How Much Does a Kitchen Remodel Cost?

Kitchen remodel prices in the US are too wide for a single average to be honest. A cosmetic refresh often lands around $8,000–$25,000. A mid-range remodel that keeps the sink, the range, and the refrigerator where they are often clusters around $30,000–$55,000. A gut that moves walls or plumbing is commonly $70,000–$150,000 or more. The national spread on this page, $8,000–$150,000, is that whole ladder. It is not a quote, and the typical band is only the middle rung.

If you remember one distinction, make it this: keeping the layout is one project, and moving water or gas is another. Most of the shock in kitchen budgets is a layout change described as “while we’re at it.”

What the mid-range includes

The typical $30,000–$55,000 band assumes an existing kitchen of ordinary size, stock or semi-custom cabinets, laminate or a modest quartz or granite, mid-tier appliances, a new sink and faucet, lighting that does not require a new circuit for every can, new flooring in the kitchen only, and professional installation. Paint and a tile backsplash are in. A structural wall is not.

A refresh at the low end is paint, hardware, a refinish or refacing of cabinets that are still square, a countertop if the boxes can hold it, and appliances that fit the old openings. A major remodel adds demolition, layout changes, permits, possible electrical panel work, and plumbing that has to be rerouted and inspected.

None of the bands include a new addition, high-end custom cabinetry throughout, professional-style appliances as a set, or repairing rot that appears when the dishwasher comes out. Ask every bidder what happens if the subfloor is soft. A unit price for subfloor repair belongs on the proposal.

What moves the price

Driver	How it changes the bid
Layout	Moving the sink even a few feet means new drain, vent, and supply lines. Moving the range can mean gas and a new circuit.
Cabinets	Stock boxes are the lower tier. Inset custom cabinets can exceed the rest of a mid-range budget by themselves.
Counters and stone	Material price matters, and so do seams, sink cutouts, and a waterfall edge.
Appliances	A standard slide-in range is in the mid-range story. A panel-ready column set is not.
Electrical and plumbing	Older kitchens often need dedicated circuits and GFCI protection. That is expected. A full service upgrade is extra.
Hidden conditions	Wet subfloor, amateur wiring, and plaster walls turn a week of labor into three.

Bathroom remodels are not covered by this guide. They share the same lesson — moving the fixtures dominates the price — and they have their own scope in the bathroom remodel guide.

DIY or hire

DIY is realistic for painting cabinets that are already well built, swapping hardware, installing a peel-and-stick or a simple tile backsplash on a flat wall, and swapping a faucet if the shutoff valves work. It is a poor place to learn cabinet installation. Boxes that are out of level make every countertop and every appliance harder.

Hire for new circuits, for gas, and for any drain you are relocating. Hire the countertop fabrication even if you are tempted by a slab. Templating is the job. If you want to be your own general contractor, you still need a written sequence: demo, rough trades, inspection, cabinets, template, counters, then appliances. Skipping the order is how a “saved” labor fee gets spent twice.

Repair or replace

Repair and refinish when the layout works and the cabinet boxes are solid. New doors and a countertop on square boxes can look like a new kitchen without a gut. Replace appliances that fail, and replace a dishwasher that has been leaking into the floor — after the floor is dried out and checked.

Replace the kitchen, in the sense of a remodel, when the layout makes the room hard to use, the boxes are swollen or particleboard that has already failed, or the wiring and plumbing cannot support the way you cook. Do not gut a kitchen because the paint color is dated. Do gut it, with a real budget, when you have decided the sink must move.

Get the electrical and plumbing looked at before you fall in love with a plan. A kitchen that needs a service upgrade is a kitchen plus the project in the panel guide.

How to use this number

Pick the tier before you collect bids. Ask each contractor to price the same layout, the same cabinet line, and the same appliance list, and to show allowances for counters, flooring, and fixtures. An allowance that is silent is a change order waiting to happen.

Then see which tier your number sits in. A “mid-range” bid at the top of the major-remodel band is either a layout change or a material list that left the mid tier. A refresh bid up in the mid-range band may be honest if the cabinets are being replaced rather than painted — make them say which. Two or three local bids, with the same drawings, are the price. These bands only tell you which conversation you are in. The methodology page describes how they were set.