What Did My Kitchen Reno Cost? — Lauren Koster Creative

It’s been just over a year since we began demo on our kitchen renovation. We’ve done a lot of work on our home, but this was definitely the biggest project to date. You can refer back to my kitchen plans blog post to read all about my experience using Ikea cabinetry and Semihandmade door fronts. Spoiler, I loved both experiences and they look great a year in! Back when we started the reno, I had already given the kitchen several updates, from the original 80’s all brown everything, that we moved into. I painted the cabinets, the tile and later even the floor. But this was my first personal gut kitchen renovation. The only things we kept were the banquet seat and the open shelving I installed as part of the original makeover.

The purpose of this post is to show you all the pretty afters, but also to be transparent with costs. I am in the design industry and I still didn’t really know what it would cost to renovate my kitchen going into it. I knew the direction and most of the selections long before we even made the decision to go ahead, so my spreadsheet was dialed in, but there are always unknown costs. Those question marks ahead of this project included labor and materials for the cabinetry my contractor built, a plumber had to move a waterline to remove the bulkhead on the stove side of the kitchen, then the dishwasher didn’t work with the height of our new floors and the garbage disposal was not able to be reinstalled. I originally set myself a $15k budget with a stretch to $20k and we came in at about $23k.

Where did we spend? And where did we save? Keep reading to find out.

Where did we save? We did the demo ourselves. We also opted for Ikea cabinetry and assembled them ourselves. We kept the layout largely the same and reused the stove. The fridge is new, but we purchased it about 6 months before the renovation, so I did not count it in the budget. The vent hood was a DIY project and all lighting was already installed and not part of the budget.

BEFORE

AFTER

Where did we spend? I would not say that anything in our kitchen is extravagant, but items selected are of better quality and not the bottom tier. We upgraded the cabinet door fronts to use Semihandmade, instead of the Ikea fronts. The white drawer microwave and the panel ready dishwasher were probably the biggest splurges. I do love how seamless they look with the cabinetry. The composite workstation sink and the beautiful brass pull down faucet were also a place I am happy I put extra money.

What did it all cost?

cabinet boxes $2000
cabinet door and drawer fronts $3400
backsplash tile $700
sink + faucet $750
countertops $3500
flooring $2000
appliances $3500
hardware $500
labor, supplies + plumbing $6500

Total $23,000

We did go over budget, it happens with most renovations. A year in, I still love all of it, especially the function of the large drawers, as opposed to the previous configuration that had mostly doors. I also have additional pantry space and, a pullout trash! It still a pretty small galley kitchen, but amazing what you can do with space when you plan around your personal needs. And, it’s just so much more beautiful than it was before!