What a kitchen renovation costs in New York City

Ask what a kitchen renovation costs in New York City and you will get a range wide enough to be useless. That is not evasion. It is because the two largest parts of a kitchen price, the cabinetry and the worktop, are chosen by you, and the third, whether services move, is decided by the room.

This page does not print a figure. It sets out the five parts a kitchen price is made of, in the order they usually matter, so that when you do get a number you can see what is inside it.

Where the money goes

Cabinetry. The largest line on almost every kitchen quote, and the one with the widest spread. Stock cabinetry costs less than made cabinetry, but a New York room is rarely square, and stock units need fillers scribed to the real walls to look fitted rather than placed. Made pieces cost more per unit and fit the room you have. The split between the two is a decision, and it is yours.

The worktop. Priced by material and by the work of templating, cutting and fitting it. A stone worktop is templated only after the cabinets are in, which puts a gap in the schedule as well as a line on the quote. Laminate and solid timber sit at different points, and the choice changes the number and the number of days.

Whether services move. Waste is the constraint. A sink moves a short distance easily. A long move needs a new waste route with enough fall, and that is where the cost is. Gas is moved with the utility, never without it. Electrical is the easiest of the three and rarely decides anything. Every one of those moves adds labour, and a moved sink or gas line usually adds a filing.

Appliances and what they demand. The appliance itself is your purchase. What it demands is ours to build: a range hood that needs a duct route, an induction hob that needs a circuit the apartment does not have, a refrigerator that needs a water line where there was none. Appliance choices carry their own requirements, and those requirements are on the quote.

The building's hours and access. New York allows construction from 7am to 6pm on weekdays and buildings usually allow less. A walk up means every cabinet comes up the stairs. A service elevator means booked windows. Both decide how many days the loud phases take, and days are what a crew costs.

The lines a kitchen quote should show

A quote you can read is one broken into parts you can compare and change. For a kitchen those parts are strip out and disposal, plumbing, electrical, walls and floor, cabinetry, worktop, appliance installation, and painting. If a quote arrives as one figure, ask for it in parts before you compare it with anything.

We price this way as standard. Somebody comes and looks first, the number arrives in parts, and payments are tied to stages you can see rather than to dates on a calendar.

What the building adds

In a co op the work starts with the building's alteration agreement, which every building writes differently. A condo usually asks for less, though it will still want an insurance certificate on file. In a rental it is the landlord's call. None of this is a line on the quote, but all of it takes time before the first day, and a schedule that skips it runs late from day one.

Debris is the other thing people forget. A kitchen strip out fills more bags than you expect, and in an upper floor apartment every one of them comes down through the common parts. We protect the route and clean it at the end of each day, and the days that takes are in the price.

Permit or not

Swapping units and fittings in their existing positions usually needs no permit. Moving plumbing or gas, or taking down a wall, usually does, and the building's own approval comes on top. The city sorts alteration work by whether it affects use, egress or occupancy. At the visit we tell you which of those applies to your kitchen.

Ways to bring the number down without regretting it

• Keep the sink where it is. It is the single largest saving available.
• Where the carcasses are sound, keep them and replace the doors and the worktop.
• Use stock cabinetry with made fillers, rather than made cabinetry throughout.
• Choose appliances in standard sizes and with the services the room already has.
• Decide the worktop material at the scope stage, so the cabinets are specified to carry it.

Why the schedule is part of the price

From the day the old kitchen comes out to the day the worktop goes on, you are without a kitchen, and a stone worktop cannot be made until the cabinets are in and templated. That gap is real, it falls near the end, and eating out through it is a cost that never appears on a quote. We tell you where the gap falls so you can plan for it.

For what can move in a New York kitchen and what cannot, and how we make cabinetry fit a room that is not square, see the kitchen remodeling page. If you would rather describe the kitchen and get a straight answer, tell us about it.

Questions people ask about kitchen cost