I bought a 100 year old condo that will act as our city place when we move to the country. The unit was exactly the one I wanted and in exactly the condition I wanted I mean it could not have been more perfect. The bathroom is fabulous with its original floor tile, Vitrolite wall tile, and 1920’s bathtub. The kitchen was hideous, new about 25 years ago and cheap.That means that I got to put my own stamp on the kitchen.
It is tiny at 8‘ x 8 1/2‘, a galley kitchen. We are fat FIRE and have plenty of money, so cost wasn’t really an issue. I thought I would treat myself to one of those high-end kitchen designers and in my initial consultation, after talking to her about what I wanted (High end cabinets, high end countertop, low end appliances) she said this could cost you as much as $30,000 and $40,000.
Yowza.
I’m not spending that kind of money, so DH who did this stuff for a living, agreed to be my kitchen contractor.
We had Amish guys build our cabinets at about $8000. I’m putting in marble countertop, that’s $4,000. Marble backsplash is $1000. A new floor was $1000. Then, unfortunately, I went higher end than planned because I want a certain kind of stove and that was $5000. I wasn’t picky about the refrigerator other than I wanted an apartment size one, but those are pricey, I think it was about $2000 but it might have been less. I wanted an apartment size dishwasher that had a cabinet panel, so that was $2000.
Grand total with no labor for this little kitchen: $23,000. Oh there were some initial plumbing that had to be done by a professional due to the condo rules, so that was another $1500. This tiny kitchen project is coming in at $25,000 in materials only, all the labor is free.
DH did tons of work, I mean weeks of it to prepare the space because the plaster walls needed redone the old floor had to be pryed up and taken down to the original. He installed the cabinets. He will install the tile backsplash. He finished the new floir.
Sorry for writing a novel, but I’ve been involved in this kitchen and our country house kitchen for months now.
TLDR: designer said tiny kitchen could cost $30,000 to 40,000 with some high-end cabinets and countertop. Actual cost was $25,000 with DH doing all labor except installation of marble countertop and new floor.