What a kitchen remodel really costs in the Seattle area

The first question everybody asks is the one most contractor websites carefully avoid answering. So here it is, up front: a full kitchen remodel around Puget Sound generally runs between about $48,000 and $110,000, with small galley kitchens coming in under that and large open-concept renovations with custom cabinetry going well above it.

That spread is enormous, and it is not evasion. The rest of this article is about what moves you from one end of it to the other, because those are decisions you control.

Where the money actually goes

On a typical mid-range Seattle-area kitchen, the budget breaks down roughly like this:

• Cabinetry — 25 to 35%. Almost always the single biggest line. The gap between good stock cabinets and full custom millwork can be $30,000 on its own.
• Labor — 20 to 30%. Skilled trades in this region cost more than in most of the country. This is also the line where cutting corners costs you the most later.
• Countertops — 8 to 15%. Laminate to quartz to natural stone is a wide ladder, and the fabrication and install matter as much as the slab.
• Appliances — 8 to 15%. Entirely your call, and the easiest place to save without anyone ever being able to tell.
• Plumbing, electrical and HVAC — 10 to 15%. Goes up fast the moment anything moves from where it currently is.
• Flooring, tile, paint, trim — 8 to 12%.
• Permits, disposal, protection and project management — 5 to 10%. The invisible line that unlicensed bids leave out entirely.

The four decisions that move the number most

1. Are you moving the plumbing?

Keeping the sink, dishwasher and range roughly where they are is the single cheapest decision available to you. Moving the sink to an island means opening the floor, running supply and drain lines with correct slope, and often touching the venting. On an older Seattle home with a post-and-beam crawlspace, that’s manageable. On a slab, it’s expensive. Expect a meaningful jump either way.

2. Are you removing a wall?

Everyone wants the open kitchen. Whether you can have it affordably comes down to one question: is that wall carrying load? If it is, you need a beam, you need an engineer to size it, you need a permit, and you may need posts and footings carried down to the foundation. That’s a real cost, and any contractor who waves it off is a contractor who hasn’t priced it.

We always get the structural question answered before the estimate goes out, not after demolition. Finding out mid-project is how budgets break.

3. What cabinets are you buying?

There are basically three tiers. Stock cabinets come in fixed sizes and ship fast — good boxes, limited configurations. Semi-custom lets you adjust sizes and pick real door styles and finishes, which is where most of our clients land and where the value usually is. Full custom is built to your room by a cabinet shop, and it is beautiful and it is expensive and it has a long lead time.

If you need the budget to come down and you only get one lever, this is the lever.

4. How old is the house?

A huge share of housing around here predates 1970, and opening a kitchen wall in one of those homes reliably reveals something: knob-and-tube wiring, ungrounded circuits, galvanized supply lines at the end of their life, no insulation, occasionally asbestos in old flooring or joint compound. None of that is a disaster, but all of it costs money and none of it is optional once it’s exposed.

On pre-1970 homes we build a contingency into the conversation from day one. A bid that doesn’t acknowledge this on an old house isn’t a cheaper bid — it’s an incomplete one.

A low bid and a low price are not the same thing. The low bid is what you sign. The low price is what you find out at the end.

What you get at each level

Roughly, in this market, in 2026 dollars:

• $30,000 – $48,000. Small or galley kitchen, existing layout, stock cabinets, quartz or laminate counters, new appliances, updated lighting and flooring. A genuinely good-looking kitchen. No walls move.
• $48,000 – $85,000. The typical full remodel. Semi-custom cabinets, quartz, tile backsplash, new electrical to code, better fixtures, possibly minor layout adjustment. This is where most of our kitchens land.
• $85,000 – $130,000+. Larger footprint, wall removal with structural work, relocated plumbing, custom or high-end semi-custom cabinetry, stone counters, designer fixtures, integrated appliances.

Two costs people forget

Living without a kitchen. Six to nine weeks of takeout and microwave meals has a real number attached to it. Plan a temporary setup — a sink somewhere, the fridge in the dining room, a hot plate. We help clients stage this and it makes the whole project more bearable.

The things you’ll add mid-project. Almost everyone adds something once they see the space opened up. Budget five to ten percent for the change you haven’t thought of yet, and insist that every change comes to you as a written change order before the work happens.

How to get a number for your kitchen specifically

Our instant estimate tool will give you a realistic range in about thirty seconds without asking for your email. After that, the only way anyone gets closer is to stand in the room — which we’ll do for free, with no obligation and no sales pitch.