kitchen renovation budget?

dalm0m · July 2015

We need to remodel the kitchen. I want to make sure I have enough cash on hand for this project. I don't need a $100k renovation but what's a good budget?

The kitchen is about 12 x 15, not the "standard" 10x10. I'm thinking $10,000 for cabinets; $3,500 for appliances; $3,000 for a nice quartz countertop; $1,000 for flooring; $2,500 for materials/fixtures (new lights, insulation, faucet, sink, drawer pulls etc) & $750 to rent a dumpster. I have no idea what the labor is going to cost me. They will have to rip everything to the studs, re-insulate, make one of the window openings smaller, re-level the floor, possibly replace the subfloor. I will need a plumber & an electrician too.

What am I forgetting?

Is $25,000 going to be enough?

DIY is not an option.

AprilZ81 · July 2015

We remodeled our kitchen last fall using a contractor and spent $33,000 for new ceramic tile floors (that we also installed in the laundry room and downstairs powder room), granite counters, new dishwasher and microwave (the fridge and stove were brand new so we just matched the other two appliances) new cabinets (Shrock brand) and a new, more functional layout. We added under cabinet lighting, glass tile backsplash and vented the microwave out of the house. We did pay extra to take the upper cabinets all the way to the ceiling.

$25,000 might work depending on your area, but if you are ripping out drywall and putting in new insulation I don't think that will be enough. I would say a conservative estimate for materials and labor would be $35,000 for what you want done.

We live in central Ohio with a medium cost of living.

dalm0m · July 2015

Crap. We live in a HCOL.

AprilZ81 · July 2015

dalm0m said:

Crap. We live in a HCOL.

We also did our own demo and a few other smaller tasks. That saved us about $1,300. I would talk to a few contractors to get some prices.

At least that way you know a ball park price to work towards with saving. Kitchens are EXPENSIVE and even if you think you are prepared for the cost it is still a huge shock to the quotes come in and the money going out.

Here are some pictures of our new kitchen so you get an idea of the size of our kitchen. I don't know the exact measurements, but it might be a similar size.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

hoffse · July 2015

We paid our contractor (today) just over $25K for ours.

We live in a MCOL.

We provided our own backsplash, light fixture, faucet, garbage disposal, and hardware. We cash flowed those items over the few months we were planning it though.

Part of that $25K included a significant upgrade to the granite and refinishing our hardwoods, neither of which were in the original quote. It would have been around $23K without those items.

One easy thing to delay is appliances. They can be spendy, but you can re-use what you have as place holders until you are able to afford new. I would also cut out things like trash pull-outs, cookie sheet dividers, etc. if you are trying to save money. Those are easy to install later as an after-market thing. You don't have to be handy to do that.

We made sure to have $30K available for it by the time we paid him just in case. You need to give yourself a good overage budget or else tell your contractor that you will stop paying them once the cost exceeds X dollars. We lucked out in that our overage was only $100, but I get the impression that is pretty rare.

hoffse · July 2015

I will also add....

Things that add to the expense:

-Turns, L's, or Islands. The cheapest cabinets and countertops are in straight runs.

-Tall cabinets

-Moving appliances or plumbing

-Eliminating cabinets from your old footprint (because often floors have to be fixed underneath them - this happened to us)

-Drawers in lower cabinets unless you find a guy like ours who just includes it in the quote. Typically, though, all-drawer lowers are 3-4x more than standard base cabinets

-Removing outlets and not replacing them - I couldn't believe what this cost, but they have to do something fiddly with the electric to make it happen

-Adding new lights if you don't have attic access

-Painting. He quoted us $750 to paint. Needless to say, we are taking care of the paint on our own

-Trim work. $500 quoted to complete the crown molding around the kitchen. Home Depot sells the trim he used around the upper cabinets for about $5/linear foot. It's detail work, though, and detail work always costs more

-Fancy ends on the cabinets vs. just doing flat ends

-Glass uppers

The more you can work around these things, the better. Some are worth the splurge, but it will cost you.

bcarb · July 2015

What I would give for all of that cabinent space!!

BlueBirdMB · July 2015

I don't know much about remodels, but I do know about quartz countertops because my dad sells them. Even with his discount, we are going to end up spending between $5000 and $6000 for quartz. We have one side that is 12", another that is 10" and a 7"X4" island and will be using the rest of the slab as backsplash. I think you're grossly underestimating the price of quartz.

cbee817 · July 2015

Our kitchen is about 12x12 and we paid $21,000 total a little over 5 years ago. The only thing we kept in the kitchen was the hardwood floors and needed the sink moved from one wall to under the window, the gas line moved for the stove, and some plumbing replaced in the basement (we have an older house that had cast iron- that bill was $2500). We got all new stainless steel appliances, a vent, and new lighting. We went with quartz counters too with an undermount stainless sink and our cabinets (white with glass uppers) go to the ceiling. Backsplash is white subway tile and we did that ourselves so it ended up being pretty cheap. The best thing we got was the garbage cabinet (ours has 2 garbage bins in it- we use the front one for garbage and the back one for paper recycling)- it's amazing especially with kids.. I won't ever have a kitchen without one! I would post pictures but I can't at work. I will say it's definitely worth it- everyone loves our kitchen when they see it and I love how much more functional it is than before.

dalm0m · July 2015

The quartz I have already gotten a few quotes on & $3,000 was on the high end.

DIY is not an option.

This is my 3rd big project with this contractor & I have known him since high school so I already know nobody can beat his prices. I don't have a formal estimate from him yet. He brought the other two jobs in under budget so I'm not really worried.

He came with to meet the designed the other day. Although I didn't want to change my windows, they convinced me I have to according to code & for aesthetics. Contractor says that will only add $200 plus the costs of the window to the project.

I got the final #s from the cabinet guy the other day: $10,600 with tax & including all the expensive extras (all wood construction; painted maple doors with a high gloss finish; glass corner cabinets with glass shelves, 2 sets of pot drawers; trash insets; dedicated knife drawer, and a decorative metal hood for over the stove.)

We got the appliances on sale for $2,300 & we get 12 months to pay, interest free.

So I think I'm going to be OK.

kitchen renovation budget?

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