When it comes down to upgrading your living space, setting the expectations to your budget may lead you to ask what is the most expensive part of a kitchen remodel. The answer is short and will require us to discuss all the main components of the entire process.
The most expensive part of a kitchen remodel ?
Cabinets
The Kitchen cabinets are the most expensive part of a kitchen remodel by taking up a huge 30% of the entire budget of the project. Remember that cabinets take up the majority of the kitchen design focus point and everything else will revolve around the kitchen cabinets.
According to this recent news article from kitchen remodels, these are the average cabinet cost per kitchen in the United States.
Average Cabinet Cost Plus Installation
- $25,000 + $2,500 = $28,000
Highest Cabinet Cost Plus Installation
- $60,000 + $6,000 = $66,000
Lowest Cabinet Cost Plus Installation
- $5,000 + $500 = $5,500
How much does each kitchen cabinet cost?
The average kitchen cabinet price will depend on these big 3 factors:
Cabinet Style
The most popular cabinet style is the shaker, flat panel, raised panel, traditional profile, glass front cabinets and custom cabinets. The most common and popular cabinet style is the full frame shaker cabinet kitchen, they are the most expensive among its counter parts excluding the high end cabinets which are the glass front cabinets and custom cabinets.
Price Range Per Style
This price range will is dependent on kitchen cabinet in their already finished form the high range is for taller cabinets and the low range is for unfinished and with the standard hardware and hinges.
Custom Cabinet
$400 – $1000 / per cabinet
Glass Front Cabinet
$300 – $500 / per cabinet
Shaker Cabinet
$200 – $400 / per cabinet
Traditional Cabinet
$100 – $300 / per cabinet
Flat Panel Cabinet
$100 – $300 / per cabinet
Cabinet Finish
When it comes to finish know that you can save half the price of cabinets for unfinished cabinets these means bare naked natural hard woods that are most the time completely not sanded and will require extra labor and installation costs down the road.
Unfinished Cabinets average price
The average price will vary from $90 to $200 / per cabinet for smaller base cabinets and some of the medium size wall cabinets and its half the amount as the finished cabinet price.
These cabinets are sold unfinished for home owners who want to paint or stain their own kitchen cabinets, which is hardly the case. Most of the time these are purchased as replacements for a broken or damaged cabinet and they will get professionally color matched with your old kitchen cabinets. Keeping in mind that colors wear out over time to the only way to match old kitchen cabinet colors is to apply thin coats of paint or stain and same thing with the sealer to achieve the closest results.
Finished Cabinets average price
The color matched cabinets with the paint color and finish you desire can be purchased for the twice the amount of the unfinished cabinets for around $200-$400 / per cabinet.
The finished color Harbor Linen is sweeping the entire new construction phase across the country in new homes with the majority of about 80% of all new kitchens come with this shade of white cabinets, its the most popular kitchen cabinet color. The reason why is because the what makes your white kitchen cabinets and crown molding really stand out is when the right flooring, backsplash, and countertop color tones are used in the appropriate manner.
Cabinet Size
Depending on what how tall your kitchen ceiling is you will move on to choose the height of the wall cabinets and how close you want to get to the ceiling if not to have the cabinets touching the ceiling. The base cabinet height is standard for handicap use of countertops so that will not change only the width or length of them.
Wall Cabinets
The wall cabinets hanging on your wall are the most customizable components of any kitchen because you can just keep stacking them to the moon depending on how tall your ceilings are and if how long the budget will allow you to go.
The most common sizes and pricing for each wall cabinet per size are as follows:
30 inch Tall Wall Cabinets
- $100 – $150 / per cabinet
This size cabinet is normally used as the main wall cabinet across the kitchen for low ceiling or low budget homes. Other main uses are for microwave cabinets, fridge cabinets, and range hood cabinets.
36 inch Tall Wall Cabinets
- $150 – $250 / per cabinet
These are the average height of wall cabinets in most homes and they will provide you with 2 shelfs of storage for better comfort. The pricing will vary a lot depending on the width of cabinets.
42 inch Tall Wall Cabinets
- $200 – $350 / per cabinet
The tallest wall cabinets are 42 inches tall and they come with 3 shelves of storage and are perfect for homes with high ceilings. These normally are found on high budgets and some people like to use these to run their crown to their ceiling if the ceiling is about 96 inches to 106 inches tall.
24 inch Tall Wall cabinets
- low $100 – $150 / per cabinet
If you are ready to spend the extra budget funds on the high end cabinets then you will need these 24 inch cabinets to start stacking them on top of your wall cabinets all the way until you reach your ceiling. Some homes use between 2 and 3 rows of kitchen wall cabinets to reach their high ceiling and yes the higher up the cabinets are the smaller they get as a design principal.
Corner Wall cabinets
- $300 – $550 / per cabinet
The most expensive wall cabinet will be your corner cabinet because it really has the structure of 2 wall cabinets joined together to provide you with the extra storage that you can capitalize on from that dead corner on your kitchen that most designer and homeowners neglect mainly because of budget reasoning or simply not aware of taking advantage of every inch your kitchen has maximum storage potential.
Base Cabinets
The standard height of all base cabinets are 34 to 34.5 inches tall. The reason for this is to not go over 36 inches or more for a handicap person to reach if sitting on a wheelchair.
Kitchen Base Cabinets
- $150 – $250 / per cabinet
Regular kitchen base cabinets range from 9 inch wide to 36 inch wide cabinet and have 1 drawer and 1 to 2 doors per cabinet unless its a sink base cabinet for a kitchen faucet sink or an countertop flush stove.
Kitchen Base Cabinets With Drawers
- $250 – $350 / per cabinet
If you prefer better storage options then these drawer base cabinets come with 3 rows of cabinets and they range from 12 inches wide and 36 inches wide.
Corner Base Cabinets
- $300 – $550 / per cabinet
The corner cabinet is very a multi dimensional cabinet because they come in so may forms and designs including the Lazy Susan Cabinet, Peanut Cabinet, Shelf Cabinet, Deep Shelf Cabinet. It will help you make use of the dead space in corner of cabinet.
Vanity Base Cabinets
- $150 – $250 / per cabinet
The vanity base cabinets are only 21 inches in length/deep compared to the depth of the regular kitchen cabinets at 24 inches. These mostly come with 2 doors and no drawers with false prop drawer face frames to allow space for your sink bowl and plumbing to fit under.
Oven and Pantry Cabinets
- $500 – $1550 / per cabinet
The most expensive cabinet is the oven cabinet ranging from $500 to $1400 depending on height, drawer options, and design style. Following it is the pantry storage cabinet which can range from $300 to $750 depending on how wide and tall you would like to order, plus you can upgrade a pantry with pull out shelves for about $50/ per pull out shelf.
What is the average cost of kitchen cabinet installation?
Next to cabinets is the installation cost averaging at around 8 to 15 % of the cabinet value. Why are kitchen cabinet installations so expensive, read along. Please make sure to have high standards for the professional installers who will deliver the final product to your project, if you have a high end materials then it takes top class installers to execute a flawless installation because the right team will present the proper solution for any problem presented since every home and kitchen different you will have distinct variables for every project and it takes experience to know what to do and still make it look good to get the job done is the most accurate manner.
Overall
If you have a home that is worth about $300,000 USD then do not feel uncommon in spending 10% of your home worth at around $30,000 in just kitchen cabinets.
Because investing your funds correctly will put you in the position to gain a higher home value appraisal compared to other homes in your neighborhood if they do not have the new modern kitchen cabinets that are in style.
