12 Factors that Affect Kitchen Remodel Costs
Elite Remodeling
| 13 minutes readThe cost to remodel a kitchen will vary greatly due to numerous factors. As local kitchen and bath remodeling professionals, we regularly help North Texas homeowners like yourself with their kitchen remodeling projects. We often come across the same questions asking for a “quick†or “rough ballpark†estimate to remodel a home.
As a result, we often explain the following top factors that affect the cost to remodel your home’s kitchen. These items will need to be discussed and confirmed before providing anything close to a realistic pricing estimate. Understanding these few significant factors and how they may impact the overall cost of your remodeled kitchen.
Our certified professional designers will work with you every step of the way to guide you through the spectrum of decisions and options available to best achieve the ideal result for your new kitchen. Providing you with both aesthetic pleasure, realistic functionality, modern updates, and great added value to your home.
With each factor, we have added our “hardhat†rating system to provide an understanding of how much each factor will affect the cost of your kitchen remodel. A “one hat†rating is the least impactful on overall price and “five hats†being the most impactful.
#1 – IDEAL USE AND FREQUENCY
The kitchen is by far the one space in their home to splurge or update above the other areas of the home. Ranging from “good quality†to “top-of-the-line gourmet†to near commercial-grade, you can literally spend as much or as little as you like.
It simply comes down to how much you value the space, how you plan to use it, and how often you will spend time in your kitchen. Do you love cooking? Will it be solely for social settings? Is it the hub for your family to congregate? Do you regularly have holiday gatherings?
How you plan to use the space will likely impact how much time, effort, and investment you would like to apply to the renovation of your existing kitchen. Some renovate their kitchen to resell in the near future, and others renovate to be their “forever kitchen.â€
#2 – EXISTING CONFIGURATION VS. YOUR IDEAL CONFIGURATION
It may be that you do not like your current kitchen layout or that it simply is not well designed for how you intend to use the space. Changing the location of sinks, dishwashers, stoves, ovens, refrigerators, lighting, etc., can greatly improve the layout. However, it will increase the overall cost of remodeling your kitchen. Changing these items’ locations may require additional plumbing, wiring, and gas line costs to your remodel.
No change to size or configuration
Replace outdated appliances but keep the layout and location of all appliances as before. May include replacing countertops or cabinet doors/drawers but is better described as a “facelift†for your existing kitchen. In the industry, this is called a “pull and set†project.
Change configuration but not the size or location of structural elements
This will be less costly by not moving walls, windows, doors, etc. but allows for reconfiguration of appliances, fixtures, and working areas by opening up the walls to add new electrical wiring, water, and wastewater gas lines.
Changing it all
No holds bar, get the exact new kitchen you are looking for by pulling everything out and starting with a clean canvas of the home’s floorplan.
It is important to note that reconfiguration and structural relocation changes can significantly impact your renovation cost. However, if your existing kitchen’s configuration and layout aren’t working for you, these additional costs are very worthwhile. To best understand what you are looking for, we highly suggest involving a professional to assess these reconfiguration and relocation decisions’ potential hurdles.
#3 – CHANGES OR UPGRADES IN UTILITIES
Migrating from an all-electric kitchen to a kitchen with a gas stove and ovens may increase the cost of your kitchen remodel. Your home may or may not already have gas lines run to your existing stove/oven location, which will negate the requirement to run new lines.
If your home has not had its electrical system upgraded in several years, you may need to “heavy up†and supplement additional electrical circuits to meet building code and handle your new appliances’ needs.
Most new refrigerators will require a water line, which must be planned for when relocating or even simply upgrading your existing refrigerator settings? Is it the hub for your family to congregate? Do you regularly have holiday gatherings?
#4 – FLOORING
Though there is an expansive list of kitchen flooring options, most are affordable, functional, and aesthetically pleasing. Hardwood, natural stone, and designer tile options generally cost more than engineered wood, laminate, basic tile, or faux stone floors. However, unless you go for very inexpensive or very expensive flooring material, it usually doesn’t greatly impact the kitchen’s remodeling cost.
#5 – CABINETS
Your choice of cabinets can dramatically impact the cost of your kitchen remodel. Irrespective of your cabinets’ style or grade, they will fall into three categories: Stock, Semi-custom, and Custom.
Stock cabinets are pre-manufactured and come in a limited number of sizes and configurations. They are less costly than a comparable quality semi-custom or custom cabinets. Often a mix of these types of cabinets can offer you the most cost-effective kitchen solution.
Quality & Construction
Only when your cabinets’ grade and construction are matched to your needs, desires, and budget can they offer you the most cost-effective solution.
Entry-level, low-cost cabinets are typically (but not always) made of more economical materials. They often have exterior finishes with veneer or foil-faced modeled wood or plastic. The cabinet boxes are often constructed of compressed wood and fiberboard. They also may have lower quality hardware (pulls, hinges, and glides).
Alternatively, high-end, more expensive custom cabinets have more design options, are made using high-quality solid wood, have more refined finishes, better glides, hinges, pulls, soft closing draws, and doors. They also will have many internal configuration options for customized storage solutions. Even the joinery methods are more detailed. This yields exceptional cabinetry that works extraordinarily well and will last as long as you want to stay in the home.
As you can imagine, the majority of North Dallas homes today have cabinets somewhere between the lowest and highest priced options available. They may have more materials and features in common with higher-end cabinets but also may use wood veneers atop lesser-quality wood. The hardware, glides, and hinges often fall in the middle-quality range. Elite Remodeling performs most kitchen renovation projects for our clients in the middle to higher-end kitchen cabinet range.
Quantity and Features
Each door and drawer you add to your new kitchen will obviously increase costs. Wider and taller cabinets and cabinets with special features add more cost than smaller, standard options. Understanding how you want to use your kitchen and how you want it to look and function will help us specify options to yield the best results. Joining the pantry and storage design with the cabinets’ planning will provide you with the best comprehensive outcome and enjoyment for years to come.
#6 – TRIM
Basic trim work is mandatory in any kitchen renovation and generally isn’t a costly line item. However, some cabinet designs require more than the basic trim treatments. Base molding (aka shoe molding), crowns, chair, window, and door molding can be a simple one-piece accent to a multi-piece cornice. Often considered the “eye-liner†of the kitchen design, the trim work used in your kitchen renovation has to be well woven into your design aspects.
Basic to moderate trim work is not a significant cost factor. Still, if you desire more elaborate levels of trim, your costs will increase some for the added design, materials, and labor. The most extensive trim work that requires custom millwork can inflate your cost notably. Though, for the most part, trim is an effective way to add style without adding much cost.
#7 – COUNTERTOPS
One of the first things you see when you walk into a kitchen is the countertops. It is a great way to add design flair and personality to your kitchen. It also is one of the most used features of your kitchen.
Balancing aesthetic cohesion with other kitchen items and providing durable functionality is the cornerstone of making good countertop selection decisions. With a myriad of natural stone and synthetic options, a wide range of cost can be attributed to selecting your countertops, which is only multiplied by the desired/required surface area.
From the entry-level, basic natural stone to the high-end natural stone and high-end quartz, there is roughly a 1:5 cost differential. Selecting an imported rare natural stone can be even more expensive.
Some countertop materials offer superior durability against wear and tear, while others offer significant aesthetic uniqueness (they’re pretty!). Some require very little upkeep, and others require annual maintenance. This may make some selections more expensive than others when you factor in the lifetime cost of ownership.
#8 – APPLIANCES
Much like cabinets and countertops, the quality and quantity selected for your major kitchen appliance selections can significantly impact your new kitchen’s cost.
Two or more ovens? A high-end range and oven combo? High-tech refrigerators and steamers? Custom hood vent? Built-in in espresso makers and warming drawers? Dishwashers, multi-function microwaves, indoor grills? You may like the stainless steel look of appliances or prefer to add a veneer to hide the appliances into your cabinetry.
You can purchase all the appliances you need for an entry-level or even some mid-range kitchens for the price of just one or two high-end appliances. Therefore, appliances can have a significant impact on your kitchen remodel cost.
At Elite Remodeling, we can show you a few different options at our Showroom & Design Center, or we can take you to one of our distribution suppliers to go through many more options with you. Many of our clients find it very convenient to look at the various appliance options with one of our designers to help confirm their kitchen’s space and size requirements. Nothing is worse than falling in love with a new range that will not fit in your space without pushing your budget to a different pricing level.
#9 – LIGHTING
Lighting is not typically a major cost factor when remodeling your kitchen. In most of today’s kitchens, both general (overhead) and task (undercabinet or directly over islands) lighting are used in some combination.
Generally speaking, the number of lights needed to illuminate and support good functionality accurately is not a big cost factor. Even upgraded to dimmable LED lighting is only slightly more expensive than the most basic lighting.
Costs will only start to move up from the average if you add custom-made, designer fixtures such as hand-blown glass pendant lights, ceiling-mounted designer fixtures, home automation controlled lighting, and variable color temperature lighting.there is roughly a 1:5 cost differential. Selecting an imported rare natural stone can be even more expensive.
Some countertop materials offer superior durability against wear and tear, while others offer significant aesthetic uniqueness (they’re pretty!). Some require very little upkeep, and others require annual maintenance. This may make some selections more expensive than others when you factor in the lifetime cost of ownership.
#10 – DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION & INSTALLATION
Regardless of all other considerations, there is almost always a cost difference between a “slapdash†level design with poor craftsmanship for the installation compared to a carefully thought-out kitchen design built with care and high-quality craftsmanship.
When renovating your kitchen involves moving walls, relocating or adding doors and windows, or bumping out the kitchen to a whole new addition, homeowners want their new kitchen to look its best and not have problems down the road. This is obviously a cost factor, but imperative to feel good about this substantial investment in your home for years to come.
Homeowners very rarely regret the value-added by quality construction to their home remodeling project. The increase in cost to do the job right the first time is always worth the investment. In doing so, you will make your kitchen and home better to live in; you will be more proud of your renovation decisions (which one may not fully understand the magnitude of this until experiencing the opposite, a bad experience with a less than satisfactory end-result); and also enjoy the increase in your home’s resale value.
Elite Remodeling’s Installation and Construction team are highly skilled installers, carpenters, project managers, and specialty tradesmen. We work efficiently but don’t rush through projects. We take the time needed to do the job correctly and to our unsurpassed high-quality standards. We take pride in what we do and so we only do things the right way, the first time.
#11 – PRODUCT AND MATERIAL SELECTION ASSISTANCE
Undoubtedly, your product and material selections will impact your new kitchen’s cost, but getting help making those selections doesn’t need to.
We decided decades ago when we started Elite Remodeling that we would not just be a great contractor to get a plan done. We also wanted to be a resource in obtaining the very best renovation possible from conception to warranty.
Unlike some other remodeling firms, we can help you make these important design selections supplementing you with all the additional industry insight and information you need to make the best decisions for your home and investment.
Combining our design services with value engineering, we can introduce you to products we believe best fit your needs, priorities, and budget without compromising design. Our renovation professionals will go over all of your product selections and cost variables before finalizing the kitchen design and, obviously, before progressing to the project’s construction phase.
Our product selection and price option review allow you to make educated decisions related to the final cost. We are close to the industry, both in training and product knowledge. Whether it’s the latest designer fixtures and colors for the 2021 season, homeowner’s feedback on performance and feature usefulness, or new products from our local distribution partner’s premier brands, we will help you navigate through the myriad of options to achieve your family’s best kitchen.
#12 – VALUE ENGINEERING
Value engineering is our methodical and systematic approach to providing all the features you want, based on YOUR priorities and within YOUR budget. When you work with Elite Remodeling, value engineering is not an extra cost. It’s included in our price, as it should be.
By clearly understanding what is most important to you and how you intend to use your new kitchen, we only recommend products that will help you achieve that while also staying within or close to your budget. This will happen before your project starts, so you will know up-front and accurately what your kitchen will cost.
This review process allows you to make well-informed decisions related to the final cost. This way, you get everything you want, but in a way that is also within your budget (or as close to it as possible).
#13 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND CLIENT SERVICES
It’s no secret that poor company, project, and customer service management leads to higher, HIDDEN, unexpected costs. They also tend to never be on time and constantly covering up for problems that only add to more delays, surprise costs, and aggravation.
Professional project planning, effective project management, and proactive communications require expertise, training, and dedication. Expert project management provides homeowners with a smoother, more enjoyable, and more successful kitchen remodel.
So when comparing prices between potential remodeling partners for your next kitchen remodel, keep in mind the level of professionalism and organization of each company throughout every stage of their service, process, and their employees. The best remodeling firms will undoubtedly have a higher price than the rest but will provide a better end-product and a much smoother journey through the process.
THE FINISHING TOUCHES (THE BOTTOM LINE)
Every home’s kitchen is unique, and the cost to renovate each is as well—the culmination of many decisions based on needs or preferences on style and taste. Each of those decisions can be further complicated, with many cost variances for each.
We recommend the assistance of professionals to assist you in navigating all the options. Our certified team of professional remodelers is standing by to develop proposed kitchen designs that you will love and will work for you and fit within your budget.
