Call it the saga of the kitchen remodel. I laughed when I heard on HGTV that the average mid-range kitchen remodel cost $59,000. Who spends that? Thankfully, I am not that ambitious. However I did think I was budgeting plenty of money when we decided to replace our dying, down-to-one-burner cooktop and heavily damaged 1957 counters.
Budget $5,000 for new quartz counters and a new gas-cooktop.
Actual cost? Gulp : $6,252.82
Cost for countertops, demolition and installation : $4,305.82
Extra magic amount they charged me later after they claimed it was more work than expected, despite my detailed drawings and description (Bear in mind I have taken many architectural drafting classes...):$282
Extra cost because they said they couldn't reuse my current sink: $150, and the extra cost because current faucet didn't fit any other sink : $150
Cooktop : $780
Electrician for pre-demo work on cooktop and outlet for new cooktop : $135
Cost for plumber to run a new gas line: $450
I've never gone over budget like this in my life. I love the counters and the new cooktop, but was it worth that much money? I'm not so sure.
Just for the curious, We chose quartz because it doesn't need sealing and it contains 35 percent recycled glass.
This is how much my kitchen actually cost me
March 31st, 2010 at 04:03 am
March 31st, 2010 at 11:35 am 1270035343
March 31st, 2010 at 12:49 pm 1270039777
March 31st, 2010 at 12:57 pm 1270040257
March 31st, 2010 at 01:39 pm 1270042761
March 31st, 2010 at 02:47 pm 1270046869
It is REALLY nice, so I can't complain about that part. But, it technically still isn't finished. This was the heavy lifting. I still need to put in baseboards (torn out when we redid the floor a couple years back) and give the cabinets refurbed hardware a a serious scrubbing. We're got 53 years of grime to scrub off. But, I guess it could have been worse. It would have cost a whole lot more with new cabinets or moving plumbing.