What Does a New Kitchen Really Cost?

When you are considering making improvements to your home, without a doubt, the best place to make improvements is in your kitchen. If you watch the home improvement shows, they often provide budgets for the work that they do to renovate a kitchen. Do not believe their budgets! They are very low! When you visit a big box store, they also often show pricing for cabinets for a ten foot by ten foot kitchen. That amount typically does not reflect the actual cost either.

Let me share some guidelines, and my reality, for doing a complete kitchen remodel in an older home. One guideline is that you should spend the same amount to redo your kitchen that the typical homeowner in your neighborhood spends to purchase a new car. Another helpful guideline is that the cost to renovate your existing kitchen should not exceed ten percent of the current market value of your home.

I recently did a complete makeover of the kitchen in my home. My 1929 side entry Colonial had its original kitchen; no, I'm not kidding. I could not fit a normal sized cereal box in any of the cabinets; I had to lay it on its side. The overall aesthetic was.....American ugly. Here's a photo to give you an idea:

We made a few changes, like moving the doorway to the dining room, widening the doorway to the hall, and taking down an awkward wall that separated the kitchen from the back steps and breakfast room, but we did not increase the footprint of the kitchen. The budget breakdown went like this:

$20,000 cabinets I bought Haas, American made, all wood, higher end cabinets, with some fancy inserts, and a pantry with pull out shelves

$20,000 construction, including upgrades to electrical and plumbing, lighting, repair and restaining floors, and a steel beam to support the area where the wall was removed

$8,000 GE slate appliances, including fridge, range with double ovens, hood, microwave, beverage fridge and dishwasher

$5,000 countertops I fell in love with the Eco by Cosentino, because it is quartz with little pieces of recycled glass, so it sparkles in the LED lights

$5,000 architect and engineer, although that includes cost of plans beyond just the kitchen

$4,000 light fixtures, tile for backsplash, farm sink, faucet, cabinet hardware

The places were you have a lot of choices and need to be careful what you choose are the cabinets and the appliances; new cabinets will always look great, but the less expensive ones definitely do not feel as weighty or smooth as the better made ones do. You can spend almost anything on appliances, from a $2,000 low end stainless package of appliances, to a $20,000 plus package of high end appliances with a fancy range hood, double ovens, multi burner stove, wine fridge, etc. My advice to you is to make careful choices, and keep your choices at a commensurate level, both with each other and with your home's level of finishes. For example, if you have to have a high end stove, you can't go cheap on your cabinets; if you have a million dollar home, there is a certain quality level that is expected or your kitchen will look "out of whack" with everything else in your home.

It turned out amazing. And the best part is, you spend time there every single day.