What a kitchen remodel costs, and what actually moves the number
A kitchen is priced by its parts rather than by its size, which is why two quotes on the same room can be further apart than two quotes on two different houses.
Cabinetry is usually the largest single line
On most kitchens, cabinetry accounts for a larger share of the total than any other category — frequently more than appliances and counters combined. The range within that one line is enormous: stock cabinets from a distributor, semi-custom boxes with custom fronts, and fully custom millwork are three different products at three different prices, and all three can be described in a quote as "new cabinets".
The specifics worth asking for are the box material (particleboard, plywood, or solid), the drawer construction and hardware, and whether the doors are painted or thermofoil. A quote that names those things is comparable to another quote that names them. A quote that does not is not comparable to anything.
Moving anything costs more than replacing it
Keeping the sink, the range and the refrigerator where they are keeps the plumbing and the gas line where they are. Moving any of them means opening a floor or a wall, running new supply and drain, and — in older housing — discovering what the existing pipe is actually made of. A layout change is the single most reliable way to move a kitchen from one price bracket to the next.
Removing a wall goes further again. If it carries load, the project needs a structural calculation, a header sized for the span, and inspection. That is not an add-on to a kitchen quote; it is a separate scope that happens to be occurring in a kitchen.
What the age of the house adds
A kitchen built in the 1920s or 1950s was wired for a fraction of the electrical load a current one carries. Bringing the circuits up to code — dedicated circuits for appliances, ground-fault protection at the counters, and sometimes a panel upgrade — is real work that is easy to leave out of a headline number and impossible to skip once an inspector is involved.
Older housing also hides things. Original wiring, galvanised supply lines, framing that was never meant to carry an opening, and flooring layers nobody knew about all turn up after demolition rather than before. The useful question is not whether that will happen but who carries the cost when it does.
Questions that make two quotes comparable
- What is the cabinet box made of, and are the doors painted or laminate?
- Is the sink, range or refrigerator moving from its current position?
- How many new electrical circuits are included, and is a panel upgrade assumed?
- What happens to the flooring underneath the existing cabinet runs?
- Who carries the cost if the wiring or plumbing behind the wall has to be replaced?
- Is the permit fee and inspection coordination included, or billed separately?
Next step: Refacing or replacing cabinets
Prices vary widely by city, by season and by how busy a contractor is when you ask. Use the questions above to compare quotes to each other rather than to a published average.