Our bathroom renovation is still underway (more demo, the vanity, tub, and toilet have arrived, and we’ve scheduled the plumber and electrician to rough in everything before we prep and tile). While that’s happening, we thought it would be useful to share a clear, practical budget breakdown for one side of the duplex kitchen we finished recently. If you’ve asked about renting the duplex this fall, there’s a brief update at the end of this post.
Every kitchen renovation varies widely depending on scope, materials, and labor, so consider this a realistic reference—not the only way a kitchen must be budgeted. National averages can be helpful but don’t tell the whole story: in 2019 the average kitchen remodel cost roughly $24,000, and high-end projects can exceed six figures. Our goal here is to show the choices we made, why we made them, and where you might save money.
Below is a straightforward breakdown of what we spent on one kitchen (the two sides of the duplex are mirror images and cost about the same). This list excludes whole-house items like new drywall, full electrical rewiring, and floor refinishing, since those were billed across the entire duplex. We do include typical labor examples later so you can get a more complete picture.
We transformed the room from a bare shell into a finished kitchen with two walls of cabinetry, quartz counters, new appliances, tile to the ceiling, and refinished hardwoods. Here’s the itemized cost for one side:
- Ikea cabinets (including hinges and drawer slides): $2,100
- Hardware (drawer pulls, knobs): $100
- Quartz countertops (sink and installation included): $2,850
- Appliances (range, fridge, microwave, vent hood): $2,550
- Backsplash tile: $475
- Floating shelves: $90
- Horizontal planking for accent wall: $31
- Faucet: $155
- Pendant light: $140
- Total: $8,491
The biggest line items were the quartz counters and appliances. We deliberately chose quartz because we’ve been very happy with its durability and low maintenance in other kitchens we own. It’s more expensive than laminate or some solid-surface options, but we value the long-term performance and clean look, especially in a rental that needs to hold up over time.
Appliance costs could have been reduced in several ways. Choosing white appliances over stainless steel often saves money, as does selecting a basic freestanding range instead of a slide-in model. We also paid more to hide appliances behind cabinet fronts: an in-cabinet recirculating hood and a cabinet-front dishwasher were significantly pricier than basic exposed units but gave the kitchen a seamless look when you walk in the door.
We did all the finish work ourselves so the totals above exclude labor. To give a fuller picture: hardwood refinishing for this room would be roughly $3.50 per square foot, which for an 11.5′ x 10′ kitchen adds about $402. Typical electrical work on past projects has ranged from about $455 to $900 depending on scope; using a middle estimate of $700 adds that amount. Plumbing to move sink and dishwasher hookups and extend a gas line on a similar project cost us around $650; in a simpler setup with no gas line or fridge water hookup, $500 is a reasonable estimate. Using those example labor figures would bring the single-kitchen total closer to $10,093.
Is a roughly $10,000 kitchen cheap? Not really, but it’s reasonable given the scope: a complete install in an empty room that now has new cabinetry, counters, appliances, tile, and refinished floors. Many costs vary by location, house layout, and contractor rates, so use these numbers as a starting point rather than a strict rule.
If you’re curious, we posted available rental dates for the duplex: most prime fall dates are already booked, but the end of this week on the left side and the end of next week on both sides remain available. We require a three-night minimum in the off-season, which is why some check-in options show only specific days.
If you want more reading, we’ve shared other kitchen projects and lessons learned that cover budget refreshes, full remodels, mistakes to avoid, and cabinet organization—use those posts for additional ideas and practical tips when planning your own kitchen renovation.
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