Whole project
Work out a kitchen remodel cost from the room, not from a budget
Type in the room. This page works out how many linear feet of cabinet the walls will hold, how many boxes that becomes, how many square feet of counter sits on top of it, how many hours each trade spends in the room, and what all of that costs at the prices you have actually been quoted where you live. It never asks you for a budget and multiplies it by something.
Your kitchen, and what it derives
Derived project subtotal, before contingency
$38,389
Scope tier derived from your answers: Reconfiguration.
Range across the 25th–75th percentile wage (other inputs held at the values above) $36,733 to $40,765
The unit prices, appliance budget, permit fee and hardware allowance pre-filled above are an example kitchen — Illustrative assumption — not a market quote. Replace them with the prices on your own quotes.
Biggest swing factor Across the whole project the widest single band is cabinetry, worth roughly $8,190 if the cabinet price moved by 60%. The 60%, 80% and 70% swing sizes for cabinets, counters and appliances are our own assumptions, used only to compare the lines; the labour band is the published wage spread.
The tier is a consequence, not a choice
Services move even though the room does not come apart. The plumbing and electrical scope is what separates this from a straight replacement, and it is easy to leave out of a first quote.
A menu of budget tiers asks which tier you want, which puts the logic backwards. A reconfiguration is what a decision such as putting the sink under the window costs. The four tiers below are named by what has to happen, so you can see which decision moves you between them.
| Tier | What defines it | What sets the price | What can still surprise you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surface refresh | Boxes stay, doors and surfaces change | Material selections and the door count | What the old doors and surfaces were hiding. |
| Same-footprint replacement | New boxes and counters in the same positions | Cabinet grade and counter material | Whatever is behind the old cabinets — the wall may not be as flat as the old boxes implied. |
| Reconfiguration | Services move, walls stay | How far the drain travels and how many circuits are new | The drain route, which the sink tool on this site checks against your floor. |
| Gut and relocate | Walls open or come out | Trade sequencing and inspection holds, not finishes | Structure, old wiring, old plumbing and the permit history of work you did not do. |
Where the material money goes
Each line below is a quantity this page derived from your room, multiplied by a unit price in the form above — an illustrative example until you replace it. Nothing in this table is a national average.
| Line | Derived quantity | Your unit price | Line total | How the quantity was derived |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabinetry | 32.5 linear ft (10 boxes) | $420.00 | $13,650 | 15.5 base + 13.5 wall + 3.5 tall linear feet, derived from your wall runs after appliance openings and blind corners were taken out. |
| Cabinet hardware | 10 boxes | $26.00 | $260 | One pull or knob allowance per box, derived from the box schedule rather than guessed. |
| Countertops | 52.7 sq ft, 33.5 ft of exposed edge | $78.00 | $4,111 | Counter run length times your counter depth, plus the island. Ranges and refrigerators break the run, dishwashers and cooktops do not — which is why this is not the same as cabinet linear feet. |
| Appliance package | as specified | $7400.00 | $7,400 | Your own figure. We publish no appliance price table because we have no source for one. |
| Sink, faucet and disposal | 1 set | $950.00 | $950 | Your own figure. |
| Lighting fixtures | as specified | $780.00 | $780 | Your own figure. |
| Backsplash material | 28.5 sq ft | $22.00 | $627 | The full length of each wall run that carries wall cabinets (including the bays over the range and refrigerator) times the height from counter to cabinet underside. |
| Flooring material | 180 sq ft | $9.00 | $1,620 | Room length times room width. Flooring under the cabinets is included because this tool assumes the floor is laid first. |
Materials come to $29,398 and permits to $640. Labour is derived separately: our assumed hours for each task, priced at published BLS wages, times the multiplier and general-conditions figures above. It is explained on the trade labour page.
Where the labour money goes
This scope generates 121.6 trade hours from our own assumed hours-per-unit rates, listed on the methodology page. Each trade's hours are priced at that trade's national BLS wage percentiles and multiplied by 2.20 to reach a billed rate. The low figure uses each trade's 25th-percentile wage and the high figure its 75th. The wages are published by BLS; the hours and the multiplier between wage and billed rate are ours.
| Trade | Hours | At 25th percentile | At median | At 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenters (SOC 47-2031) | 48.8 | $2,504 | $3,126 | $3,966 |
| Tile and Stone Setters (SOC 47-2044) | 34.1 | $1,631 | $2,009 | $2,534 |
| Electricians (SOC 47-2111) | 22.7 | $1,187 | $1,517 | $2,016 |
| Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters (SOC 47-2152) | 11.5 | $610 | $776 | $1,035 |
| Painters, Construction and Maintenance (SOC 47-2141) | 4.5 | $210 | $233 | $291 |
Carpenters (SOC 47-2031) carry 48.8 of the 121.6 hours in this scope, and the published gap between a 25th- and a 75th-percentile worker in that trade is worth $1,462 on this job alone. The wage gap is measured by BLS; the hours and the wage-to-billed multiplier are this tool’s.
What this number does not include
Not in the subtotal above
- Anything behind a wall that nobody has looked behind yet
- Structural repair discovered during demolition
- Asbestos or lead testing, abatement and clearance
- Bringing unpermitted earlier work into compliance
- Appliance delivery, installation and haul-away of the old units, unless your appliance quote says otherwise
- Window, door and exterior repairs triggered by a new vent termination
- Temporary kitchen setup and the cost of eating out
- Sales tax, financing cost and any contractor deposit that is non-refundable
The unknowns on that list do not all apply to your house. The contingency tool works out which of them your answers about the building open, and weights a reserve for each one, instead of applying one flat percentage.
Four questions that move this number
- Does the sink move? Work out whether the drain can physically get there before you accept a price for it. Moving the sink can change the tier on its own.
- How many linear feet do you actually have? The takeoff tool breaks the runs into real boxes, which is how cabinets are quoted and how you check a quote.
- How many slabs? Counter cost is a yield problem: the slab count multiplies whatever price per slab you are quoted.
- When are the cabinets ordered? The schedule tool works backwards from the lead time to the latest order date that keeps the site moving.