Every homeowner asks the same question in the first five minutes of a kitchen consult: what's this actually going to cost? The honest answer is "it depends" — but that's not a useful answer, so we pulled real numbers from twelve kitchen projects we finished in the last year to show where the money goes.
The three things that move the number most
Cabinetry, countertops, and whether you're moving plumbing or electrical account for most of the swing between a $28,000 refresh and an $80,000 full teardown. Everything else — paint, hardware, lighting — is a rounding error by comparison.
"The single biggest cost driver isn't the finishes people obsess over. It's whether the sink and stove stay where they are."
Moving a gas line or relocating plumbing under a slab foundation can add anywhere from $3,000 to $9,000 before you've chosen a single cabinet door. If budget is tight, keeping the existing layout is the easiest lever to pull.
Typical cost breakdown
| Category | Typical Range | |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinetry | $9,000 – $22,000 | |
| Countertops | $3,500 – $9,000 | |
| Appliances | $4,000 – $14,000 | |
| Electrical & plumbing | $2,500 – $9,000 | |
| Flooring & paint | $2,000 – $5,500 | |
| Labour & permits | $7,000 – $18,000 |
Where homeowners get surprised
Almost every budget surprise we see traces back to one thing: a change made mid-project without a signed change order. It's an easy trap — you're standing in the kitchen, you see the old subfloor, and it seems reasonable to just "go ahead and fix it while we're in there." Reasonable, but it's exactly how a fixed-price job turns into an open-ended one.
Our contracts price every change before it happens, in writing, so the number you agreed to at the start is still the number you see on the final invoice — plus only the changes you actually approved.
