Considering a DIY Kitchen Renovation?
We Can Give You the Skinny
If you are considering renovating your kitchen primarily by DIYing, but are not sure what the costs are, please read through this post! We will reveal exact prices, timeline, where we bought everything, etc
I have done 6, yes I said SIX, kitchen renovations. Four of these renovations I have lived in the house while doing the work. The one thing I always tell people before they attempt to renovate a kitchen by themselves is that it is not for the faint of heart. You are in the trenches for at least a month, probably more depending on how quickly you can move, or rather, how busy you are in your day-to-day life. Do you work, do you have kids, is your schedule rather full? All these will impact how fast you can get through your renovation. .
I dug these photos out of my old Instagram account. Here is one of the kitchens we lived and worked in. We kept everything functional until new appliances could be installed.But, this was not fun. after working everything was covered in dust and there was no space, tools everywhere… you get the picture. And this was before we had kids! I have done three with kids and it’s worse. Way worse.
Now if you are still with me, scroll down to see pictures of the six kitchens we have renovated. You will see it is worth the hardships.
Now, we will be going through the last kitchen we did, in 2023. This kitchen will give you the most accurate cost since our first kitchen (done in 2017) cost way less then it does now…I know.
I can tell you we did almost all the work… EXCEPT the lighting. We installed the lights… but the wiring was done by an outside source. The cost to install recessed lighting for the entire room (12 lights) including 3 pendant lights and 1 dining room light was $6,000. There is your first number: electrical = $6,000.
Okay, lets get to it. I kept everything on a spreadsheet so really, this will be easy. Now this includes all the big ticket items in the kitchen. Cabinets, countertops, tile, hardware, lighting, sink, etc.
Scroll down and get a better idea of the miscellaneous items we purchased throughout the renovation. Please keep in mind I am not including any of the decorative items. And on top of that price, if you can’t do plumbing yourself or install appliances you will have to calculate that into your overall budget.
The miscellaneous items adds up, do not forget about them! Its easy just to think about the big things you will need in your kitchen, but consider all the small things you will need. For example, the brackets for the countertop cost us $100. Doesn’t seem like much but we also bought the thin oak sheets for the shiplap on the kitchen island, and the additional wood to support all this kitchen (like the bases). We also had to buy paint, caulk, registers, electrical outlets, thin-set mortar, grout, drywall mud, mudding tape, sanding material, wood for the wine rack, and the list goes on. Now, if you are a DIYer you may have some of this stuff already. But do not doubt the amount of runs you will have to do to the hardware store. Honestly, I would possibly throw on an additional $1,000 to that total number. I understand it all depends on what you have and don’t have, size of you kitchen, etc. But its better to come in under budget then over budget, right?
Just shy of $25,000 if you do not include the hard-wired electrical. If you do, we are looking at just about 30 grand. Honestly, contractors are quoting well over 50,000, closer to 100,000 for larger kitchens. To spend only 30,000 is pretty incredible. And we used some higher end items such as the quartz countertops, which you could easily trade out for a less expensive finish such as butcher block.
But just scroll down a little bit and see what the kitchen looked like prior to the renovation. For 30 grand the entire space was completely transformed.
Not bad, right? From 3 small rooms to 1 big, open, clean space.
If you are interested in finding out more about this kitchen, the exact materials we used and where we found things not mentioned here (such as flooring, tile, appliance, etc.) then please refer to the blog here.
Good luck in all your DIYing! I promise if I can get this kitchen done while living with 3 kids you can too! Youtube is a wonderful things 🙂
