OT: Kitchen Remodel Costs / Opinions / anyone in the industry?

[Bubble4427]

Before I start, go ahead and flame away for this being a Blues forum and not a home remodeling forum lol. Really I don't know where else to go for non-bias / multiple opinions from people who may have done this at their home or work in the industry. My parents still live in the 60's and think a pair of jeans should be $10 and a new car $10K so its not worth asking them, they'd probably faint at the cost.

ANYWHO, pretty strongly considering a quote to remodel our kitchen, the quote currently sits at $70K, flooring would be ~$5K, and then appliances (haven't entertained that cost yet).

The flooring guy measured the flooring which includes half bath and laundry room at about 780sf, so I'm guessing our kitchen square footage is around 650 call it to be safe. We have a u-shaped kitchens / cabinets, we have an island thats 6 fee long, and we have one of those 'desks' in the breakfast room area that was popular in the 90's (looking to convert that into a little bar area with counter height counters).

As you can probably tell our kitchens freakin big. I think I counted somewhere around 30 cabinet doors (cabinet sizes vary) and about 16 drawers.

We are doing plywood, soft close, dovetail cabinets / drawers, quartz counter top and possibly backsplash too almost to the ceiling, installing a hood above the stove (microwave is going in the island), the half bath off the kitchen is getting matching cabinet / vanity, toilet, etc.

Someone make me feel good about possibly doing this project, we have no intention of moving (unless our neighborhood turns into North STL) and I know for a fact costs arent going to go down.

Is ~$80K reasonable? This is our biggest purchase ever outside of the actual house and I don't make decisions easily esp. this large but the more I see renderings of what we are going to do and think about it the more I want to do it and just think 'eff it'

PS: No I dont have 80k laying under my bed but we can afford it, its not going to disrupt life as we know it or not be able to afford food / my kids tuition. I still don't like seeing 80k disappear tho haha

Thats all, any input from experts is appreciated.

Ok, here goes….
We did,our kitchen 4 years ago and couldn’t be more pleased. We did nice cabinets and a wood oven hood….combined they were 19K.
Our kitchen countertops were top of the line Quartz for 65K by the time we had everything done and added miscellaneous stuff (in drawer microwave, front vented in counter wine/beer fridge, and a hand made wooden table.

The costs added up quickly. But of all the things you can do to your house…the kitchen is the most likely to be money well spent. You ARE adding value to your house. As far as who you are hiring I would strongly suggest NOT hiring the cheapest person. The highest “no where in the ballpark” guys are normally too busy or would rather not do your kitchen unless you are going to pay an outrageous mark up. But cheapest is not the best either. My Dad told me when I first bought my house 25 years ago….”when it comes to any expense having to do with your house…you normally get what you pay for…so think twice before deciding to go with the cheapest solution.

Couple of random thoughts:

1. When you are getting bids…tell the construction guys that you will supply the flooring and for them to take the flooring materials out of your bid. That way you decide the actual cost of your floor and not deal with their “estimated built in cost”. You really only want to get bid on his Labor to build your kitchen. Think of all of the materials that are going in as extra.

2. If you don’t have it already, get the under cabinet LED lights….they are cheap to add on but make a big difference.
3. Our kitchen and laundry room is approximately 400 square ft……so it not huge.
4 We used Hallmark stone for the countertops…their prices are decent, the countertops are thicker, and their turn around time is must faster than most of their competitors.
5. We used Pro Source in Fenton for our flooring…they do wholesale pricing and have a HUGE selection. The only drawback to using them is they will not deliver, your guy has to pick it up. They also do cabinets but we didn’t use them for our cabinets.

At the time we did it I was wanting to move but my wife didn’t. She just wanted a new kitchen. I knew that if we did it…that I would just resign myself to being “lifers” in our home. Also….i would seriously consider a designer, the cabinet company lady we had is who did ours. She was incredible and suggested things that we never would have thought of that ended up making a huge difference in the end. Also, most of the measurements that your construction guy will use will come from them because they will measure everything.

I hope some of these random thoughts helped…..enjoy your kitchen.(also, be prepared to wait 6 months for your construction guy to fit you into his schedule. Most good guys/companies are behind and have a backlog. If anyone says to you “we can do you next month”…..run away…chance are they suck as a person and do krappy work.

Thanks! Definitely have the under cabinet lighting in there.

We are looking at Premier Kitchen and Bath in Fenton, they have a designer to help us along but also do the install etc. Online reviews are really good. Going to get a quote from STL Design that was recommended above just to make myself feel better. Thatll be 4 quotes then, that will probably tell the story of what its going to cost.

Funny the quartz we have our eye on says Hallmark Stone on the sample so that makes me feel good.

Evans Flooring in Fenton is who Premier recommended for flooring, i was happy with their quote of $5K.

So your kitchen all-in was 65K?

A little more than 65K and that was 5 years ago. Everyone’s kitchen is different. Before we got into it..the wife was shooting for 35k. When she told me that (before we even had people bidding) I just laughed and laughed and laughed. I estimated material costs pretty well. The only thing I really missed on was the in counter microwave and the front vented wine fridge.

We got our range hood from Hoodsly.com and are extremely happy with it. We picked out what we wanted and they shipped it to our house. Construction guys put it in. I told them “we are supplying the hood…you just need to install”

[hockey jedi]

Get a prospective appraisal done first to see what your value would be after the work is done. Then you can work backwards to come up with a budget to see if it is worth it. Remodeling is great, but don't over improve your house for what is typical for the street, subdivision and neighborhood. Also, regarding contractors, this is supply and demand. If you have ten quotes, they will all be different. There are guys that have to set the market high on fees, and guys that will work time and materials. (by the hour) These guys get hungrier for business when things slow down. Also, contractors don't work one job at a time because work doesn't come to them that way. Be prepared for the crew to be at your property a few days a week. It would be wise to negotiate a commitment to a certain amount of days per week. You might offer a bonus if they are there four days per week or something. Don't let them shine you on.

[dhsux]

Before I start, go ahead and flame away for this being a Blues forum and not a home remodeling forum lol. Really I don't know where else to go for non-bias / multiple opinions from people who may have done this at their home or work in the industry. My parents still live in the 60's and think a pair of jeans should be $10 and a new car $10K so its not worth asking them, they'd probably faint at the cost.

ANYWHO, pretty strongly considering a quote to remodel our kitchen, the quote currently sits at $70K, flooring would be ~$5K, and then appliances (haven't entertained that cost yet).

The flooring guy measured the flooring which includes half bath and laundry room at about 780sf, so I'm guessing our kitchen square footage is around 650 call it to be safe. We have a u-shaped kitchens / cabinets, we have an island thats 6 fee long, and we have one of those 'desks' in the breakfast room area that was popular in the 90's (looking to convert that into a little bar area with counter height counters).

As you can probably tell our kitchens freakin big. I think I counted somewhere around 30 cabinet doors (cabinet sizes vary) and about 16 drawers.

We are doing plywood, soft close, dovetail cabinets / drawers, quartz counter top and possibly backsplash too almost to the ceiling, installing a hood above the stove (microwave is going in the island), the half bath off the kitchen is getting matching cabinet / vanity, toilet, etc.

Someone make me feel good about possibly doing this project, we have no intention of moving (unless our neighborhood turns into North STL) and I know for a fact costs arent going to go down.

Is ~$80K reasonable? This is our biggest purchase ever outside of the actual house and I don't make decisions easily esp. this large but the more I see renderings of what we are going to do and think about it the more I want to do it and just think 'eff it'

PS: No I dont have 80k laying under my bed but we can afford it, its not going to disrupt life as we know it or not be able to afford food / my kids tuition. I still don't like seeing 80k disappear tho haha

Thats all, any input from experts is appreciated.

Ok, here goes….
We did,our kitchen 4 years ago and couldn’t be more pleased. We did nice cabinets and a wood oven hood….combined they were 19K.
Our kitchen countertops were top of the line Quartz for 65K by the time we had everything done and added miscellaneous stuff (in drawer microwave, front vented in counter wine/beer fridge, and a hand made wooden table.

The costs added up quickly. But of all the things you can do to your house…the kitchen is the most likely to be money well spent. You ARE adding value to your house. As far as who you are hiring I would strongly suggest NOT hiring the cheapest person. The highest “no where in the ballpark” guys are normally too busy or would rather not do your kitchen unless you are going to pay an outrageous mark up. But cheapest is not the best either. My Dad told me when I first bought my house 25 years ago….”when it comes to any expense having to do with your house…you normally get what you pay for…so think twice before deciding to go with the cheapest solution.

Couple of random thoughts:

1. When you are getting bids…tell the construction guys that you will supply the flooring and for them to take the flooring materials out of your bid. That way you decide the actual cost of your floor and not deal with their “estimated built in cost”. You really only want to get bid on his Labor to build your kitchen. Think of all of the materials that are going in as extra.

2. If you don’t have it already, get the under cabinet LED lights….they are cheap to add on but make a big difference.
3. Our kitchen and laundry room is approximately 400 square ft……so it not huge.
4 We used Hallmark stone for the countertops…their prices are decent, the countertops are thicker, and their turn around time is must faster than most of their competitors.
5. We used Pro Source in Fenton for our flooring…they do wholesale pricing and have a HUGE selection. The only drawback to using them is they will not deliver, your guy has to pick it up. They also do cabinets but we didn’t use them for our cabinets.

At the time we did it I was wanting to move but my wife didn’t. She just wanted a new kitchen. I knew that if we did it…that I would just resign myself to being “lifers” in our home. Also….i would seriously consider a designer, the cabinet company lady we had is who did ours. She was incredible and suggested things that we never would have thought of that ended up making a huge difference in the end. Also, most of the measurements that your construction guy will use will come from them because they will measure everything.

I hope some of these random thoughts helped…..enjoy your kitchen.(also, be prepared to wait 6 months for your construction guy to fit you into his schedule. Most good guys/companies are behind and have a backlog. If anyone says to you “we can do you next month”…..run away…chance are they suck as a person and do krappy work.

Thanks! Definitely have the under cabinet lighting in there.

We are looking at Premier Kitchen and Bath in Fenton, they have a designer to help us along but also do the install etc. Online reviews are really good. Going to get a quote from STL Design that was recommended above just to make myself feel better. Thatll be 4 quotes then, that will probably tell the story of what its going to cost.

Funny the quartz we have our eye on says Hallmark Stone on the sample so that makes me feel good.

Evans Flooring in Fenton is who Premier recommended for flooring, i was happy with their quote of $5K.

So your kitchen all-in was 65K?

A little more than 65K and that was 5 years ago. Everyone’s kitchen is different. Before we got into it..the wife was shooting for 35k. When she told me that (before we even had people bidding) I just laughed and laughed and laughed. I estimated material costs pretty well. The only thing I really missed on was the in counter microwave and the front vented wine fridge.

We got our range hood from Hoodsly.com and are extremely happy with it. We picked out what we wanted and they shipped it to our house. Construction guys put it in. I told them “we are supplying the hood…you just need to install”

Price increases in this industry since Covid hit ..labor and material.....have been substantial.

You were wise and lucky to get it installed when you did !

I would not hire Hallmark for my kitchen. But to each our own.

[Natl20]

Get a prospective appraisal done first to see what your value would be after the work is done. Then you can work backwards to come up with a budget to see if it is worth it. Remodeling is great, but don't over improve your house for what is typical for the street, subdivision and neighborhood. Also, regarding contractors, this is supply and demand. If you have ten quotes, they will all be different. There are guys that have to set the market high on fees, and guys that will work time and materials. (by the hour) These guys get hungrier for business when things slow down. Also, contractors don't work one job at a time because work doesn't come to them that way. Be prepared for the crew to be at your property a few days a week. It would be wise to negotiate a commitment to a certain amount of days per week. You might offer a bonus if they are there four days per week or something. Don't let them shine you on.

I've heard this not over improving for your street, I think ours his high cuz of the size and scope, don't feel like we are importing marble from italy lol

Cabinets and quartz are mid range in my opinion

Homes in our neighborhood are selling in the mid 4s, some with minimal updates

[DawgDad]

We have had quartz counter tops for about 15 years. Love 'em. They have held up (knock on wood) perfectly, easy to clean. We only have one seam, at the bend on a long L-shaped section, no issues. The pieces were all custom shaped. We did a stone backsplash on two walls and it still looks nice. Our floors are traditional oak.

In fact, when we'd had enough of the wood cabinet look we just had them painted white and bought new doors, that ran around $10k.

[HighStick]

I used to remodel homes professionally and I consistently got $12 - 15k for a bathroom remodel and ballpark of $40k or more for a kitchen remodel. Prices have gone up since the last time I worked which was almost 3 years ago.

[Harry S Deals]

Flooring guy should definitely go first because maybe not everything is still level.

Wife (boss lady) was howling because the dishwasher drip pan melted and into the base cabinets before we knew.

Whew! Just last summer. Bought new dishwasher Jenn Air and a smaller LG microwave that did not use remote (saved bucks that way) from Best Buy, roughly $2200 total, install and haul away.

I had to buy new cabinetry for base cabinets roughly 1200 bucks.
Floor guy installed porcelain and then the cabinets. He also installed laundry room big wall cabinets about $700 painted.
vanity bath had special tiling as did the kitchen backsplash (not subway)
Floor guy did porcelain floors in bathroom, laundry room, kitchen , living room, dining room and made the bottom splash porcelain borders too. He also helped build some cabinetry walls. Roughly 1100 sq, ft for around 25,000.

Another company did the kitchen electrical, new fixture install (fixtures separate $2000) installed the backsplash for the kitchen. (Floor guy got too busy) and painted the cabinets base and wall in kitchen beautiful shade of Blue (Benjamin Moore) plus amber handles on cabinets and drawers to match amber lights overhead all for about $10.000. Kitchen also painted Benjamin Moore White. Also installed vanity toilet and gold sink (color). I am ashamed of how much I got.

This is in an area where we paid about half the expected price. So shop around, maybe at decor stores.

And I almost forget the Taj Mahal granite (from India) countertops cut to perfection, installed, kitchen deep sink, new sinkerator, new faucets about $7000 total.

A small point Taj Mahal is a quartzite from. Brazil

[Bubble4427]

Before I start, go ahead and flame away for this being a Blues forum and not a home remodeling forum lol. Really I don't know where else to go for non-bias / multiple opinions from people who may have done this at their home or work in the industry. My parents still live in the 60's and think a pair of jeans should be $10 and a new car $10K so its not worth asking them, they'd probably faint at the cost.

ANYWHO, pretty strongly considering a quote to remodel our kitchen, the quote currently sits at $70K, flooring would be ~$5K, and then appliances (haven't entertained that cost yet).

The flooring guy measured the flooring which includes half bath and laundry room at about 780sf, so I'm guessing our kitchen square footage is around 650 call it to be safe. We have a u-shaped kitchens / cabinets, we have an island thats 6 fee long, and we have one of those 'desks' in the breakfast room area that was popular in the 90's (looking to convert that into a little bar area with counter height counters).

As you can probably tell our kitchens freakin big. I think I counted somewhere around 30 cabinet doors (cabinet sizes vary) and about 16 drawers.

We are doing plywood, soft close, dovetail cabinets / drawers, quartz counter top and possibly backsplash too almost to the ceiling, installing a hood above the stove (microwave is going in the island), the half bath off the kitchen is getting matching cabinet / vanity, toilet, etc.

Someone make me feel good about possibly doing this project, we have no intention of moving (unless our neighborhood turns into North STL) and I know for a fact costs arent going to go down.

Is ~$80K reasonable? This is our biggest purchase ever outside of the actual house and I don't make decisions easily esp. this large but the more I see renderings of what we are going to do and think about it the more I want to do it and just think 'eff it'

PS: No I dont have 80k laying under my bed but we can afford it, its not going to disrupt life as we know it or not be able to afford food / my kids tuition. I still don't like seeing 80k disappear tho haha

Thats all, any input from experts is appreciated.

Ok, here goes….
We did,our kitchen 4 years ago and couldn’t be more pleased. We did nice cabinets and a wood oven hood….combined they were 19K.
Our kitchen countertops were top of the line Quartz for 65K by the time we had everything done and added miscellaneous stuff (in drawer microwave, front vented in counter wine/beer fridge, and a hand made wooden table.

The costs added up quickly. But of all the things you can do to your house…the kitchen is the most likely to be money well spent. You ARE adding value to your house. As far as who you are hiring I would strongly suggest NOT hiring the cheapest person. The highest “no where in the ballpark” guys are normally too busy or would rather not do your kitchen unless you are going to pay an outrageous mark up. But cheapest is not the best either. My Dad told me when I first bought my house 25 years ago….”when it comes to any expense having to do with your house…you normally get what you pay for…so think twice before deciding to go with the cheapest solution.

Couple of random thoughts:

1. When you are getting bids…tell the construction guys that you will supply the flooring and for them to take the flooring materials out of your bid. That way you decide the actual cost of your floor and not deal with their “estimated built in cost”. You really only want to get bid on his Labor to build your kitchen. Think of all of the materials that are going in as extra.

2. If you don’t have it already, get the under cabinet LED lights….they are cheap to add on but make a big difference.
3. Our kitchen and laundry room is approximately 400 square ft……so it not huge.
4 We used Hallmark stone for the countertops…their prices are decent, the countertops are thicker, and their turn around time is must faster than most of their competitors.
5. We used Pro Source in Fenton for our flooring…they do wholesale pricing and have a HUGE selection. The only drawback to using them is they will not deliver, your guy has to pick it up. They also do cabinets but we didn’t use them for our cabinets.

At the time we did it I was wanting to move but my wife didn’t. She just wanted a new kitchen. I knew that if we did it…that I would just resign myself to being “lifers” in our home. Also….i would seriously consider a designer, the cabinet company lady we had is who did ours. She was incredible and suggested things that we never would have thought of that ended up making a huge difference in the end. Also, most of the measurements that your construction guy will use will come from them because they will measure everything.

I hope some of these random thoughts helped…..enjoy your kitchen.(also, be prepared to wait 6 months for your construction guy to fit you into his schedule. Most good guys/companies are behind and have a backlog. If anyone says to you “we can do you next month”…..run away…chance are they suck as a person and do krappy work.

Thanks! Definitely have the under cabinet lighting in there.

We are looking at Premier Kitchen and Bath in Fenton, they have a designer to help us along but also do the install etc. Online reviews are really good. Going to get a quote from STL Design that was recommended above just to make myself feel better. Thatll be 4 quotes then, that will probably tell the story of what its going to cost.

Funny the quartz we have our eye on says Hallmark Stone on the sample so that makes me feel good.

Evans Flooring in Fenton is who Premier recommended for flooring, i was happy with their quote of $5K.

So your kitchen all-in was 65K?

A little more than 65K and that was 5 years ago. Everyone’s kitchen is different. Before we got into it..the wife was shooting for 35k. When she told me that (before we even had people bidding) I just laughed and laughed and laughed. I estimated material costs pretty well. The only thing I really missed on was the in counter microwave and the front vented wine fridge.

We got our range hood from Hoodsly.com and are extremely happy with it. We picked out what we wanted and they shipped it to our house. Construction guys put it in. I told them “we are supplying the hood…you just need to install”

Price increases in this industry since Covid hit ..labor and material.....have been substantial.

You were wise and lucky to get it installed when you did !

I would not hire Hallmark for my kitchen. But to each our own.

The only thing I got from them were the counter tops and sink. We looked at 3 other places and they didn’t have what we wanted. When we found it at Hallmark we circled back to the other places….2 of them didn’t have it and the other place was 20 % higher per slab and we needed 2 slabs.

[Absolut]

Can I off topic and off topic and ask about basements?

[Natl20]

Can I off topic and off topic and ask about basements?

Join the crowd baby! In today's world of literally 1000000 diff contractors and finish options who the hell knows what you can expect to pay

[JR1]

I have an account with Hallmark. I’ve tried other fabricators but none of them match the quality of Hallmark stone. They’ve got some excellent installers. Send me a message, I might be able to save you some cash on the tops.

[bluecalgary]

Haven't read all the replies but... with the stone for the counters we shopped around in the bone yards. Many of the cutters have the extra stone from their work that they resell much cheaper than you would pay for a full slab. Worked great for our bathroom vanities. Still had to pay for the full slab in the kitchen because my wife wanted a particular stone from Norway ($9k)...

Full gut and reno cost for the kitchen and 3 bathrooms - $125k

[Harry S Deals]

I have an account with Hallmark. I’ve tried other fabricators but none of them match the quality of Hallmark stone. They’ve got some excellent installers. Send me a message, I might be able to save you some cash on the tops.

You should probably try again no offense but Hallmarks quality is rock bottom this is well known in the industry

[Pierre McGuire]

Can I off topic and off topic and ask about basements?

I had lakeside exteriors quote me $60k for 1000sq ft of basement and that was 5 years ago. I laughed…

[TBone]

Can I off topic and off topic and ask about basements?

I had lakeside exteriors quote me $60k for 1000sq ft of basement and that was 5 years ago. I laughed…

Anyone should be able to general his own basement if he has a trusted friend in the trades who knows people.

[Cahokanut]

I've been retired since before all the prices shot up over the last couple of years, especially this last year. But sounds like you are hiring a general contractor to do all that needs done and I think you are getting a decent starting price. Any contract I've ever done talks about, 'things unseen and how that will change quotes at the end. So be careful about the things you say okay too
I also think if you farmed the jobs out separately you'ld save a few ten thousand dollar bills