Cost Breakdown
Where every dollar of a kitchen remodel goes
The line items in the order they show up on a real quote, and an honest note on which ones you can trim without regretting it.
The cost page gives you the total by scope. This is what sits underneath that total. Knowing the order of magnitude of each line is what lets you spend deliberately rather than agonising over a decision that moves the number by two hundred dollars while ignoring one that moves it by eight thousand.
1. Cabinets, the biggest single line
On a full replacement the cabinets are the largest item, ahead of the countertops and ahead of the labor. Everything about how much your kitchen costs starts here. This is why the walkthrough begins by opening the sink base rather than looking at door samples: if the existing boxes are sound, refacing them instead of replacing them frees more money than every other saving on this page combined.
2. Countertops
Second largest on most quotes. Priced by the slab, the cut, the edge profile and the number of seams your room forces, not by a flat rate per square foot. A long run that does not come out of one slab means buying a second whole slab, which is the most common reason a countertop quote lands higher than expected.
3. Labor and the trades
Demolition, framing, drywall, tile, electrical, plumbing and finish carpentry. This line is remarkably resistant to shrinking. In a small kitchen every trade still arrives, still sets up, still works and still gets inspected, which is exactly why a small kitchen costs more per square foot than a large one.
4. Appliances
Usually bought by you rather than by us, which makes this the easiest line to move by thousands in either direction without touching the build. One rule: choose them before the cabinets are ordered. A range an inch wider than planned means a modified cabinet, and a cabinet modified on site never looks as clean as one built to size.
5. Permits and inspections
A real line, not a hidden fee. Fees are set by the city and we pass them through at cost. If a quote for a kitchen with new circuits shows no permit line at all, ask whether the fee is buried or the work is simply not being permitted, because those are very different answers. The permit guide covers which trades need one here.
6. The allowance for what demolition finds
Every honest quote carries one, because nobody can see through drywall. Undersized wiring, a vent routed through the soffit you want removed, a wall that turns out to carry load. Removing this line from a quote does not remove the risk from the job, it just moves the conversation to week two when you have no kitchen and less leverage.
7. Disposal
Old cabinets, counters, flooring and drywall all have to leave the property. Bins cost money and dump fees are charged by weight. Stone is heavy. Small line, frequently omitted.
Trim these, not those
Safe to cut: keeping the existing layout, refacing sound boxes, choosing a quartz from a lower price group rather than a small slab of an expensive one, tiling the backsplash instead of running a full slab, buying appliances yourself on sale.
Expensive to cut: anything electrical or plumbing, anything that ends up behind a cabinet or under a counter, a failing sink base, the vented range hood, and the allowance. Every one of those costs more to revisit than it saved.
See these lines for your kitchen
The written quote breaks the job out the same way this guide does, so you can see exactly which line each choice moves.