Kitchen Gut Job

[icedcoffee]

I know things are going to vary drastically, but just for information gathering purposes...

If you gutted (and refinished lol) your kitchen how much did it cost? How long did it take?

Did you hire a general contractor to manage the whole thing or did you hire individual contractors as needed (and if you did this are you yourself handy?)?

For background we’d be looking to do ours in a few years and it’s not small, but not huge either. We’d also be looking at middle of the line finishes. Not a gourmet kitchen but not linoleum and particle board cabinets.

In my head I’m thinking it would be smart to do this once my kids are sleep away camp age and I can get rid of them for 3 weeks.

[SusanBAnthony]

We have a galley kitchen so on the smaller side.

10k for half new cabinets and all new countertops. And that wasn't even a full service place, we did the demo ourselves and a year later still need to tile the backsplash.

It does look awesome though and the cabinets are solid wood. We used a custom cabinetry place because we were matching the original cabinets.

I called a remodeling company and for full service they quoted me 20k for these thing. MCOL city. I think with unemployment so high and the negative economic effects of covid things may be cheaper by next summer but who knows. When we did this last summer I couldn't even get people to call me back because they were so busy.

[jinkies]

Oh! Hey, ours just finished yesterday. (Mostly. I still have no appliances thanks to covid).

Our kitchen is 13x15. We removed the wall between kitchen and dining room, and took the kitchen down to the studs.

We used existing flooring, but everything else is new. Mid range cabinets, Bosch appliances. Granite counters.

All in we are at around $43k.

It took 3.5 weeks. However my SIL is doing the exact same thing, extremely similar home, just a slower contractor. Hers will end up being more like 6-7 weeks.

Our contractor did everything but plumbing and HVAC, but my H did that (he does HVAC for a living).

If you have any specific questions about the process I'm happy to answer since it is all fresh in my mind.

[rooster222]

We updated our kitchen when we remodeled our master bath.

Our kitchen is a U shape, kind of medium sized.

We shaved down the bar to make it counter height.
Quartz Counters
New sink/faucet
Backsplash
Added 6 canned lights
Added under cabinet lighting

That came in around 8K.

[mokes]

I can’t really speak to cost because we did mostly everything ourselves except for the cabinets, which a family member built for us.

So for your second question, no one managing it, just us. My husband is very handy and did all the electrical, etc., himself. It’s not a huge kitchen but we did take down a wall to open it up and changed the configuration. Actually we did outsource the drywall too, only because it would have taken us way longer than a pro. That definitely helped speed things up.

It took about 6-8 weeks? Still need to do the trim on the window and then it’s DONE done. We didn’t work on it full-time though — mainly long weekends. I have a highlight of it on my Instagram if you want to see — @mcstops

[MixedBerryJam]

I gutted my kitchen four years ago and it cost $64k and took about 2 months of work time. I did not replace the stovetop or wall oven because I love mine but replaced the rest of the appliances. I upgraded the cabinets to get the soft close feature and solid wood drawer bottoms which I love and highly recommend. I also added an island, except it’s attached at one end so it’s really a peninsula. I had to move some plumbing bc i move the fridge and I upgraded the electrical too. I ordered through Home Depot and they did the installation with employees and subcontractors. ETA i installed vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen that doesn’t quite match the hardwood in the rest of the house but the same color family so it looks nice. The vinyl flooring is honestly my favorite feature in the new kitchen but that’s because I hated the old ceramic tile floor like the devil itself.


icedcoffee this is a point where my vinyl floor (foreground) meets the hardwoods. There's a threshold to aid the transition but I think it works. 

[icedcoffee]

Aug 8, 2020 7:58:23 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

I gutted my kitchen four years ago and it cost $64k and took about 2 months of work time. I did not replace the stovetop or wall oven because I love mine but replaced the rest of the appliances. I upgraded the cabinets to get the soft close feature and solid wood drawer bottoms which I love and highly recommend. I also added an island, except it’s attached at one end so it’s really a peninsula. I had to move some plumbing bc i move the fridge and I upgraded the electrical too. I ordered through Home Depot and they did the installation with employees and subcontractors. ETA i installed vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen that doesn’t quite match the hardwood in the rest of the house but the same color family so it looks nice. The vinyl flooring is honestly my favorite feature in the new kitchen but that’s because I hated the old ceramic tile floor like the devil itself.

We’re going to get rid of the tile and replace with hardwoods I think. Our house is very open concept and we have hardwoods everywhere but the kitchen. We will need to refinish them all to match and I know that will be very expensive and annoying to move furniture around. Ugh. I’d love vinyl plank especially in the kitchen but worried about the not matching with how open our house is.

[icedcoffee]

$64k and 2 months is making me feel itchy. But honestly that sounds about right. Ugh. Maybe we should move lol

[W.T.Faulkner]

We’re only replacing floors, counters and backsplash and it’s still costing me $12k. ☹️

[7costanza]

We did everything except running a gas line, subway tile backsplash, and quartz counter installation ourselves, with IKEA cabinets, new range, fridge and dishwasher. We left the existing flooring but about doubled the lower cabinets and counter space. It took ~6 weeks of my husband working on it nights and weekends, and cost $15k total. My husband is above average handy, but not like a master carpenter or anything, lol. I didn’t help at all because I was in my 1st trimester and pretty much useless. We did hire a firm to help with design and layout, which I highly recommend if you go the DIY route!

[rosiebear]

Total gut to the studs, moved water line, etc. It took about 5 weeks from tear down to functionality, but getting the contractors back for the punch list of tasks to be really done-done took forever. They were great, just extremely busy.

Ours cost 45k, and we chose middle of the line options: grouted luxury vinyl tile floors, semi custom cabinets, and Corian countertops. We got lucky and had their master woodworker on one of his final jobs before retiring.


Eta: I don’t think that cost included the new fridge and dishwasher, but it did include the new sink and faucet. It included an entirely new island, too.

[devonpow]

We gutted our kitchen about 3 years ago. We took down a small wall and had to bring in a structural engineer (1905 house with balloon framing). We used an architect/designer and a general contractor. It took 4 months from demo to completion. It cost...a lot more than the other posters lol. But we live in a HCOL area, had unique things due to age of the house, and have expensive taste lol. DH loves to cook and went all out.

[foodiemom]

Aug 8, 2020 8:07:23 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Aug 8, 2020 7:58:23 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

I gutted my kitchen four years ago and it cost $64k and took about 2 months of work time. I did not replace the stovetop or wall oven because I love mine but replaced the rest of the appliances. I upgraded the cabinets to get the soft close feature and solid wood drawer bottoms which I love and highly recommend. I also added an island, except it’s attached at one end so it’s really a peninsula. I had to move some plumbing bc i move the fridge and I upgraded the electrical too. I ordered through Home Depot and they did the installation with employees and subcontractors. ETA i installed vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen that doesn’t quite match the hardwood in the rest of the house but the same color family so it looks nice. The vinyl flooring is honestly my favorite feature in the new kitchen but that’s because I hated the old ceramic tile floor like the devil itself.

We’re going to get rid of the tile and replace with hardwoods I think. Our house is very open concept and we have hardwoods everywhere but the kitchen. We will need to refinish them all to match and I know that will be very expensive and annoying to move furniture around. Ugh. I’d love vinyl plank especially in the kitchen but worried about the not matching with how open our house is.

We did the same for the same reason. I would have loved more modern flooring but the whole house was nice hardwoods, so we just went with it and added in the kitchen and refinished it all in a color that we like.

All in we ended up at about $75k. This included a new window and slider door, running a gas line, flooring, subway tile backsplash, quartz, new appliances except for the fridge. While we didn’t go as high end for cabinets as we could have, they were definitely on the higher end and we did go a little crazy with the inside of the cabinets with pull outs etc. We also had to rebuild the ceiling because we had one center light and I wanted recessed lighting and some other light fixtures. We are very happy with the result.

[notoriousmeg]

Aug 8, 2020 8:07:23 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Aug 8, 2020 7:58:23 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

I gutted my kitchen four years ago and it cost $64k and took about 2 months of work time. I did not replace the stovetop or wall oven because I love mine but replaced the rest of the appliances. I upgraded the cabinets to get the soft close feature and solid wood drawer bottoms which I love and highly recommend. I also added an island, except it’s attached at one end so it’s really a peninsula. I had to move some plumbing bc i move the fridge and I upgraded the electrical too. I ordered through Home Depot and they did the installation with employees and subcontractors. ETA i installed vinyl plank flooring in the kitchen that doesn’t quite match the hardwood in the rest of the house but the same color family so it looks nice. The vinyl flooring is honestly my favorite feature in the new kitchen but that’s because I hated the old ceramic tile floor like the devil itself.

We’re going to get rid of the tile and replace with hardwoods I think. Our house is very open concept and we have hardwoods everywhere but the kitchen. We will need to refinish them all to match and I know that will be very expensive and annoying to move furniture around. Ugh. I’d love vinyl plank especially in the kitchen but worried about the not matching with how open our house is.

We gutted our entire apartment and converted 2 into a duplex. I would have to look back at the costs for the kitchen specifically. We have hardwood and while I loved it when we first finished, I wish I had gone with tile in the kitchen. I didn’t b/c we have an open floor plan and wanted the floors to all match, but our wood is dark/almost black and shows every ding and scratch. We have dropped dishes and what not.

[dove]

We finished ours earlier this year. Complete gut, removed a wall that needed an engineered beam. Started in August 2019 and finished 100% in January 2020. The holidays took a chunk of down time. Luckily, our contractor kept us functional all but 2 weeks and we were out of town for 1 of them.

We had custom walnut cabinets that took a long time, too. It is so worth it, I absolutely love my kitchen. We spent upwards of $40k in a LCOL area including appliances.

There’s a post in H&G with pics

ETA I had 1 general contractor that did a lot of the work and contracted out Cabinet maker, quartz, hardwood floor, etc.

Thread with pics 

[Eagles]

Aug 8, 2020 8:08:16 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

$64k and 2 months is making me feel itchy. But honestly that sounds about right. Ugh. Maybe we should move lol

I usually tell people to budget at least $70k for a full gut. But we work with custom cabinet makers, higher end surfaces, etc.

[Eagles]

Aug 8, 2020 8:18:31 GMT -5 W.T.Faulkner said:

We’re only replacing floors, counters and backsplash and it’s still costing me $12k. ☹️

Sounds about right. Totally worth it though! I'm planning on $30k to completely renovate our tiny kitchen. 😬 Like, two adults are a crowd in my kitchen.

[goldengirlz]

We did this in our last house, so this was back in 2012 in a MCOL state. It was about $25k-ish (despite being quoted closer to $20k — I’ve never done a renovation project that didn’t go over budget.)

It took about a month. We hired one contractor.

ETA: Don’t necessarily just use Google to find contractors. The ones with the flashy websites always cost more. Ask around to friends, colleagues and especially realtors. We’ve always used people who made their living mostly on word of mouth.

[jlt19]

We did most ourselves. My sister owns a remodeling company so we got contractor pricing for cabinets and they were about$8k. Quartz counters were $5k. We hired an electrician and paid plumbers to put in a gas line for a gas stove. Bought new range, microwave, and dishwasher (all Maytag). DH out in the cabinets and any drywall/painting stuff. I'd say total was near $20k. Not including flooring.

We did it three years ago and are just doing floors now. Doing Coretec LVP and it was $8k to do our whole house (roughly 2000 sq ft). We also got that for contractor price and DH will install.

He is handy. Floor layer by trade but also worked as a carpenter with my BIL for a few years prior.

[shananagins]

We gutted our kitchen and put in a new master bath at the same time so I don’t know the cost of just the kitchen, the whole thing was $65k not including flooring or appliances. It took 3 months but a lot of that was waiting on permits and plumbing for the new bathroom. We had a contractor for the whole thing but not a designer.

[CloudBee]

We're putting a 2nd floor on an old family home later this year. When that is complete we'll move in and make do with an old kitchen for a year or two.

We're going to save money and pay cash to renovate the kitchen. We expect to pay about $50k on nice, but not top of the line, cabinets, fairly standard appliances, and stone counters. We aren't including flooring in that price because we will be redoing flooring throughout the first floor. Refinishing hardwood, laying some tile, etc. We're more GE people vs. Viking.

ETS: We'll probably use the same design/build firm we're using for the 2nd floor addition. They draw plans, have their own crew, have their own lumber yard, but do outsource some parts of the project. 

HCOL area in the NYC metro.

[shananagins]

Aug 8, 2020 11:42:07 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Guys! I want to see pics!

Here’s our before / after

[lolalolalola]

We spent $60 k.in addition to gutting the kitchen, It also included painting the entire main level, refinishing the ceiling and installing pot lights, re-tiling the fireplace surround, installing hardwood floors in our entry way and living room and refinishing the hardwood over the entire main floor. So it’s hard to estimate home much was allocated to the kitchen itself.

[mich1]

We have been doing the kitchen piecemeal, not a gut job. I figure that by the time we are finished we will be sitting at about $25k.

A few years ago, the counters were replaced with quartz, the backsplash limestone. This, along with putting in a new sink, garbage disposal, fixtures, hot water tank, etc. ran us about $10k.

Our cabinets were in phenomenal shape and made of solid maple. Not really understanding wh6 someone would put on white laminate doors and drawers, but they did. Right now, these are in the process of getting replaced with solid maple doors. This is about half done now. The new doors look phenomenal. These are costing $5500. Hardware for the doors and drawers was another $300.

Window coverings were done, we had a slider and window. That ran about $1500.

Appliances are next. Everything other than the dishwasher are 20+ years old. We are going to run a gas line for the stove. I figure these are going to run around $5000. Luckily, the floors are in pretty good shape, so don’t need to do those.

[devonpow]

I love sharing pics! Lol.

Before:



And after:

(These pics were taken right when we finished so we don’t have the right counter stools and all decor yet)

[memenee]

devonpow I always love seeing your kitchen -
I’m in an older home,as well, and we have similar tastes.

Two quick questions - where are your shades from? And they are cordless?

Where are your barstools from and are they super solid?

Thank you! (Sorry OP for the minor hijack)


ETA: I see you’ve switched out your barstools maybe? I just want something plain and solid wood.

[devonpow]

Aug 8, 2020 12:46:27 GMT -5 memenee said:

devonpow I always love seeing your kitchen -
I’m in an older home,as well, and we have similar tastes.

Two quick questions - where are your shades from? And they are cordless?

Where are your barstools from and are they super solid?

Thank you! (Sorry OP for the minor hijack)


ETA: I see you’ve switched out your barstools maybe? I just want something plain and solid wood.

The shades we got from Smith and Noble. They have cords but we almost never use them/lower those shades so we keep the cords tucked up in the shade so you can see them.

Yes those are our old stools - they were from Ethan Allen, not sure if they still have similar styles? They were great, just didn’t fit the new kitchen and we could fit more seating at the new island

[memenee]

devonpow thank you!

[snapoutofit]

We just gutted our kitchen last year. Down to the studs, knocked out a load bearing wall and added island. We basically made a kitchen/dining room out of our small kitchen/front room. Quote from contractor was 90k we came in at 80k. Mainly die to our choice for cabinets,appliances and flooring and adding support beams at the island rather than putting in a bigger beam into the ceiling in place of the load bearing wall. They also told us to plan for 12 weeks and it was completely finished in 9. We are in MA so pretty HCOL. Our contractor wasn’t the cheapest but came very highly recommended, is local and if anything goes wrong with it he will come out and fix it quickly. He even helped me solve a big water leak issue that ended up not being related to the project and what could have taken weeks took less than a week to handle. Glad to share pics if you’re interested.

[Alps79]

We did a downstairs remodel; took 6 months, $180K, and we were able to live with my parents. 80% of that was the kitchen, but it was complete gut and remodel. Removed a wall, moved plumbing, nothing stayed except the dishwasher bc it was only 2 years old and quite nice. We used a GC.