How much to renovate a kitchen: Cost breakdown for the heart of your home

A brand spanking new kitchen is at the top of many homeowners’ wishlists, but with so many options out there, it’s tricky to know exactly what you can get for your money.

From the big appliances to the cupboard door handles, each part of a new kitchen can either be done on the cheap or set you back a considerable sum.

But considering what an important part of your home the kitchen is (and how much value it can add to your property when done right) it pays to do your homework and understand where best to focus your budget.

Here’s how much it costs to renovate a kitchen (including how to save a few quid on your waste management).

The cost to renovate a kitchen: A rough idea

According to Checkatrade, kitchen renovations in the UK cost between £6,200 and £35,000. That includes all the main features: cabinets, worktops, appliances, sinks, taps and labour to fit it.

You can get a decent kitchen for less than that range, but you’ll likely need to cut costs by installing some of it yourself and opting for cheaper, flat-pack cupboards. Higher-end brands will run to significantly more than that (in fact, some high-end kitchen taps can cost you more than that).

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) claims a new kitchen can add 4% to the value of your home, so it’s worth bearing your return on investment in mind if you have plans to sell in the future.

These broad price ranges probably don’t help you answer the question of how much it costs to renovate a kitchen, so let’s break it down so you can work out what you’ll need to pay for your own kitchen renovation.

How to calculate the cost of a new kitchen

Before you start getting prices for the different elements that’ll make up your new kitchen, it’s best to get a fairly clear idea of the look and feel you’re going for.

Once you’ve got that sorted, you can start to draft out your budget. Failing to do this carefully is the number one reason kitchen renovations suffer cost overrun, so it really does pay to plan it out.

Kitchen salespeople might try to push pricier fixtures and fittings on you that you don’t really need. It’s best to go in knowing what you’re willing to pay so you can tell them what you want, rather than the other way around.

A kitchen renovation budget is generally composed of the following:

• Cabinets
• Worktops
• Appliances
• Lighting
• Tiling
• Plastering
• Painting
• Electrics
• Plumbing
• Structural changes
• Extensions
• Labour
• Contingency for any additional work that comes up (10%-25% of total budget)

When calculating the cost of fitting your new kitchen, get several quotes to make sure you’re not being overcharged. You might also want to see proposals for different designs, so you can decide if it’s worth the extra money to completely redesign the layout or knock through a wall, versus an upgrade of the setup you’ve already got.

To make this process a bit easier, you can often get rough quotes online (try MyBuilder.com) or over the phone. This will help narrow down the right tradesman for the job so you don’t waste each other’s time. You may also have friends, or even better, neighbours with similar properties who’ve recently had a kitchen renovation that don’t mind telling you what they paid.

How much kitchen cabinets cost

Cabinets are normally the primary focus of a kitchen renovation. The design, colour and material of your kitchen cabinets are going to be a big part of the room’s personality.

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that kitchen cabinets usually make up the lion’s share of kitchen renovation costs, often because of the work involved in tailoring them to your specific space.

They’re also the element of your kitchen that suffers the most wear and tear, with doors being constantly opened and shut daily, so it makes sense to invest in something that’ll last and require minimal repair work.

You could pay as little as £20-70 per cupboard from somewhere like IKEA, or closer to £70-130 from a specialist kitchen supplier. Bear in mind that the cheaper flat-pack options will require assembly, which you’ll have to pay the labourer to do if you can’t dedicate time to doing it yourself (they can be fiddly, so schedule a whole afternoon for it).

Of course, custom cabinets will cost you significantly more, as much as £1,000 per square metre for the really good stuff.

If you’re baulking at the price of new cabinets, consider painting your existing cabinets to freshen the kitchen up at a fraction of the cost.

How much kitchen worktops cost

This is one of the biggest price ranges you’ll be facing when budgeting your kitchen renovation.

Materials for kitchen worktops vary wildly in price. According to Ace Kitchen, marble, granite and corian are some of the priciest options, with standard-size pieces costing:

• • £230 to £1,500 for marble.
  • £400 to £2,500 for granite.
  • £1,200 to £1,500 for corian.

Oak, a mid-range option, costs £200 to £550. However, wooden worktops need to be oiled regularly to maintain them, so consider the upkeep costs.

Laminate chipboard is the cheapest option at £80 to £150, or stainless steel at £100 to £190 (but that usually looks better in commercial kitchens).

How much kitchen appliances cost

A quick walk around Currys will reveal the wide range or prices you can pay to kit out your kitchen with appliances.

For example, you can get a basic oven for around £150, but for the budding chef renovating their kitchen, price tags of £5,000+ aren’t unheard of.

Similarly, a small fridge can be picked up new for as little as £100, but an all-singing, all-dancing fridge/freezer combo can cost more than £3,000.

Dishwashers that do an OK job of your crockery can cost £100 in the sales, but if you’re looking for sparkling dishes every time, you’re looking at closer to £750.

Factor in 15-20% of your overall budget for appliances and you should have a good idea of what you can afford to spend on each.

Kitchen renovation labour costs

Kitchens don’t renovate themselves, so you’ll also need to factor in the cost of putting it all together.

You’re looking at somewhere between £115 and £280 per day for a kitchen fitter – depending on where you’re based – and the job can take one to four weeks to complete. Prices in East Anglia, where SunSkips operates, are a bit cheaper than further south in London (obviously). You may also need to budget for an electrician, carpenter, plasterer, plumber and window fitter.

Of course, if you plan on renovating your kitchen by yourself, you can keep that money in your pocket (but if you’re not experienced, it’s a good idea to budget some cash for the trickier areas, such as plumbing and gas installation).

Kitchen renovation skip hire cost

If you hire a kitchen fitter to take care of everything, they’ll likely handle the waste management on your behalf, but you could save money by taking care of the removal yourself.

Once the old kitchen has been pulled out, you’re going to need to get rid of it somehow and and it’s unlikely you’ll get a whole room’s worth of rubbish in the back of your hatchback to take to the local recycling centre.

First, consider if your old cabinets are in good enough condition to be sold, which will save you money on waste management, earn you some handy cash and you’ll be doing your bit for the environment.

For a small kitchen renovation, you might get away with a 4-yard skip, which is suitable for all kinds of kitchen waste (except food and certain appliances; see below), but you’ll need an 8-yard skip for larger volumes.

Skip hire costs depend on your location, so consult SunSkips’ booking page to get an idea of how much it costs to rent a skip for a kitchen renovation in East Anglia.

SunSkips regularly provides skips for kitchen renovations in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, so our friendly team are well experienced in offering advice. Get in touch if you have any questions about the right skip size for your kitchen renovation.