02/07/2025
Welcome to 2025! So many things are going on but doesn't stop the need you have for a new kitchen!
The kitchen is the heart of your home, and often times the state-of-the-art kitchen you put in 20 years ago is just no longer suited to your needs, or the current expectations of buyers when you go to sell your home. The kitchen is a place where potential buyers can be scared off by an older, non-functional, or dated kitchen. Not to mention, they tend to "adjust" the offers they make based on what THEY think a kitchen would cost.
In other words, the kitchen (I would also say bathrooms) is the place that you live in the most, and the place were purchasers look to understand a home's value. Easy to understand when you begin to work on your kitchen, there is NOTHING more disruptive to your life than living through a kitchen renovation! But the payback to both your life, and the perceived value of your home on a new kitchen is almost immeasurable.
I thought as we head into spring, it was a good time to talk about the work that we have done and even give you some comparisons to help you understand what this process looks like and costs in 2025. I had for years estimated an average size kitchen at about $40k to $50k... depending on if we are reworking the space or just replacing it essentially in its current footprint. But typically, you are replacing all the cabinetry, the cabinet hardware, replacing the counter tops, the kitchen sink, the faucet, adding a backsplash, replacing all or most of the appliances, the flooring, the lighting, painting, electrical, plumbing, and so on. It's a LOT in one space!
I start this post with 3 picture of a kitchen we had completed back in 2018. And I decided to take all of the items in that kitchen in 2018 to see what it would cost us to do in 2025. The cabinets alone were $12,160, where to do the same cabinets in 2025 were coming in at $20,215! An $8,055 price difference or a 60% price increase in 8 years! Fortunately, not everything has changed that much, but it is significant. Cabinet hardware for example hasn't changed that much in 8 years.
Counter tops was another area where the pricing has changed significantly, hard-surface countertops (Granite or Quartz) were running us around $80 per sqft in 2019, but in 2025 you are looking at something closer to $120 per sqft. Of course there are many options, and value programs out there, as well as super high-end materials that were not even available 8 years ago. The sample kitchen had about 41 sqft of material needed, at $80 sqft we were close to $3,280 installed. In 2028 that same top would be closer to $4,920. A $1,640 difference in price.
Appliances as many know have changed in a big way as well! A refrigerator in 2018 with water & ice on the door, side-by-side. We could find these in stainless at around $1,000. Today, finding a good fridge, similar to what we had purchased then, is over $2,000! Now, all appliances haven't changed that greatly, but just to give you an idea.
Bottom line for those that stuck with my rambling this far, the average Kitchen is now running at about 40% more in 2025, than in 2018. Gone are the days of the $40k kitchen, in 2025 we have been unable to quote under $60k! Of course, a smaller kitchen could be significantly less, and a larger kitchen significantly more. We even agreed to try KD cabinets (knock-down/put them together yourself), which was fine from a quality & shipping standpoint, but factoring in the additional labor to assemble everything, adding almost 2 days of labor, we didn't really see a huge difference... Cheaper, but in the long run? Will they hold up as well? Do they have all the options you want? All things to consider when saving $3k to $5k.
By now, maybe hoping I am done, you may wonder why I wrote this post? Especially when we do lots of kitchens! We think it is most important to go into these types of projects with as much knowledge as possible. It is a big project! But in the end, it is one of the best investments you can make in your home, and one of the most life changing for you. Want to talk to us more about it, as you know if you follow this page, I am a talker! And often give more info than most would share. But this is what we do, and setting expectations on your projects is our number 2 priority. Why not number 1, because that, of course, is your happiness with the project in the end!
Shoutout to Brad, Harbor Kitchen Design & RR contractor services
