Kitchen Renovation Costs

As we’ve been working on the kitchen for the past two months, I’ve been keeping track of every penny we’ve spent on the renovation. From screws for the studs to paint for the baseboards, everything will be counted for. I love to hear how much real renovations cost so I thought I’d breakdown my kitchen renovation costs.

kitchen renovation costs

I should say though, that this was a big renovation. We tore out all the old cabinets! And everything was taken down to the studs. It was a massive undertaking, my husband and I spent hundreds of hours customizing every detail, and the price reflects that.

The other thing I want to say is that every home and every renovation will be different. Every person will make different choices based on what works for their family. Which they should 🙂

Technically, this is a small kitchen. I thought I’d look up the average price of a kitchen remodel. Here’s what I found-

HomeAdvisor puts the average kitchen remodel price in the $12,567 to $34,962 range. A small kitchen remodel can cost as little as $4,000 and a lavish remodel can cost as much as $50,000+.

via HGTV

Let’s break down what the kitchen remodel cost.

exact kitchen costs

Countertops (slab and installation) $2270

Mint Sink $436*

Faucet $350*

Dishwasher $900

Fridge $3800*

Stove $5095*

Cabinets $3757

Hardware $1340*

Hood $433

Electrician $215

Lights $715*

Dump $15

Peel and Stick Floor $672*

Decorative Trim (corbels, ceiling medallion, onlays) $65

Tiling Tools (saw, sponge, thinnest, grout, trowel, bucket, float) $233

Tile $181

Shiplap $283

Crown Molding $101

Paint $31

Garbage Disposal $109

Beams for the Entry $57

Floating Shelves $51

Hardware Misc. $1012 (screws, drywall, cement board, studs, caulk, outlets, pipes, wood filler, staples, etc)

Sub total- $9,713 (this is my out of pocket cost)

Total- $22,121

Note, for the items with an asterisk, I received the item at a discount or for a media trade for posting about them. I wanted to share the full price so that I could give an accurate total for what everything cost.

The splurges were definitely the appliances, countertops and hardware.

By doing all the work on our own, we saved a lot of money. And the tile was a very budget friendly project! Even though we had to buy all the tools to do it. 

KITCHEN SOURCES

Fridge and Stove– Pastel Turquoise

Mint Sink

Kitchen Faucet– Champagne Gold

Bird and Branch Chinoiserie Wallpaper Mural

Dining Room Bench (Ikea Hack)

Decorative Trim on Bench

Flush Mount Light Kitchen

Dining Room Chandelier

Ceiling Medallion

Dining Table

Pink Dining Chairs

Corbel Trim

Roller Shade Dining Room Window

Blush Blossom Peel and Stick Tile

White Subway Tile

Floating Decorative Shelves

Lenox Spice Village Houses

Pink Cabinet Paint- Cupcake Pink

Bamboo Handle Medium

Dogwood Knob Small with Pink Quartz

White Paint- Ultra Pure White (ceiling and trim)

Floral Art

Ocean Sunset Art

Pink Abstract Art

Abstract sunset hand painted art

Plates over the Stove

Tea Towel with my Grandma’s Recipe

Recipe Tin

Colorful Dishes

thoughts

Ok, I’m going to be real with you on these next few paragraphs. If you want pretty, optimistic and happy, go to yesterday’s reveal post– lol. 

Honestly, after typing up these costs, I wanted to throw up. I listen to the news every morning and am fully aware of what a hard and crappy year it is. That there’s thousands of people dying everyday. That people are getting evicted because they can’t pay their bills. I know that many will have a small or no Christmas this year. And here I am with a very expensive remodel.

The state of the world makes me sad and tired. I know what’s going on. But I still feel a calling to add happiness to the world. And the way I know how to do that is with creating things. It’s what I’m meant to do. Even when it’s frivolous and silly.

let’s back up

But, to put the spending in context, we saved up for this remodel and were planning on doing it from a year ago. Then when everything crashed in the spring, the kitchen renovation was put on hold. Why? Because my income almost stopped (which was so scary) and we literally couldn’t buy what we needed for the project since IKEA was closed (where we got our cabinets). 

Then, in the fall, we decided to complete the remodel. Why? My work was more steady, the kitchen was barely functional, we had saved up for the project and I had committed with sponsors to do the project. So I did. And it was expensive. Though to be fair, we chose to not take down the wall to save probably 10-15k on this renovation.

But I hope you enjoyed following along. And now I hope that showing the real, exact costs sheds light on what honestly goes into these before and afters. 

I wasn’t sure how to write this blog post. Most of the time, I do budget friendly makeovers. In the past few years, I 100% focused on creative updates and hacks to redo my last kitchen. I painted my fridge, added car vinyl to the stove, and used peel and stick tiles for the backsplash. And it was fun to do!

what’s next

Well, in January, I’ll be focusing on smaller updates that I can do on a budget. My wallet needs a break. And I need to slow down a bit after a huge remodel. I was just brainstorming projects I can do and am really looking forward to creating little beautiful things without spending a lot of money. There will be some fun projects coming!

I hope you enjoy both types of content- the big ones like this kitchen renovation where we spend weeks and weeks creating something that is high quality and will be the backdrop to so many beautiful memories. And smaller projects that anyone can do, no matter their budget. I believe that there’s space for both of those types of projects on here. At least I hope so.

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