We’re sharing the breakdown of our Red House kitchen budget with you.
In This Post
How Much Does It Cost?
We recently revealed our completed Red House kitchen! If you missed that post, we highly recommend checking it out. By request and as we have in the past, we’re breaking down how we spent our dollars on the project. We feel that transparency in cost helps us all have a more full and realistic understanding of what goes into a home renovation. Our hope is that this post can serve as a starting point for a kitchen upgrade in your future, while taking into account your own needs, wants and budget. We’re also sharing a ‘Look for Less’ at the bottom of this post, so please scroll on down if you’re interested in that!
Follow along with this renovation from the beginning: Welcome to the Red House | First five steps at the Red House | Raising the roof at the Red House | All about the 14′ double sliding door at the Red House | Vaulted ceilings at the Red House | Oak flooring at the Red House | Red House at 1 year | Paneled ceiling reveal | Kitchen mood board | The state of the Red House | Red House backsplash
The kitchen at the Red House is a portion of the main common area, which also includes the living room, (future) entryway and living room. Because of this, we’ve chosen to exclude the cost of things like the installation of the big double sliding doors and new windows, the walnut ceiling treatment and the hardwood flooring, since they’re all part of a larger whole. We’ve focused on the cost of the kitchen build from ‘white box’ status.
Kitchen Budget Breakdown
- Custom Cabinetry* | $8,492
- Cabinet + Appliance Install | $12,000
- Custom Floating Shelves + Hardware | $2,340
- Appliances* | $16,237
- Custom Range Hood + Insert | $3,800
- Green Soapstone Countertops | $4,600
- Tile* | $1,206
- Sink + Faucet* | $3,100
- Vintage Table | $1,700
- Rug + Chairs* | $4,793
- Lighting* | $3,744
TOTAL = $62,012 | *denotes partial or full brand sponsorship
Links to all individual kitchen sources are shared in the reveal post, or you can shop our kitchen directly.
Look for Less
We’ve also created a look for less! Also, if frugality is the name of the game, we could have assembled and installed our own cabinets as we did in our Chicago home. The range hood could have also been DIY’d but time was in short supply this time, so we called in the professionals!
1. 9-light statement pendant | 2. retro wall clock | 3. steel flush mounted sconce | 4. cordless mushroom table lamp | 5. fluted gray ceramic wall tile | 6. trinsic gold kitchen faucet | 7. metallic black sink | 8. checkered utensil holder | 9. induction range | 10. 2-slice toaster | 11. cookbook stand | 12. long wood cutting board | 13. large wood cutting board | 14. woven seat dining chair | 15. round marble dining table | 16. wooden bowl | 17. set of 2 metal stools | 18. loloi jules rug
We hope this is helpful in pulling back the curtain on the cost of a real, self-financed renovation!
Thanks for sharing the budget breakdown. We are in the planning stages of a kitchen renovation and this information is so helpful. Are the prices listed above the installed cost or just material cost? In general how do labor cost compare to material cost? Thank you!
Hi Natasha! It’s a little bit of both. For example, there’s a separate line item for cabinet build and install since we decided to hire the pros due to time constraints this time around. In our Chicago kitchen, though, we built and installed the cabinets ourselves, which was a huge cost savings.
The countertop installation was included in the cost and the sink is generally installed by the countertop installer. We installed the plumbing fixtures ourselves and also did all of the tile work. The installation of the walnut floating shelves was handled by the maker, but we installed the cabinet hardware ourselves.
A good rule of thumb is that depending on the market, labor is 2/3rds of installed cost and materials are 1/3. This is exactly why we choose to DIY whenever our timeline and skills allow for it. Hope this helps!
How did you locate and verify the qualifications of your cabinet pro? Also, the pro assembled and installed, right? I would be thrilled to use Cabinet Joint for my reno and I’d love to try DIY assembly but I absolutely want a pro for install and assembly backup in case it’s a lot harder than you make it look—not saying you make it look easy but you do make it look doable. But then you’ve got SKILLS
Hi, Robin! Our contractor is a skilled finish work craftsman, so we felt very confident in having them build and install. That said, I would focus on hiring someone who specializes in woodworking and cabinet install, as opposed to a general contractor. You’ll be much happier with the results!
FYI the wrong kitchen reveal post is linked, Chicago va red house.
We’ve started planning our kitchen remodel and this is so helpful! For the starred prices that “denotes partial or full brand sponsorship” are you indicating the full price before the sponsorship or the price you paid after sponsorship? Thanks!
Hi Shira. Great question! The price denotes the MSRP/full price that a consumer would pay.
Thanks for sharing! The transparency on sponsored costs are alap appreciated. What is the total square foot of your kitchen? It’s helpful for me to translate into a total cost per square foot and back calculate for my own!
Hi Cate! We always aim for full transparency! It’s a bit trick to estimate the total square footage of the space since it sits within a shared common room and also serves as a pass-through to the basement. That said, the real estate listing has it listed as around 16′ x 13′, which comes to 208 sq. ft.
Thank you so much for sharing! I feel like 8500 for custom cabinets is a steal. I love the whole MCM vibe!
Thanks! We feel the same way. Both of our experiences with Cabinet Joint have been top notch.