Cost Guide · Kitchen Remodels
Kitchen Remodel Cost: What Contractors Charge in 2026
A kitchen is not priced a square foot. It is priced by the run of cabinet, the trades the scope drags in, and the finishes nobody publishes.
Quoting a kitchen this week? Estimate it from a photo.
Kitchen remodel cost is decided by the scope tier
Homeowners ask for a price a square foot. Kitchens do not work that way, because two rooms of the same size can sit three tiers apart. The tier decides who shows up.
SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a kitchen photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds.
| Scope tier | What actually moves | Trades on site |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic refresh | Doors, fronts, hardware, paint. Boxes and tops stay. | Carpenter |
| Pull and replace | New boxes and tops on the existing footprint. | Carpenter, plus plumber and electrician to reset |
| Full gut with a layout change | Walls move, the sink or range relocates. | All three trades for new rough in, plus the inspector |
Only the third tier is a construction job. Pricing the first two like a gut is how a bid loses.
The cabinet run is the only priceable spine
Cabinets are the one part of a kitchen a seller publishes a price for, so start there.
These are today’s listed prices on one stock painted line, with the box width turned into a linear foot rate.
| Box | Size | Listed price | A linear foot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen Kompact 24B base | 24 by 34 1/2 by 24 in | $270.00 | $135.00 |
| Kitchen Kompact 30B base | 30 by 34 1/2 by 24 in | $376.00 | $150.40 |
| Kitchen Kompact 24W wall | 24 by 30 by 12 in | $174.00 | $87.00 |
| Kitchen Kompact 30W wall | 30 by 30 by 12 in | $249.00 | $99.60 |
| Satin nickel pull, 8 pack | 3 in center to center | $34.99 | $4.37 each |
| Satin nickel knob, 10 pack | 1 1/16 in | $29.99 | $3.00 each |
Read these as single publisher prices
One seller states them, at one price across every branch it lists. Anchor on the shape, then confirm at your counter.
The box is only a line in the carpentry. Hanging, scribing and filler work live on our cabinet installation cost guide, which this page leaves alone.
Turn the kitchen into a priced job
SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. It is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, with a 7-day free trial.
What no publisher will price
We went after a countertop, a sink and a faucet at the same sellers that price the boxes. Every one came back empty.
Sutherlands serves those listings with no price. Do it Best and McCoy’s list the categories but publish no price we can read, and the national boxes blocked our reads.
Every whole project range in the results traces back to a lead generation cost guide, so this page prints no total.
A borrowed number is worse than a blank. Quote the lines you can stand behind and get the tops and fixtures priced in writing.
The trades set the spread, not the finishes
The May 2025 federal wage survey puts carpenters at a $31.55 hourly mean across 670,090 workers, plumbers at $34.70 and electricians at $34.37.
Those are wages an employer pays an employee. The survey leaves out the self employed, so it is not a bill rate.
What it tells you is the jump between tiers. A pull and replace buys a few hours each from two licensed trades. A layout change buys days from both.
A worked example off stated inputs
Take a galley with 17 linear feet of base run and 14 of wall, in the stock line above. This is a worked illustration off stated inputs.
| Line | Count | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| 30B base cabinets | 6 | $2,256.00 |
| 24B base cabinet | 1 | $270.00 |
| 30W wall cabinets | 4 | $996.00 |
| 24W wall cabinets | 2 | $348.00 |
| Pulls, 3 packs | 24 | $104.97 |
| Knobs, 2 packs | 20 | $59.98 |
| Cabinetry and hardware | 31 linear feet | $4,034.95 |
That is $3,870.00 of boxes, base and wall runs together. On top of it, 40 stated carpenter hours at the $31.55 mean is $1,262.00 of wage cost, which is what labor costs you, not what it sells for.
Everything else, the tops, sink, faucet, appliances and floor, gets quoted by name.
Price a kitchen remodel in four steps
-
Settle the scope tier before you price anything
Decide whether the doors stay, the boxes come out on the same footprint, or a wall moves. That call decides which trades you pay.
-
Measure the cabinet run in linear feet
Base and wall runs are measured separately. This is the only part of a kitchen with published prices behind it.
-
Price the boxes and the hardware off real listings
Take published prices for the sizes you specified, never a price a square foot for the room.
-
Add the trade hours the tier pulls in
A pull and replace calls a plumber and an electrician back. A layout change calls them for rough in and adds the permit.
Keep reading
Sources
Cabinet and hardware listings
- Sutherlands, Kitchen Kompact 24B base cabinet ($270.00, sku 968305; 2026-09-14).
- Sutherlands, Kitchen Kompact 30B base cabinet ($376.00, sku 968321; 2026-09-14).
- Sutherlands, Kitchen Kompact 24W wall cabinet ($174.00, sku 968552; 2026-09-14).
- Sutherlands, Kitchen Kompact 30W wall cabinet ($249.00, sku 968602; 2026-09-14).
- Sutherlands, Hardware Resources satin nickel pull 8 pack ($34.99, sku 859314; 2026-09-14).
- Sutherlands, Hardware Resources satin nickel knob 10 pack ($29.99, sku 859215; 2026-09-14).
Wages
- Federal wage survey, carpenters 47-2031 (May 2025, series OEUN000000000000047203103, OEUN000000000000047203101).
- Federal wage survey, plumbers 47-2152 and electricians 47-2111 (series OEUN000000000000047215203, OEUN000000000000047211103).
Photograph and product
- Hero photograph by Stilfehler (Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0; 2026-09-14).
- SimplyWise Cost Estimator (4.8 on the App Store; 2026-09-09).
Common questions on kitchen remodel cost
Scope and price
How much does a kitchen remodel cost?
No publisher we can cite states a whole project figure, so this page prints none. What is priceable is the cabinet run, and 31 linear feet of stock painted cabinetry lists at $3,870 today.
What do stock cabinet boxes cost a linear foot?
Stock painted base cabinets run $135.00 to $150.40 a linear foot on Sutherlands listings, and wall cabinets $87.00 to $99.60. Those are single publisher prices for the box alone, before any install labor.
Why is there no countertop or sink price on this page?
Sutherlands publishes those listings with no price and the big boxes refuse every fetch. Rather than borrow a number we cannot stand behind, we print none.
Scope and trades
What does the labor side of a kitchen cost?
Carpenters average $31.55 an hour in the May 2025 federal wage survey, plumbers $34.70 and electricians $34.37. Those are employer wages, not what you bill.
Can SimplyWise price a kitchen remodel from a photo?
Yes. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds, with material and labor lines. Free to try, at $29.99/mo.
Put a real number on the kitchen.
Snap a photo, get an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Free to try.