Buying guides · 4 min read
What Actually Drives the Cost of a Kitchen Renovation
The decisions that move the number most, and the ones that barely matter.
Kitchen quotes vary wildly for the same-looking room because a handful of decisions dominate the total. Prices differ too much by country and year for any figure here to be reliable, so this focuses on the structure of the cost — which is the part that transfers anywhere.
In this story
- 1. Cabinetry is usually the largest single line
- 2. Moving water and gas is the expensive change
- 3. Electrical work scales with how modern you want it
- 4. Countertop cost is material times area
- 5. Appliances are where budgets quietly inflate
- 6. Labour is often around half the total
- 7. Save on surfaces, not on what's behind them
- 8. Hold a real contingency
- 9. Make quotes genuinely comparable
- 10. Sequence protects the budget
Buying guides
Cabinetry is usually the largest single line
Typically the biggest share of a kitchen budget by some distance. The jump from flat-pack to custom is where most of the variation lives — not in the door colour, which people agonise over, but in carcass construction, drawer runners, and whether the units are made to fit your walls or adapted to them.
Buying guides
Moving water and gas is the expensive change
Keeping the sink and hob roughly where they are keeps a renovation cosmetic. Moving them means new supply and waste runs, potentially through floors, plus trades and inspections. If your budget is tight, this is the single decision that protects it most.
Buying guides
Electrical work scales with how modern you want it
More sockets, under-cabinet lighting, a dedicated circuit for an oven or induction hob — each is modest alone and significant together. Older properties may also need consumer-unit work before any of it is signed off, which is a cost people rarely see coming.
Buying guides
Countertop cost is material times area
Both variables matter. A large island in an expensive stone can rival the cabinetry cost on its own. If the budget is under pressure, reducing worktop area or choosing a mid-tier material saves more than trimming elsewhere.
Buying guides
Appliances are where budgets quietly inflate
Appliances are chosen last, when decision fatigue has set in, and it's easy to step up a tier on each of five items. Decide the appliance budget as a single number at the start and hold it, rather than approving each upgrade in isolation.
Buying guides
Labour is often around half the total
People budget for things and forget the fitting. Demolition, disposal, joinery, plumbing, electrics, tiling, and making good all carry labour. A quote that looks unusually low is frequently one where some of that has been left out rather than done cheaply.
Buying guides
Save on surfaces, not on what's behind them
Door fronts, handles, splashbacks, and paint can all be changed later at modest cost. Plumbing routes, wiring, extraction, and carcass quality cannot, or not without redoing the room. Put the money where revisiting it would mean tearing the kitchen out again.
Buying guides
Hold a real contingency
Something is wrong behind the old units in a meaningful share of renovations — damp, dated wiring, uneven floors. A contingency of roughly ten to fifteen percent turns those from crises into inconveniences. Projects that run over usually had no contingency, not bad luck.
Buying guides
Make quotes genuinely comparable
Give every supplier the identical brief: same layout, same appliance list, same worktop material. Otherwise you're comparing different kitchens and the cheapest number usually reflects the smallest scope. Ask each to itemise labour separately from materials.
Buying guides
Sequence protects the budget
Template the worktop after cabinets are installed, not before. Order appliances before cabinetry is finalised so the openings are right. Most expensive mistakes in a kitchen are sequencing errors, not purchasing ones.
