Kitchen budgets vary more than almost any other remodel, and it's usually not the reasons people expect.
Cabinetry typically represents the biggest single share of a kitchen budget. The spread between stock, semi-custom and full custom is wide, and it's the first place to adjust if the total comes in high. Semi-custom often gets you most of the way to a custom look for meaningfully less.
Opening a kitchen to a living room is the single most transformative change in most homes. If that wall is load-bearing, you need a beam, and often an engineer's calculation and a permit. Budget for that possibility before you fall in love with the open-concept rendering.
Slab price is only part of it. Fabrication complexity — waterfall edges, mitered edges, book-matched seams, large overhangs needing support — changes labor substantially. A simple quartz install and a book-matched marble island are different projects.
A larger range often means a new hood, new venting, possibly new electrical or gas. A counter-depth refrigerator may need cabinet modification. Appliance choices ripple into other trades, so make them early.
In homes built before 1980, expect the possibility of knob-and-tube wiring, undersized electrical service, or plumbing that needs replacement while the walls are open. Doing it now is far cheaper than doing it later. Set aside a contingency.
Line-item bids only. If one bid is much lower, find out what it excludes — often it's demo, disposal, permits, or the substrate work. Cheapest and least complete are frequently the same bid.
These figures move with your specific house. In Puget Sound homes, the biggest single budget variable is almost always what's discovered during demo — older framing, failed waterproofing, or plumbing that needs replacing while the walls are open. We build a contingency into every estimate for exactly that reason, and we'd rather tell you about it up front than surprise you in week two.
We'll look at it, tell you honestly what it needs, and put an itemized estimate in writing. No charge, no pressure.
Get a Free Estimate 📞 (206) 396-2959No, and neither should anyone else. Without seeing the space, any number is a guess that will change. We do free site visits and give itemized written estimates.
Usually scope, not price gouging. One bid excludes demo and disposal, another includes substrate repair, a third assumes lower-grade materials. Insist on line items and the differences become obvious.
About the author: Veniamin Plotnikov is the owner of Builders Enterprise, Inc., a general contracting and remodeling company based in Renton, WA. He has worked in construction across the Puget Sound since 1998, including years specializing in natural stone and countertop fabrication.
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