Kitchen Remodel costs (Reno: appliances, house, cabinets)

[2L8IWON]

We're considering remodeling (or at least updating) our kitchen. Today it's a hybrid of 80s era cabinets and '00s refinishes. We have old white cabinets with dated hardware, but granite counters and tumbled marble backsplash. It's taupe, and we want to .... move on.

Our house was built in the 50s, so we have low (9 ft) ceilings and a bit of a wonky cabinet setup in our kitchen - i.e. two different counter heights, non-standard cabinet depth (22"), long-run cabinet structure, no pantry, etc. It's approx. 40 linear ft of cabinetry in a U-shape.

We had two companies come in so far for estimates, under the context that we were looking for budget friendly updating and got the following:
1) Refacing the cabinets - this was literally pulling the existing faces, resurfacing all of the visible surfaces with new 'plywood', new cabinet doors, replacing drawer slide mechanisms, and new hardware pulls. The estimate was $10K.
2) Refacing the uppers, replacing the counters/backsplash with lower-cost granite/backsplash, replacing the lowers, installing drawers, drawer slide mechanisms, soft close rebuilding the 'around the refrigerator' unit, and adding some new cabinets. The estimate was $34k.

I understand that kitchens can hit $100K based on materials, structural changes, etc. but we're not looking for anything crazy in terms of the finishes. We were even open to leaving our existing infrastructure and updating the aesthetics only.

From experience that you guys have had, do these estimates seem in line? Just looking for some additional perspective.

[Nerys52SoSilver]

A new Ikea kitchen might be an option. www.ikea.com/us/en/rooms/kitchen see the planning section etc.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by 2L8IWON

We're considering remodeling (or at least updating) our kitchen. Today it's a hybrid of 80s era cabinets and '00s refinishes. We have old white cabinets with dated hardware, but granite counters and tumbled marble backsplash. It's taupe, and we want to .... move on.

Our house was built in the 50s, so we have low (9 ft) ceilings and a bit of a wonky cabinet setup in our kitchen - i.e. two different counter heights, non-standard cabinet depth (22"), long-run cabinet structure, no pantry, etc. It's approx. 40 linear ft of cabinetry in a U-shape.

We had two companies come in so far for estimates, under the context that we were looking for budget friendly updating and got the following:
1) Refacing the cabinets - this was literally pulling the existing faces, resurfacing all of the visible surfaces with new 'plywood', new cabinet doors, replacing drawer slide mechanisms, and new hardware pulls. The estimate was $10K.
2) Refacing the uppers, replacing the counters/backsplash with lower-cost granite/backsplash, replacing the lowers, installing drawers, drawer slide mechanisms, soft close rebuilding the 'around the refrigerator' unit, and adding some new cabinets. The estimate was $34k.

I understand that kitchens can hit $100K based on materials, structural changes, etc. but we're not looking for anything crazy in terms of the finishes. We were even open to leaving our existing infrastructure and updating the aesthetics only.

From experience that you guys have had, do these estimates seem in line? Just looking for some additional perspective.

If you are paying out of pocket than go ahead. If you are adding debt then just do required improvements and minimal but smart aesthetic upgrades.

[TurtleCreek80]

Yes those estimates seem pretty realistic. I was expecting your question to be open-ended and my answer was going to be “well, you can spend $20k at IKEA or you can put a $55k La Cornue oven in a $300k kitchen”.


We did a “cosmetic” kitchen Reno when we moved in for about $8-9k paint, hardware, light fixtures, some cabinet workff) several years ago so your first quote seems right in line with that.

[bigbear63]

Low ceilings at 9'? Those sound high for that year. I suspect you have 8' in that year range.

You can always check out Lowes or HD and see what their kitchen expert says for a kitchen redo. Or go to click studio and see what they say (cabinets only).

Then go to "floor and decor" or one of the flooring stores and see what it would cost to redo floors.

Same with granite/other counter shops here in town.

If the existing cabinets are decent, why change? If it's just color, can paint fix it? What changes would you want with the new kitchen if size/ceilings don't change?

I'm asking because I've been down this path several times and the cost of remodeling a kitchen is very high and yet it has poor payback on an old home. I would not do anything if you plan to sell soon. But if you plan to stay then plan to spend $350/SF on a upper-end kitchen remodel with all new appliances. Again, very hard to get that back out of a sale.

[calgirlinnc]

The previous owners of our home redid the kitchen through Lowes. 42" white cabinets, a sink, and quartz counters was over $30,000. This did not include the six burner gas range or the flooring.

[BigDGeek]

I'm going to go ahead and forget about ever doing a kitchen remodel.

[2L8IWON]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Yes those estimates seem pretty realistic. I was expecting your question to be open-ended and my answer was going to be “well, you can spend $20k at IKEA or you can put a $55k La Cornue oven in a $300k kitchen”.


We did a “cosmetic” kitchen Reno when we moved in for about $8-9k paint, hardware, light fixtures, some cabinet workff) several years ago so your first quote seems right in line with that.

Thanks, this is helpful!

[2L8IWON]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

The previous owners of our home redid the kitchen through Lowes. 42" white cabinets, a sink, and quartz counters was over $30,000. This did not include the six burner gas range or the flooring.

Yeah, I'm going to have Home Depot come in and do an estimate anyway just to get another data point.

[KathiOH1]

Be careful using Home Depot or Lowes. While their own line of cabinets are decent and well-priced, getting what you order and getting them installed can be a challenge. Let me tell you what we learned after our nightmare.

The kitchen cabinet person(s) is a 3rd party that doesn't answer to Home Depot/Lowes. You can't get issues resolved because the Builder store subs out that dept for convenience and has no power.

The kitchen cabinet person is incentivized to add on pieces and upsell. We specifically said we didn't want hardware with our order but the person still added something random to our order and charged us, along with some robotic door lift that took up the entire cabinet of the door to be lifted.

It's not uncommon for cabinets to come in damaged. Unless you inspect every piece yourself, the installers hang first, then tell you something is wrong. That way you can't stop midstream and you can't return it.

You don't have to go with a custom cabinet store if you have a discount supply store nearby. We didn't learn this until we put in a wetbar -- had the cabinets delivered to our home, inspected, then hired a separate installer to come and install them so he wasn't motivated to hang and run. Our kitchen would have been cheaper.

We had the HDepot new kitchen removed twice (the second time our cabinets were a full bubble off-plumb and trimwork pieces were left out of the install). Then we bought the cabinets from a reputable store and had it done right. Since our kitchen was a small space and I wanted maximum use, we took the cabinets all the way to the ceiling. We also added toekick drawers for spices, cutting boards, and cookie sheets (LOVE THEM!!!) and added cupboards where the island had an overhang. Our new kitchen cost $35k but we could have done something like it for $20k through the discount cabinet store if I wasn't desperate to have a kitchen by that point. This is the kitchen size we have. Our new kitchen looks fabulous but too hard to share a photo of it on city-data.