You want a new kitchen. You can picture it. The problem is you don’t know what it costs, and the last thing you want is to walk into a conversation with your partner — or a salesperson — and feel like you’re guessing.
You’re not alone. Budget confusion is the number one reason kitchen projects stall before they start.
Here’s the good news: you can get accurate, reliable numbers in an afternoon. No contractor required. No sales pitch. Just the facts you need to walk into that conversation with confidence.
Let’s break it down.
Cabinets Are the Biggest Line Item — Start There
Before you look at countertops, flooring, or appliances, understand one thing: cabinets are the single most expensive part of a kitchen remodel. They typically represent about 30 percent of your total project budget. If you understand cabinet pricing, you understand your kitchen budget.
There are three cabinet categories, and they live in very different price ranges.
Stock cabinets are the lowest-cost option. You find them at big box stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. Sizes are limited, quality varies, and what you see is what you get. Expect to pay anywhere from $60 to $200 per linear foot installed, depending on the box store and your market.
Semi-custom cabinets are the middle ground. More size options, better construction, more finish choices. You’re looking at $100 to $650 per linear foot installed. This is where most mid-range kitchen remodels land.
Custom cabinets are built to your exact specifications by a cabinet shop. Quality is highest, lead times are longest, and prices start around $500 per linear foot and go up from there. For most homeowners doing a renovation, this is overkill unless you have a very unusual space.
RTA cabinets — Ready To Assemble — are a fourth category worth knowing about. These are factory-built frameless cabinets shipped flat and assembled on site. The quality on a well-made RTA cabinet rivals semi-custom at a fraction of the price. More on that in a future post.
Know Your Kitchen Measurements Before You Price Anything
You cannot get an accurate cabinet quote without measurements. Period. This is where most homeowners waste time — they call around asking for estimates before they know their own kitchen dimensions, and every number they get back is a guess.
Here is what you need to measure:
The total linear footage of your wall cabinets. Measure every wall run that will have upper cabinets, from corner to corner.
The total linear footage of your base cabinets. Same process along the floor.
Ceiling height. Standard is eight feet. If yours is nine or ten, it changes cabinet sizing and cost.
Any obstacles. Windows, doors, vents, and appliance locations all affect the layout.
Write these down. Even rough numbers will get you in the ballpark faster than anything else.
If you want to go further, sketch a simple top-down view of your kitchen on graph paper. You don’t need to be an artist. Just draw the walls, mark where the doors and windows are, and note where your sink, stove, and refrigerator sit. That sketch is worth more than an hour of online research.
What Does a Full Kitchen Cost? Real Numbers.
A full kitchen remodel in the United States currently runs anywhere from $15,000 on the very low end to $75,000 or more on the high end. The national average for a mid-range remodel lands somewhere between $25,000 and $40,000.
Here is a rough budget breakdown for a mid-range project:
Cabinets: 29 to 35 percent of total budget
Countertops: 10 to 15 percent
Labor and installation: 20 to 35 percent
Appliances: 10 to 15 percent
Flooring, lighting, plumbing fixtures, and everything else: the remainder
If your total budget is $30,000, you’re looking at roughly $8,700 to $10,500 in cabinets alone. If your budget is $20,000, cabinet spend needs to come in around $5,800 to $7,000 to leave room for everything else.
These numbers give you a starting point for any conversation — with a partner, a contractor, or a designer.
Three Things to Nail Down Before Any Conversation
Whether you’re talking to your spouse, a contractor, or an online cabinet company, walk in with these three things already decided:
Your hard budget ceiling. The most you are willing to spend, total. Not a range. A number. Ranges invite people to sell to the top of them.
Your must-haves versus your nice-to-haves. Soft-close doors might be a must-have. A specific wood species might be a nice-to-have you can swap for a look-alike finish and save $2,000. Know the difference before someone else makes that decision for you.
Your timeline. Are you doing this in three months or eighteen months? That affects whether you buy now, wait for a sale, or take your time getting multiple quotes.
One More Thing
You don’t have to know everything before you start. You just have to know enough to ask the right questions and recognize a straight answer when you hear one.
At Kitchens By Remote, we do free kitchen design consultations remotely — no showroom visit required, no pressure, no sales pitch until you’re ready. If you want a real number for your real kitchen, reach out. We’ll tell you exactly what things cost and why.
That’s the kind of conversation worth having.