceilings and walls, any color you could think of.
At the top of the range, you have no shortage of options. You can pull out all the stops. You would get everything within the mid-range but also much more room in the budget for structural modifications, designer appliances to wow your friends and neighbors, custom cabinetry that can fit any space, luxurious, level-3 countertops, solid-slab backsplash that matches your countertops, a huge island (or two if you really want), and plenty of space to entertain your friends and family for years to come.
We understand there is a wide range, but that is the beautiful part of kitchen remodeling. Every kitchen remodel is unique and designed to your liking, custom-tailored to the layout of your home. Typically, our clients will invest within the mid-range to have the most flexibility to accommodate their needs. It may seem like a large, upfront investment, but we want you to get what you need upfront without any regrets later. Additions to the scope of work will always cost more in retrospect, and a lot of what is ordered for kitchens is a special order and cannot be returned in exchange for something else. This is just another reason why the initial design work is so critical in the beginning stages. Most of our customers aren’t looking for simple, cookie-cutter solutions. Typically, they have been living with a kitchen that hasn’t served them well for far too long, and they need the whole kitchen gutted and redesigned from the ground up.
Project Duration
As a final note, begin considering the duration of your kitchen project. As an example, many of our kitchen projects take 6-12 weeks to complete. Start thinking about how you will prepare meals for your family without your oven and kitchen sink, where you could relocate your old fridge during construction, and a good place to relocate all of the items currently within your cabinets.
Hopefully, with this insight, you feel more adequately prepared to take on your kitchen remodel. Be confident as you start this process; you will instinctively know what you need to make your kitchen work for you and your family. Take your time in preparation, do your research, and preferably find a kitchen remodeling contractor who can offer the design and installation services together for a seamless experience. As long as you voice your concerns and are working with a competent designer who listens to those concerns, your kitchen remodeling experience will be one of excitement, peace, and satisfaction for many years to come.
God bless!
