Budgeting a renovation · Kitchens
What a kitchen renovation costs
Not a number — the structure behind the number. Which lines dominate, which ones people leave out, and how to arrive at the figure for your kitchen rather than somebody else's.
There is no average worth quoting. A kitchen is units, worktop, appliances, services and finishes in whatever proportion you pick, and the honest range covers an order of magnitude. Any site giving you one number is giving you its own country, its own year and its own assumptions. What transfers is the shape of the bill — so that is what this page is.
Floor area, wall area and perimeter in about a minute — four lines of the budget set at once. How the project planner works →
What a kitchen is made of
| Line | Weight | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Units and carcasses | Usually the largest single materials line | Priced per unit, so the layout decides it more than the finish does |
| Worktop | Second largest, and the widest range | Material choice moves this line by multiples — the only line where it really does |
| Appliances | Entirely your choice | The one line with no structural constraint at all |
| Labour | Around two thirds of the total | Fitting, plus any plumbing, electrics and plastering the layout triggers |
| Services | Small line, large consequences | Moving a waste, a gas point or a circuit pulls in two trades and making good |
| Surfaces | Follows the room, not the kitchen | Flooring, splashback, plastering and paint — all from measurements |
| Making good and disposal | Routinely forgotten | The walls and floor behind a kitchen are never ready for the next one |
Labour is about two thirds of it
Kitchens run near 67% labour. That single fact explains most of the surprise people feel at a quote. Downgrading a worktop changes a materials line that is already a minority of the bill; changing the layout changes the labour, which is the majority. If the number has to come down, the layout is the lever — not the finish.
The lines that get left out
A kitchen quote covers the kitchen. A kitchen project covers the room, and the gap between the two is where budgets go:
- ·Flooring, which usually has to run under the units and therefore happens before them.
- ·Plastering and making good where the old units and tiles came off.
- ·Electrical work the new layout triggers — sockets, lighting circuits, an appliance that needs its own supply.
- ·Moving a waste or a gas point, which is small in materials and never small in labour.
- ·Disposal of the old kitchen, and the skip it goes in.
- ·Painting, which is the last thing and the first thing cut, and then done badly.
Working out yours
Most of that list is bought against a measurement. Draw the kitchen once and the floor area sets the flooring and the levelling, the net wall area sets the plastering, the splashback and the paint, and the perimeter sets the trim. One measurement, four lines, none of them guessed.
Then keep them together, so that when the layout changes — and it will — the total moves with it instead of being rebuilt by hand.
The trades a kitchen pulls in
Everything that happens to the room around the units — and each one is bought against a measurement from the plan.
Common questions
How much does a kitchen renovation cost?
There is no single figure worth quoting — the honest range spans an order of magnitude, because a kitchen is units, worktop, appliances, services and finishes in whatever proportion you choose. What is stable is the shape: labour is usually around two thirds of the total, and the units and worktop dominate the materials. Work out your own by pricing the lines rather than looking for an average.
What percentage of a kitchen renovation is labour?
Around 67% on a typical kitchen, with materials making up the rest. That is higher than most people expect and it is why a cheaper worktop moves the total far less than people hope, while a layout change that moves plumbing or electrics moves it a great deal.
What gets forgotten in a kitchen budget?
Consistently: making good after the old kitchen comes out, flooring that has to run under the units, plastering where tiles or old units came off, moving a waste or a gas point, the electrical work a new layout triggers, and disposal. None of them belong to the kitchen units, so none of them appear on the quote people anchor on.
Is it cheaper to keep the same layout?
Nearly always, and it is usually the single biggest lever. Keeping sink, hob and appliances where they are avoids moving waste, water, gas and circuits — which is first-fix and second-fix work for two trades, plus the making good afterwards.
How do I work out the cost for my own kitchen?
Measure the room, then price the surfaces and the units against those measurements rather than against an average. Flooring, tiling, plastering and painting all follow from floor area, net wall area and perimeter, so one accurate measurement sets four lines at once.
Free to try — no sign-up, nothing to install. How the project planner works →