Kitchen Remodel Cost (2026)
This is a planning estimate, not a quote. Get 2–3 local quotes before you decide.
Typical kitchen remodel cost (midrange remodel, standard 120–200 sq ft kitchen): $20,000–$50,000. Most homeowners pay around $35,000.
“Every HomeCostOwl headline range is the complete standard job, installed: materials, labour, standard permits and disposal included. Anything not included is named and priced in its own section on the same page.”
A kitchen remodel can mean new doors on the cabinets you already own, or a gutted room with a wall gone, the sink on a different wall and a five-figure appliance package. Both get called “a kitchen remodel,” which is why published prices run from $8,000 to $200,000 and why most of them are useless until they tell you which job they mean. This guide fixes that first: it prices three defined scopes, builds each one from the cabinets, counters, appliances and labour that actually go into it, and shows its work.
What “kitchen remodel” means in this guide
Three scopes cover almost every real project. Every price below belongs to one of them:
- Minor refresh, the layout doesn’t change and the cabinet boxes stay. Cabinets are refaced (new doors, drawer fronts and veneer) or painted, and you replace the countertops, backsplash, sink and faucet, flooring, lighting and paint. Appliances are replaced or partly kept. The kitchen looks new; nothing structural happens.
- Midrange remodel, everything is replaced, but in the same layout: new semi-custom cabinets, stone or quartz countertops, a full new appliance package, new flooring, backsplash and lighting. No plumbing, gas lines or walls move, that single fact is what keeps this scope out of the next one’s price territory.
- Major remodel, the layout itself is on the table. Walls may come out, the sink, range or fridge may move (with their plumbing, gas and electrical), cabinets are custom or top-tier semi-custom, counters and appliances are premium, and an island is common.
One more thing this guide will not do: price a kitchen by the square foot and stop there. Kitchens concentrate fixed costs, one sink, one range, one permit, one cabinet run, so floor area alone predicts price badly. Where per-square-foot figures appear below, they always carry their scope and room size with them.
How the total is built: the Component-Built Cost Method
Every installed price in this guide is built the same way, our Component-Built Cost Method. The formula below builds the headline scope, a midrange remodel, same layout, of a typical 120–200 sq ft kitchen with 20–25 linear feet of cabinetry, from the component lines in this guide’s own midrange table:
Total installed cost = Demolition & disposal + Cabinets + Countertops & backsplash + Appliances + Sink, faucet & disposal + Flooring + Lighting & electrical + Plumbing + Finishes + Permit + Contractor overhead & margin
Every component line is an installed price, materials plus the trade labour to fit them, so labour is not added a second time as a separate term: the NKBA’s 17% installation-and-labour allocation is a budgeting view of dollars already distributed through the installed lines, not an extra charge on top of them. Contractor overhead & margin is the one separate term, and it applies only when a general contractor runs the job rather than the lines being hired trade by trade.
- Demolition & disposal, taking the old kitchen out and hauling everything away, disposal included: $500–$2,500.
- Cabinets, semi-custom cabinets, 20–25 linear feet, installed: $5,000–$12,000. The biggest line in the job.
- Countertops & backsplash, quartz or granite counters over a typical ~35 sq ft, installed: $2,000–$5,000; tile backsplash: $600–$1,800.
- Appliances, a full new package (fridge, range, dishwasher, microwave/hood), installed: $2,500–$7,000.
- Sink, faucet & disposal, sink, faucet and waste disposal unit, installed: $700–$1,900.
- Flooring, LVP, tile or hardwood across the room: $1,200–$5,000.
- Lighting & electrical, new lighting and electrical updates with nothing moved: $1,000–$3,000.
- Plumbing, new hookups with every fixture back in its existing position: $500–$1,800. Nothing moves in this scope; moving a fixture is the priced extra at $450–$1,800 per fixture (“What changes the price,” below).
- Finishes, paint and drywall patching: $700–$1,800.
- Permit, the permit package a standard full remodel pulls: $500–$1,500; part of the headline scope.
- Contractor overhead & margin, a general contractor’s overhead and margin, typically 10–20% of the direct lines (Angi), applied to the sum of the lines above when a GC runs the job.
Adding the direct lines gives about $15,200–$43,300; with contractor overhead and margin, GC-run jobs land around $17,000–$52,000. The published $20,000–$50,000 band sits inside HomeGuide’s full-remodel band ($15,000–$50,000) and Angi’s major band ($20,000–$65,000), and its typical, around $35,000, is corroborated by the NKBA share model in “Where the money goes” below: at $35,000 the NKBA cabinet share (29%) is $10,150, inside this build’s cabinet line. The worked example below lands on that typical, line by line. The refresh and major scopes are built the same way, from their own component tables in their sections below. The full method, including how the component build is checked against at least three independent published sources before anything is published, is on How We Estimate.
Worked example: a typical midrange remodel, same layout
A typical 120–200 sq ft kitchen (about 175 sq ft, 22 linear feet of cabinetry) taken out and rebuilt in exactly the same layout: semi-custom cabinets, quartz counters, a full new appliance package, nothing moved, so no plumbing-relocation, panel-upgrade or structural-engineering extra is triggered, and a general contractor running the job:
| Line item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Demolition and haul-away, disposal included (within the $500–$2,500 range above) | $1,500 |
| Cabinets, semi-custom, 22 linear ft, installed (within the $5,000–$12,000 range above) | $10,300 |
| Countertops, quartz, ~35 sq ft, installed (within the $2,000–$5,000 range above) | $3,600 |
| Backsplash, tile (within the $600–$1,800 range above) | $1,200 |
| Appliance package, fridge, range, dishwasher, microwave/hood, installed (within the $2,500–$7,000 range above) | $4,800 |
| Sink, faucet and disposal (within the $700–$1,900 range above) | $1,300 |
| Flooring, LVP/tile/hardwood (within the $1,200–$5,000 range above) | $2,600 |
| Lighting and electrical updates, nothing moves (within the $1,000–$3,000 range above) | $1,900 |
| Plumbing, new hookups, same positions (within the $500–$1,800 range above) | $1,100 |
| Paint and drywall patching (within the $700–$1,800 range above) | $1,200 |
| Permit (within the $500–$1,500 range above) | $1,000 |
| Direct lines subtotal | $30,500 |
| Contractor overhead & margin, 15% (within the published 10–20%) | $4,575 |
| Total | ≈ $35,100 |
Step by step: $1,500 + $10,300 = $11,800; $11,800 + $3,600 = $15,400; $15,400 + $1,200 = $16,600; $16,600 + $4,800 = $21,400; $21,400 + $1,300 = $22,700; $22,700 + $2,600 = $25,300; $25,300 + $1,900 = $27,200; $27,200 + $1,100 = $28,300; $28,300 + $1,200 = $29,500; $29,500 + $1,000 = $30,500 in direct lines; $30,500 + $4,575 of contractor overhead & margin (15%, inside the published 10–20%) = $35,075, or ≈ $35,100, the “around $35,000” most homeowners pay for this scope, inside the $20,000–$50,000 headline range. The cabinet line is ≈29% of the total, matching the NKBA share model’s anchor. Your quote moves inside that range with your cabinet tier, your counter material and your market, each priced in its own section below.
Kitchen remodel cost at a glance
| Scope (typical kitchen, 120–200 sq ft unless stated) | Typical range | Most homeowners pay | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor refresh, layout and cabinet boxes kept | $10,000–$28,000 | around $20,000 | Component build (cost-check record), inside Angi/HomeAdvisor, 2026, one dataset (minor $10,000–$20,000) · Fixr, 2026 (cosmetic $8,000–$16,000) · Cost vs Value 2025 (defined minor scope $28,458 at the top); most pay = Houzz 2026 U.S. Kitchen Trends Study (minor median $20,000) |
| Midrange remodel, new semi-custom cabinets, same layout | $20,000–$50,000 | around $35,000 | Component build + NKBA budget-allocation share model (cost-check record) · HomeGuide, 2026 (full remodel $15,000–$50,000) · Angi/HomeAdvisor, 2026, one dataset (major band $20,000–$65,000) |
| Major remodel, layout changes, premium selections | $50,000–$150,000 | around $75,000 | Component build at premium selections (cost-check record) · Houzz, 2026 (major medians $55,000 all sizes / $75,000 for kitchens 250+ sq ft; 90th-percentile major spend $150,000 at the top) · Cost vs Value 2025 (defined major midrange scope $82,793) · Angi/HomeAdvisor, 2026, one dataset (complete $65,000–$130,000+) |
| Cabinet refacing alone (100–200 sq ft kitchen) | $5,000–$13,000 | , (see the refacing section) | HomeGuide, 2026 (refacing, 100–200 sq ft kitchen) |
| 10×10 kitchen, full midrange remodel | $15,000–$25,000 | , (see the 10×10 section) | HomeGuide, 2026 (full remodel, 100 sq ft kitchen) |
The low end of each range is a smaller kitchen in a mid-cost labour market with honest mid-tier materials. The high end adds a bigger room, pricier cabinets and counters, an island, or a high-cost metro. What moves a quote between the two is priced section by section below.
The minor refresh: $10,000–$28,000
A refresh works when the layout already works and the cabinet boxes are sound, what’s tired is doors, surfaces and appliances. Done professionally, the money goes roughly here:
| Refresh component | Typical installed cost |
|---|---|
| Cabinet refacing (new doors/fronts, veneer, hardware) | $5,000–$13,000 |
| , or cabinet painting instead | $900–$3,800 |
| Countertops (laminate or butcher block) | $1,000–$2,500 |
| Backsplash | $500–$1,700 |
| Appliances (package, or the ones that need it) | $2,000–$5,000 |
| Sink and faucet | $500–$1,500 |
| Flooring (LVP or laminate) | $800–$2,500 |
| Lighting | $500–$1,500 |
| Paint | $500–$1,500 |
| Light demolition, touch-ups, permit if required | $800–$3,500 |
The cabinet decision dominates this scope, and it is really three decisions, paint, reface, or replace, priced properly in the refacing section below. Houzz’s 2026 Kitchen Trends Study puts the median spend on a minor remodel at $20,000, which is where this scope’s typical lands; the top of the range is a big kitchen done thoroughly, the Cost vs Value Report’s precisely defined minor remodel of a 200 sq ft kitchen (new fronts and hardware on the existing boxes, new counters, appliances, sink, flooring and paint, all professionally installed) prices at $28,458. A refresh is also the scope where DIY genuinely pays: painting cabinets, laying LVP and fitting a backsplash are weekend-scale skills, and every task you self-perform comes straight off the labour lines.
The midrange remodel: $20,000–$50,000
This is the remodel most people picture: the old kitchen comes out, a new one goes back in the same footprint. Here is the whole job, line by line, for a typical kitchen with semi-custom cabinets:
| Component | Typical installed cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Demolition and haul-away | $500–$2,500 | Includes disposal |
| Cabinets, semi-custom (20–25 linear ft) | $5,000–$12,000 | The biggest line, see “Where the money goes” |
| Countertops (quartz or granite, ~35 sq ft) | $2,000–$5,000 | Installed; laminate drops this to $1,000–$2,500 |
| Backsplash (tile) | $600–$1,800 | |
| Appliance package (fridge, range, dishwasher, microwave/hood) | $2,500–$7,000 | A matching 4-piece suite; premium brands run far above this |
| Sink, faucet and disposal | $700–$1,900 | |
| Flooring (LVP, tile or hardwood) | $1,200–$5,000 | Priced properly in the flooring section |
| Lighting and electrical updates | $1,000–$3,000 | New pendants/recessed lights, code-required outlets, nothing moves |
| Plumbing (new hookups, same positions) | $500–$1,800 | Moving the sink is priced separately below |
| Paint and drywall patching | $700–$1,800 | |
| Permit | $500–$1,500 | Covers the electrical/plumbing/building permits a full swap usually needs |
Add contractor overhead and margin (typically 10–20% of the project) when a general contractor runs the job rather than the lines being hired trade by trade. Two swaps move this scope’s price more than any others: dropping to stock cabinets pulls $2,000–$5,000 out of the cabinet line (and the kitchen toward the minor band), and stepping up to custom cabinets or a professional appliance package pushes the same kitchen cleanly into major-remodel money without moving a single wall, scope is about selections as much as structure.
The major remodel: $50,000–$150,000
A major remodel buys a different kitchen, not just a newer one, and the difference is mostly invisible in photos. The big lines: custom or top-tier semi-custom cabinets ($12,500–$36,000 for 25–30 linear feet), premium stone counters ($3,000–$8,000), a premium or professional appliance package ($8,000–$25,000 and beyond), and then the layout work itself, wall removal ($500–$2,000 for a non-load-bearing wall; $4,000–$15,000 for a load-bearing one, plus $1,900–$3,700 for the structural engineer who has to sign off on it), plumbing, gas and electrical moves ($3,000–$12,000 depending on how far things travel), an island ($3,000–$5,000 before plumbing or power is added to it), design help ($2,750 and up, high-end projects commonly spend $5,000–$40,000 on design) and permits at the top of the usual range.
The Cost vs Value Report’s defined major midrange project, 30 linear feet of semi-custom cabinets and an island in a 200 sq ft kitchen, professionally built to a written spec, prices at $82,793; its upscale version, at $164,104, sits above our range because true luxury work (built-in refrigeration, commercial ranges, bespoke cabinetry) has no practical ceiling. Houzz’s medians tell the same story from the spending side: $55,000 across all major remodels, $75,000 for kitchens of 250 sq ft and up, and one in ten major remodels spending $150,000 or more.
Where the money goes
Cabinets are the anchor of every kitchen budget, the largest single line, and the one every other decision hangs off. The NKBA’s published budget allocation, applied to this guide’s $35,000 midrange typical, looks like this:
| Budget line | Share (NKBA) | On a $35,000 remodel |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinets and hardware | 29% | ≈ $10,150 |
| Installation and labour | 17% | ≈ $5,950 |
| Appliances and ventilation | 14% | ≈ $4,900 |
| Countertops | 10% | ≈ $3,500 |
| Flooring | 7% | ≈ $2,450 |
| Lighting | 5% | ≈ $1,750 |
| Walls and ceilings | 5% | ≈ $1,750 |
| Design fees | 4% | ≈ $1,400 |
| Doors and windows | 4% | ≈ $1,400 |
| Faucets, sink and plumbing | 4% | ≈ $1,400 |
| Miscellaneous | 1% | ≈ $350 |
Two honest caveats. First, published breakdowns don’t agree exactly: HomeGuide’s allocation puts cabinets at 25% and labour at 15%, with appliances at 15%, close to NKBA, not identical. Counted with their hardware and installation, cabinets land around 29–35% of a typical budget in most framings; one widely read guide claims “40% or more” and then illustrates it with numbers that work out to 28%. Use the table as a shape, not a law. Second, the labour line is the slipperiest number in kitchen pricing: depending on whether a source counts the labour inside “installed” prices or separates it, published labour shares run from 15% to 60% for the same kind of job. If a quote’s shape looks nothing like the table, cabinets eating half the budget, or no permit line on a job that’s moving plumbing, that’s a conversation to have before signing, not after demolition.
Refacing vs replacing your cabinets
Cabinetry is where a midrange budget is won or lost, so the keep-or-replace decision deserves its own numbers:
| Cabinet path | Typical cost (100–200 sq ft kitchen) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Paint (professional) | $900–$3,800 | Same doors, new colour and hardware; boxes untouched |
| New doors and drawer fronts only | $2,200–$6,600 | New faces; boxes refinished to match |
| Full refacing (doors, fronts, veneer on boxes, hardware) | $5,000–$13,000 | A kitchen that reads as new cabinets, because every visible surface is |
| Replace with stock cabinets | $4,500–$15,000 | New boxes and doors, standard sizes and finishes |
| Replace with semi-custom | $5,000–$16,000 | New boxes, better sizes/features (20–25 lf at $150–$650/lf installed, line-dependent) |
| Replace with custom | $12,500–$36,000+ | Built to the room; 25–30 lf at $500–$1,200/lf |
The finding that surprises most people: refacing overlaps stock replacement almost completely. A $9,000 reface and a $9,000 stock replacement are both real quotes, which means refacing is not automatically “the cheap option.” Its saving is real against semi-custom and custom replacement, where it routinely halves the cabinet line. Against stock, choose on condition and layout, not price.
Refacing is the right call when all of these are true: the cabinet boxes are solid (real wood or plywood, no water damage at the sink base, drawers that still run true); the layout works, you would put the cabinets in the same places anyway; and what you dislike is the doors, the colour and the hardware. It’s also the only cabinet path that keeps your existing countertops possible (though most refaces pair with new counters anyway) and it is fast, days of work, not weeks, which is why the Cost vs Value Report’s minor remodel, the best-resale-performing kitchen scope it tracks, is built on exactly this move.
Refacing is a false economy when the boxes are failing (a veneered-over swollen sink cabinet is still a swollen sink cabinet), when the layout is changing (new positions mean new boxes regardless), when you want modern cabinet interiors, deep drawers, pull-outs, soft-close everything, that your old boxes can’t take, or when the quote for refacing comes back within sight of a semi-custom replacement quote. Get both quotes; the honest spread between them is the whole decision.
Flooring and backsplash: price your real quantities
Two surfaces in a kitchen are bought by the square foot, and both are chronically under-budgeted because the material is the small part of the bill. A kitchen floor is 120–200 sq ft of product plus underlayment, levelling, transitions and a fitter’s day rate; a backsplash is only about 30–40 sq ft, but it is intricate, cut-heavy tile work at $10–$50 per sq ft installed.
| Kitchen flooring (materials, per sq ft) | Typical cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Luxury vinyl plank | $1.80–$5.30 | Waterproof, forgiving underfoot, the refresh favourite; installed totals usually land $900–$3,200 for a typical kitchen |
| Laminate | $3–$11 installed | The budget classic; keep it out of sink-splash zones |
| Porcelain/ceramic tile | $3.19–$3.69 material | The durable default, but installed tile runs $15–$20/sq ft with setting materials and labour, so a 150 sq ft floor is a $2,250–$3,000 decision, not a $550 one |
| Hardwood | $6–$22 installed | Beautiful and refinishable; the premium mainstream choice |
Run your own quantity before you shop, measure the floor properly (length × width, minus nothing: cabinets sit on subfloor offcuts you’ll still buy), and add 10% for cuts and waste:
Flooring Calculator
You can also open it on its own page: Flooring Calculator.
For the backsplash, the same quantity logic applies in miniature, and if you’re tiling it yourself, our Tile Calculator works the area-and-waste maths for the wall exactly as it does for a bathroom.
What changes the price
- Moving the layout, the big one. Keeping the sink, range and fridge on their existing connections is the single most valuable decision in a kitchen remodel, for the same reason as in a bathroom: moves are priced per connection, in plumber’s and electrician’s hours, plus the floor and wall opening and patching around them. Published anchors: new plumbing runs at $450–$1,800 per fixture (HomeGuide); relocating a gas line costs $375–$750 (Angi) and is licensed work, never DIY; a full kitchen repipe averages several thousand more. Move the sink across the room and add a pot filler and an island sink, and the “invisible” work can outrun the countertop budget.
- Removing a wall, and which wall it is. A non-load-bearing partition comes out for $500–$2,000. A load-bearing wall is a different project: $4,000–$15,000, because the load has to land somewhere, a beam, posts, sometimes new footings, and a structural engineer ($1,900–$3,700, or 1–5% of the project) has to design and sign it before a permit issues. Nobody can tell you a wall is “probably fine to remove” from a photograph; if a quote skips the engineer on a load-bearing wall, the quote is the problem.
- The appliance tier. A standard 4-piece stainless package (fridge, range, dishwasher, microwave) installs for $2,500–$6,800. A premium package, panel-ready built-ins, a 36–48 in range, a separate fridge/freezer, runs $8,000–$25,000+, and it drags other lines with it: built-ins need cabinet modifications, pro ranges need serious ventilation and sometimes a gas-line upgrade and a panel check. Appliances are also the most phasable line in the guide (see “phasing” below), nothing in the room depends on the fridge being new.
- Cabinet tier. Covered in the refacing section: the same kitchen is a $4,500 cabinet job in stock boxes or a $30,000 one in custom. No other single choice swings the total as far.
- Countertop material. At a typical ~35 sq ft of counter: laminate $1,000–$2,500 installed, butcher block and solid surface in the middle, quartz and granite $2,000–$5,000, marble and quartzite above that. Edge profiles, sink cutouts and full-height backsplashes in the same stone all add.
- What’s behind the walls and under the floor. Outdated wiring that can’t support modern loads (a panel upgrade to 200-amp service runs $1,300–$2,500), galvanized supply lines at end of life, subfloor damage under the old fridge or dishwasher, and asbestos in very old flooring or mastics are the classic kitchen overruns. Hold a contingency of 10–20% of the budget, leaning high in older homes.
- Region and crew. Labour and permits are the parts of a kitchen that move with geography, the next section prices that properly. A design-build firm’s overhead prices above an independent remodeler’s; neither is automatically better value, itemised quotes are how you tell.
Cost by kitchen size, and the 10×10 question
Size matters, but less than scope, because so much of a kitchen’s cost doesn’t scale. Here’s the same work in three room sizes, from HomeGuide’s size tables:
| Kitchen size | Partial/refresh scope | Full (midrange) scope | High-end scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10×10 (100 sq ft) | $6,000–$15,000 | $15,000–$25,000 | $25,000–$35,000 |
| 12×12 (144 sq ft) | $8,600–$21,600 | $21,600–$36,000 | $36,000–$50,400 |
| 15×15 (225 sq ft) | $13,500–$33,800 | $33,800–$56,300 | $56,300–$78,800 |
And the 10×10 convention, because you will meet it in every cabinet showroom: “10×10 pricing” is a comparison standard for cabinets only, a defined set of about 10–12 cabinets for a 10 ft × 10 ft L-shaped kitchen. Home Depot’s quick-ship lines price that set at $3,300–$4,600. It excludes countertops, appliances, hardware, sink, flooring and installation, most of the remodel. Quoted bare, it makes a kitchen sound $12,000 cheaper than the same kitchen finished. When a seller leads with a 10×10 number, ask what it leaves out; the table above is what the whole room costs.
Per square foot, with the scope welded on as promised: a minor refresh of a typical kitchen works out to roughly $60–$150 per sq ft, a midrange remodel $150–$250, and a major remodel $250–$350+, and the smaller the kitchen, the higher its figure at every scope, because the fixed costs divide by fewer feet. Any per-sq-ft quote that won’t name its scope is not a number you can plan with.
Kitchen remodel cost by region
The national ranges above are the headline; where you live moves them, but not evenly across the budget. Labour and permits are what move. A plumber’s hour runs $45–$150 depending on market, an electrician’s $50–$130, permit packages run from a few hundred dollars to nearly $2,800, and heavily reviewed jurisdictions (New York City’s filing regime, California’s energy-code plan checks) add design and inspection cost around the fee itself. Materials barely move: the same cabinet box, quartz slab and appliance package sell at national-chain prices in Ohio and California alike; the exceptions are freight-heavy markets, islands and remote rural areas pay delivery premiums on heavy goods.
We publish a regional figure only where at least two established datasets support it, which is why this table is shorter than the ones on other sites, several of which print state-by-state numbers with no visible data behind them:
| Region | Typical cost picture | Basis (two established sources, checked Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Pacific / West Coast, the most expensive region | Typical projects ≈ $25,600–$61,100 | Angi’s regional table (its highest band) · Cost vs Value 2025 Pacific region (CA/OR/WA/AK/HI): defined minor remodel $29,728, defined major $86,480, both above the national figures |
| Northeast | Typical projects ≈ $10,800–$40,400, with defined scopes pricing well above national | Angi’s regional table · Cost vs Value 2025 Middle Atlantic: defined minor remodel $31,212 vs $28,458 nationally |
| Texas | Houston-area projects typically $7,600–$26,100; the wider Southwest band runs higher | Thumbtack’s Houston project data (average range $7,592–$26,089) · Angi’s Southwest region (AZ/NM/OK/TX) $12,350–$33,950 |
| California (state) | Sits in the Pacific region above; San Francisco is the highest-spending metro in the country | Cost vs Value 2025 Pacific defined scopes (minor ≈$29,700 / major ≈$86,500) · Houzz survey: San Francisco major remodel of a large kitchen averaged $70,000 |
| New York City (metro) | Defined minor remodel ≈ $31,400; defined major ≈ $90,300 | Cost vs Value 2025 NYC figures · Houzz’s survey averaged $29,200 for a NYC major remodel of a smaller kitchen, a lighter definition of “major” (cabinets and appliances replaced, layout kept), which is why it lands below the Cost vs Value minor figure; upstate New York prices well below the city |
For the Southeast, Midwest, South Central and Mountain regions, Angi’s regional table is currently the only established full-range dataset (it puts the Southeast at $12,000–$32,200, the Midwest at $10,300–$34,300 and the Rocky Mountain region at $12,700–$39,600). Treat those as one dataset’s direction, those regions consistently price below the Northeast and Pacific in every dataset we checked, rather than as verified ranges, and weight local quotes accordingly. Florida gets no state figure in this guide at all: no two established sources publish one we’d stand behind, and we’d rather omit a state than invent it. Regional figures are checked on the same quarterly cycle as the national ones.
The extras, priced honestly
- Kitchen island. $3,000–$5,000 built and installed (Fixr quotes $4,000–$8,000 for larger/custom builds), before anything is plumbed or wired into it. A sink, dishwasher or cooktop in the island turns it into a plumbing-and-electrical project as well.
- Pantry build-out. $1,100–$2,900 for a reach-in or closet pantry conversion (Angi), one of the cheapest storage upgrades in the guide; a walk-in is cabinetry-priced.
- Electrical panel upgrade. $1,300–$2,500 for the upgrade to 200-amp service, commonly triggered by induction ranges, double ovens or simply a full panel in an older home. Budget it as a possibility in any pre-1990 kitchen.
- Under-cabinet lighting. $230–$300 installed for LED strip/task lighting, the highest-regret-avoidance line in the guide; everyone wishes they’d added it, nobody wishes they hadn’t.
- Appliance storage during the job. If the old appliances are staying but the room is gutted: $90–$280/month for storage, plus $100–$300 to move a refrigerator. Small money, routinely forgotten until demo day.
- Design services. Rarely needed to keep a layout; genuinely valuable when walls, plumbing and a five-figure cabinet order are in play. Cabinet-shop design is often bundled; independent kitchen designers charge from about $2,750 per project or 4–5% of budget in NKBA-style allocations.
Why you’ll see $27,000 and $82,793 for “the same kitchen”
Search this topic for ten minutes and you’ll meet numbers that can’t all be the average. They can, they’re counting different jobs.
- The all-project averages: $22,500–$26,988. Fixr’s average is $22,500; Angi’s is $26,988 across 13,100 verified projects. Both blend everything filed as a “kitchen remodel”, reface jobs and appliance swaps alongside full renovations, so both describe the average spend, dominated by smaller scopes.
- The survey medians for real remodels: $20,000 minor / $55,000 major. Houzz’s 2026 study surveys homeowners who actually renovated. Its “major” requires all cabinets and appliances replaced (layout change not required), which is why its major median ($55,000) sits between our midrange and major rungs.
- The defined contractor scopes: $28,458 / $82,793 / $164,104. The Cost vs Value Report doesn’t survey anyone; it prices three written specifications, a 200 sq ft kitchen, professionally installed, with contractor overhead in, for its minor, major midrange and major upscale projects. Its minor ($28,458) costs more than Angi’s average because the spec is a complete, thorough job in a largish kitchen; its major ($82,793) is what a fully specified semi-custom renovation genuinely costs.
Our ladder, refresh $10,000–$28,000, midrange $20,000–$50,000, major $50,000–$150,000, is built to contain all three camps honestly: the averages live in the bottom two rungs, the defined scopes in the top of theirs. If your quotes for a same-layout semi-custom kitchen come back at $80,000, you’re being quoted a defined-spec contractor price, sometimes justified (big kitchen, high-cost metro, premium everything), sometimes not. The component tables above are how you tell which.
Does a kitchen remodel pay for itself at resale?
Carefully, and with the sources named, because published figures disagree here more than anywhere else in this guide. The 2025 Cost vs Value Report, the industry benchmark, built from contractor job costs and appraiser-estimated resale values across 119 markets, estimates its defined minor remodel recouped about 113% of its $28,458 cost, its major midrange about 51%, and its major upscale about 36%.
HomeGuide puts kitchen returns at 50–70%+ generally; Angi claims “about 70% to 80%” for kitchen remodels overall; Fixr cites up to 96% (an earlier Cost vs Value edition’s minor figure). Read the pattern, not any single number: the lighter the scope, the more of its cost comes back; the heavier and more personal the remodel, the more of it you’re buying for yourself. A recoup above 100% is an appraiser’s estimate in a strong market, not a promise of profit, no source guarantees a return, and neither do we. Remodel the kitchen you need; treat any value recovery as a partial rebate, not the reason.
Phasing a kitchen remodel without living in dust twice
Kitchens phase better than bathrooms because the lines are independent, and phasing is the legitimate way to spread a midrange budget across two years:
- Phase 1, the bones and the floor. Electrical/plumbing fixes, flooring, paint, lighting. Anything that requires the room empty or the walls open happens now, once.
- Phase 2, cabinets and counters. Reface or replace, then countertops and backsplash (counters can’t be templated until cabinets are final, this order is forced, not chosen).
- Phase 3, appliances and finishing. Appliances swap in an afternoon each and are the easiest line to defer or to catch on seasonal sales; sink, faucet and hardware land with the counters or just after.
The traps: flooring should never go after new cabinets (you’d trap the floor under them and lose the dishwasher-removal clearance), and if a layout change is even a maybe, it belongs in Phase 1, moving a sink in Phase 3 means paying for the floor and plumbing twice, which is the dust-twice outcome the phasing was meant to avoid.
Ways to save, honestly
- Keep the layout. Nothing else on this list is worth as much. Every fixture that stays on its existing connections avoids the per-fixture plumbing charges, the gas-line work and the patching, worth several thousand dollars on a typical job.
- Choose your cabinet path with both quotes in hand. Paint ($900–$3,800) if the doors are presentable; reface ($5,000–$13,000) if the boxes are sound; replace in stock if they’re not. The dishonest saving is paying semi-custom replacement money for a reface, or refacing boxes that are quietly rotting.
- Spend on one hero, standard everywhere else. Quartz counters over stock cabinets photograph and live exactly as well as quartz over semi-custom, the share table shows where the visible money is.
- Laminate has come back. Modern laminate counters at $1,000–$2,500 installed free up $2,000–$3,000 against stone for buyers who’d rather have the better range. It’s a taste call, not a corner cut.
- Keep an appliance, phase the rest. A working fridge doesn’t care that the cabinets are new. Appliances are the most deferrable, most sale-prone line in the budget.
- DIY the right tasks. Painting, demolition (carefully), backsplash tiling, LVP flooring and hardware are realistic DIY. Gas lines, panel work, drain moves and load-bearing walls are where DIY mistakes cost more than the labour saved.
- Never save on the invisible layer. Subfloor repair, proper ventilation ducting and code-required outlets are unglamorous and permanent; every source’s horror stories start with a bid that skipped them.
- Get 2–3 itemised quotes. Same scope, separated lines (demo, cabinets, counters, appliances, flooring, plumbing, electrical, permit, design). A quote that won’t itemise is a quote that plans to improvise, and compare each against the component tables above, not against the cheapest number.
How we estimate these costs
Every range on this page is built with our Component-Built Cost Method, from the components of the job, cabinets, counters and appliances at verifiable retail prices, trade labour at published rates, demolition, permits and disposal, and then checked against at least three independent published cost sources (for this page: Angi’s 2026 project data, Fixr’s 2026 cost guide, HomeGuide’s 2026 guide, the NKBA’s budget allocation, the 2026 Houzz Kitchen Trends Study medians, and the 2025 Cost vs Value Report for its defined scopes, all checked October 2026). Where the sources disagree, and on labour share, cabinet share and resale returns they genuinely do, we publish the range that matches the scope defined at the top of this page and say so in our internal cost-check record.
Regional figures are published only where two established datasets agree, on the same check. Prices are re-checked quarterly. Full method: How We Estimate. That is the method behind every kitchen remodel cost figure in this guide.
FAQ
How long does a kitchen remodel take?
Once work starts, most full remodels take 6–9 weeks of construction (HomeGuide’s typical span), a refresh is at the short end of that or below, and a large or structural project runs 3–5 months door to door once permits, ordering and fabrication are counted. The calendar is mostly not labour: semi-custom cabinets take weeks to build, custom cabinets 6–8 weeks, counters can’t be templated until cabinets are set, and inspections queue. The remodels that finish on schedule are the ones where everything was ordered before demolition started.
Is a $20,000 kitchen remodel realistic?
Yes, it is, almost exactly, the median minor remodel in Houzz’s 2026 study (costs checked October 2026). For $20,000 you can reface or paint the cabinets, replace the countertops (laminate or butcher block, or entry-level stone in a small kitchen), fit a new sink and faucet, backsplash, flooring, lighting and paint, and replace some or all appliances, with the layout untouched. In a small kitchen it can stretch to stock-cabinet replacement (HomeGuide prices a full 10×10 remodel from $15,000). What $20,000 does not buy: semi-custom cabinets and stone counters and a full premium appliance package, or anything that moves a wall, a sink or a gas line.
What is the cheapest way to remodel a kitchen, honestly?
Keep the layout and keep the cabinet boxes: paint the cabinets ($900–$3,800 professionally, less DIY), new hardware, laminate or butcher-block counters, a midpriced sink and faucet, LVP flooring, lighting and paint, a professional refresh from about $10,000, and materially less with your own labour on the cosmetic tasks. (Costs checked October 2026.) The two cheapest decisions cost nothing at all: not moving the plumbing, and not moving a wall. The dishonest version of cheap is skipping permits on moved gas or electrical, laying new floor over a damaged subfloor, or paying replacement prices for a reface, each converts a saving into a second, bigger bill.
Do I need a permit for a kitchen remodel?
Usually no for cosmetic work, painting, refacing, like-for-like swaps in the same positions. Usually yes when the work moves plumbing, adds or moves electrical circuits, touches a gas line, or alters walls or layout, and a full remodel typically pulls several permits at once (building, electrical, plumbing). Fees run $500–$1,500 in HomeGuide’s data and up to $2,770 across permit types in Angi’s (costs checked October 2026). Rules are local, so check with your building department before work starts; a good remodeler pulls the permits as part of the job, and a quote with no permit line on a layout-changing job is a red flag, not a saving.
Can I live in the house during a kitchen remodel?
Almost everyone does, a kitchen remodel closes one room, not the house. What you lose is the kitchen itself: plan on several weeks (the 6–9 week construction span above for a full remodel, less for a refresh) of cooking from a temporary setup, a mini fridge, a microwave or hot plate, a folding table, plus takeout money in the budget and tolerance for dust that migrates. Water and power shutoffs are measured in hours, not weeks. Moving out is worth pricing only for major structural work in a small home, or where the kitchen is the only route to the bathroom, for a standard refresh or midrange remodel, staying put is the norm.
How much does a kitchen remodel cost per square foot?
Only with a scope attached (costs checked October 2026): roughly $60–$150 per sq ft for a minor refresh, $150–$250 for a midrange remodel, and $250–$350+ for a major remodel of a typical kitchen, with smaller kitchens at the top of each band, because the expensive parts (appliances, sink, permit, cabinet run) don’t shrink with the room. Any per-sq-ft quote that won’t name its scope is not a number you can plan with; price your kitchen from the scope tables above instead.
Sources
Every figure on this page is built with our Component-Built Cost Method and cross-checked against these published sources (all checked October 2026):
- Angi, 2026 kitchen remodel project data (13,100 verified projects)
- Fixr, 2026 kitchen remodel cost guide
- HomeGuide, 2026 kitchen remodel cost guide
- Houzz, 2026 Kitchen Trends Study (median spend)
- Cost vs Value Report, 2025 edition (defined project scopes and regional figures)
- NKBA, published kitchen budget allocation guidance
- National retailer terms and shelf listings, appliance delivery terms and material prices (checked October 2026)