2024 Kitchen Remodel Guide for Greenville, SC

With a Kitchen Remodel, the first question to ask is: “How much will it cost?” My answer is always: “It depends, what is the scope of work?” Let’s take a look at different scopes and see which one is right for your home and budget for a Kitchen Remodel in Greenville, South Carolina in 2024.

If the remodel is the dinner, the scope of work is the recipe and ingredients. Some dinners are simple: chicken and rice. While others are more involved: Thanksgiving. Labor and material are associated with each item so the more items the greater the cost.

This is a great example of a simple kitchen. It has a run of upper cabinets and a run of lower cabinets. Minimal trim to speak of, some backsplash, countertop and sink.

While this is a personalized kitchen complete with a cat cabinet, this is a chicken and rice scope of work.

This is the other end of the spectrum: inset face frame cabinets with a hand made custom hood, panel ready appliances, triple stack crown, custom stain, extra thick island countertop, on and on.

While we can do both types of kitchens, it’s important to have the right expectations.

3 Kitchen Scopes

Let’s package different elements together to create a Basic, Medium, and Major Scope for a Kitchen Remodel and see what the costs are associated with each one.

You are about to see this phrase a lot: it depends. That’s because all this completely depends on what you want. Let's take a simple one: painting a wall. How complex could it be to quote out painting a room?

If you’re taking your wall color from dark to light you’re likely going to need primer. Your labor and material cost just went up by 30% (primer is typically cheaper than paint). What paint are you going to use? You could use a $40 gallon, but if you want your walls to be more resistant to staining and dirt then you’re going to need a $60 gallon. Your material cost just increased by another 20 - 30%. With two options we just increased the material cost of one line item by 55%. There are more factors than that when it comes to painting, like: how hard is the wall to paint? Is it a plain wall or are there fixtures to cut in to? And the biggest cost: labor. Each painter charges for their time differently.

As you can see, one coat doesn’t quite cover a dark color underneath

Also, you have to take a look at the business model of the person providing the quote. Is it an independent contractor? Is it a turnkey General Contractor? Is it a franchise location of a larger company? Each one of these have different implications for how much it’s going to cost because they have wildly different fixed costs associated to the service they are providing. But here’s the big one: the business model also implies the level of risk to you as the homeowner. There is no such thing as no risk. So please do your research on each business that gives you a quote. This is a great example of why people pay more for a turnkey General Contractor: they carry all the liability of the sub contractors and have the trade network to accomplish what you need. Some turnkey GC’s even have all W2 contractors. Meaning each person that shows up to your house is an actual employee of the company doing the work. This will be the most expensive route to take, potentially adding 50% to the cost or more, but also the least risky. That’s turning a $40,000 job into a $60,000+ job.

So all this depends. This is what we talk about when you schedule an in-home consultation with us. I am going to treat this article as if I’m talking to a friend that needs to get a bearing on what things cost these days. So it’s very matter of fact with realistic prices for Greenville, SC. However, if you want a real quote, contact a professional. Don’t be upset when you create your own price based on these rough numbers and a contractor gives you a completely different one because they have to account for something unique about your home.

By the way, I am slowly building out this blog. The plan is for each one of these components to have its own in-depth article to talk about the pros and cons of each material and level of service. That way the reader can have resources to educate themselves on a topic that seems simple from the outside, but just like other trades, it’s as complicated as you want to make it. Here’s a secret: there’s no such thing as the perfect material. It’s just like the trim level on a car, the higher the trim level, the higher the price. So the key is to be realistic about what you want out of the thing you’re buying. That will allow an honest conversation about balancing the features you want out of a material with the overall budget of the project.

These numbers are representative of on the ground numbers I have seen in this industry in Greenville SC. Here is a site that compiles national averages for sets of services (https://www.homewyse.com/project_costs/cost_of_kitchen_remodel.html)

Basic Scope Kitchen Remodel

We’re keeping this one as simple as possible and quite honestly this is the most common type we see. All kitchen remodels are going to involve these three in some capacity.

Cabinets - This will depend on what you plan to do to the cabinets. You could use the ones you have and repaint them. I always ask the questions: how old are the cabinets? And, How much longer do you expect them to last? And that’s not a loaded question. They could be just fine. Doors could be straight as an arrow, there may be no water damage under the sink, dishwasher, and fridge area. But most of the time there are functional things people are looking to fix along with aesthetics. If that’s the case then you at the very least need to re - door.

There are business models that re - door. You’re typically going to get one of two things: a handy man that has a source of door and drawers or a larger business that niches down on doing this type of work. So if it’s less revenue because it’s a lower cost service, why would someone develop a business around that? The answer is the margin. Re - door business models typically try to jazz up their offerings so they can justify charging a higher price for the same thing. We offer it as a lower cost option for remodeling your kitchen.

You still get a solid wood door made by Mennonites right here in the upstate SC. You still get very high quality paint, top of the line soft close hinges, and one day install. The one day install is the key. It gives the customer piece of mind that we are going to be in and out. It also makes us be efficient.

I am thoroughly impressed with the trim carpentry work done in this photo. If you look at where the stainless steel vent hood meets the crown you’ll see great workmanship. Most installers would stop the crown short or not put that piece there at all (crazy, I know, but I’ve seen it)

The businesses that offer refacing in 3-5 days are the ones jazzing up re-dooring. They are charging more than new custom cabinets. The prices they quote customers are consistently higher than our prices and all they do is glue laminate countertop material to your existing cabinets, replace doors, drawers, and hardware, and call it a day.

On top of that they don’t offer solid wood doors. Their doors look like this diagram below.

The issue is that if the laminate gets damaged you are really up a creek. You typically have to get a replacement door. The large manufacturers that make these doors cycle through colors and designs all the time. So getting a replacement door may be impossible.

The other option is getting a handyman to do the re - door. The risk there is that he may not know what he’s doing. It’s really not too complicated, you just have to get the right hardware based on the type of cabinet you have and the overlay you want. Then order the doors and drawer fronts correctly. The hardest part of the installation is new drawers. You can usually use a laser level to line up the back brackets for the slides. But, with old building techniques anything can happen. Below is a problem we sometimes ran into when we offered re-drawer.

This will never be seen so the ugliness of the work doesn’t matter. Seen here are 3/4” strips of plywood shimmed to be square with the inside edge of the face frame. To be clear, normally a slide back bracket is used. In this case it was not possible because there is no back of the cabinet. These cabinets were built on site. So what you are looking at is a rear cabinet stretcher at the top and the white surface is just drywall. There is no way of putting in a piece of plywood in to effectively make a cabinet back since it’s a face frame drawer stack cabinet. You’d have to take the face frame off.

This is what you end up with. The final step is putting on the drawer fronts, then pulls, and you’re pretty much done.

Another question to ask is: if the new doors and drawer fronts are going to be painted, is the handyman doing the painting? Just like mudding a wall is a specialized skill, so is finishing cabinets. I’ll be honest, you don’t want me mudding your wall. The outside corners will not pass the eye test from 50 feet away. In the same way, the likelihood that a handyman has the specialized skill set of painting cabinets is low.

Re - door is a great option as long as it’s not as expensive as brand new cabinets or incurring the risk that a handy man has experience in this niche. Painting is a good option if there are no functional changes you want to make like new hinges and slides or changing a peninsula to an island.

This is why we are perfectly suited for re-dooring your home. We have the cabinet expertise to know what we are doing. We also don’t over complicate and over charge.

Re - Paint - $90/ Ln Foot

Re - Door - $100 - $600/ Ln Foot

New Custom Cabinets - $415/ Ln Foot

Countertops - This will depend on materials and what grade of material. For instance, a lower grade granite is going to be half as much as a special granite slab from a fancy part of the world. It also depends on what you’re doing with the countertop. If you want a waterfall edge, some material is harder to do that with than others. Keep in mind that different installers will change this price. Countertop installation accounts for 5 - 15% of the overall cost. Most countertop shops use third party installers. If they use their own employees for installers, they will probably charge on the higher end for install, but they have more accountability to not damage anything in your home and the field seams will probably be tighter.

Shown is an acrylic countertop we fabricated and installed. There is a seam in this island countertop running horizontally close to where the overhang starts. Can you spot it?

An important note is anytime you get a new countertop you need a plumber to hook up your sink, faucet, and disposal if you have one. If they are just hooking stuff up and not doing any modifications it should be less than $400. If they have to rebuild what's there then expect that number to double or more. An important part is getting an estimate before you set your budget. Estimates should be free.

Granite - $50 to 90/ Sq Foot

Laminate - $60 to 90/ Sq Foot

Acrylic - $70 to 120/ Sq Foot

Quartz - $80 to 200/ Sq Foot

Marble - $100 to 250/ Sq Foot and up

Wall Painting - This depends on how many walls you plan to paint, how intricate they are to paint, and what paint and painter you use.

Average: $200 per wall

Medium Scope Kitchen Remodel

This is a great example of a medium scope. While the floors didn’t change the customer got all new cabinets, countertop, backsplash, appliances, undercabinet lighting, and wall paint.

Everything in the Basic Scope, plus:

Flooring - Depends on what material you choose and the installers used. This also depends on the condition of your subflooring. If you have any squishy areas in your floor, you’re obviously going to need more than just a new vapor barrier and planks of flooring. This could be as simple as replacing the subflooring, or it could be a larger problem of replacing joists as well.

As you can see each of these categories have a lot of overlap. That’s because there are so many grades of each material on the market. And this makes sense because if you look at the board foot price for wood, pine is much lower than red oak which is lower than white oak.

Laminate: $1 - 5/ sq foot

Vinyl: $2 - 10/ sq foot

Engineered Hardwood: $4 - $12/ sq foot

Hardwood: $5 - 15/ sq foot

Appliances - Depends on if you want panel ready, counter depth, or some kind of smart fridge. Again, this widely varies. I’ve seen customers go with a $30,000 fridge and others go with a $500 fridge. Here is a basic stainless steel whirlpool package from a big box store, but the sky is the limit.

I heard an appliance repair man one time say: “Just get the cheapest new one and replace it with a new one when it breaks”

Fridge: $1,500

Dishwasher: $700

Microwave: $400

Stove: $1,000

Backsplash - Depends on if you want your countertop material to continue onto your wall as the backsplash or if you want a tile backsplash. If you’re doing tile, it also depends on if you want a design in the tile like a mosaic behind the stove. The price of tile is heavily dependent on the installer. Labor accounts for roughly 50% of the cost of a backsplash.

Countertop Material Back Splash: add 20% to your countertop sq ft price to account for additional installation labor

3 x 6 Subway Tile: $15 - $25/ sq ft

3 x 12 subway tile: $20-30/ sq ft

Light Fixtures - The main thing here is that you’ll need an electrician by default. Moving outlets and changing switches isn’t that big of a deal depending on how many you do and how far you’re moving them. Keep in mind if you’re moving the location of a fixture that you’ll need to factor in drywall repair work.

Major Scope Kitchen Remodel

Everything in the Medium Scope, plus:

Moving Walls -  This depends on if the walls are structural, if there is plumbing and electrical in the walls, what story of the building the wall is on, and on and on. I can’t give a price for this because there are so many factors involved here. Just know that including this in your scope makes this a major project and you’ll need to consult with a Licensed General Contractor so expect a major price.

Windows - This depends on what level window you want and if all the studs are fine. Usually the kitchen area only has a couple to a few windows. The material of the window will change the price as well from vinyl, wood, aluminum, or fiberglass. Also, the size of the window will substantially change the price.

Windows: $500 - $1,000 and up per window

Application

So now that you have real prices from on the ground sources in Greenville, SC, you can piece together what your kitchen remodel will cost based on the elements you want to change and level of material and service you want. The only thing I didn’t give you a price for is moving walls or repairing joists or subflooring. Those services will take a professional to quote. And if you’re serious about remodeling, you really want to get a few quotes of each element you want to change. This article is meant to be a starting point.

As always, if you’d like to have us out to talk about your remodel we’d love to hear all about it and give the best advice we can for your specific situation.