Small kitchen remodel cost

Small kitchen remodel cost by size

The This Old House column is its own table: it counts kitchens of 70 to 200 sq ft as small and prices them at $100 to $250 a square foot. The HomeAdvisor column is our arithmetic: each floor area times HomeAdvisor’s $75 to $250 a square foot (June 2026). Fixr calls a kitchen small when it is under 10 × 10 ft.

A 70 sq ft kitchen, line by line

This Old House’s installed prices for a 70 sq ft kitchen show where the money goes:

This Old House, small kitchen remodel cost guide, updated 5 June 2026.

Small kitchens in our calculator

One small kitchen priced in the kitchen remodel cost calculator: 70 sq ft of floor and a 15 ft wall with a 36 in fridge, a 30 in range, a 33 in sink base and a 24 in dishwasher. New cabinets are priced on the 15 ft run. The rest is measured from that wall as our cabinet layout tool fills it: about 20 sq ft of countertop (25½ in deep, over the base cabinets and the dishwasher), 14 sq ft of backsplash (18 in high) and about 17 ft of base and wall cabinets to paint. These are one example’s quantities, not what every 70 sq ft kitchen holds. Each job is the calculator’s planning estimate with low to high, a 15% contingency included:

Every job has the tile backsplash, a new sink and faucet and wall paint; every job but the refresh also has four recessed lights, two outlets, demolition and permits. The refresh paints the base and wall cabinets themselves, added together, since painters price both. The major job has no island: This Old House calls one impractical in a 70 sq ft kitchen. Prices are national ranges from HomeAdvisor and Fixr; your local quotes decide. A 10 × 10 ft kitchen is priced the same way on 10x10 kitchen cost.

Per square foot, small kitchens cost more than big ones because some costs barely shrink with the room: the sink and faucet, permits, hauling, outlets and lights, and the appliances if you buy them. In this example with a new appliance set, the set and its hood (about $5,000 plus a $714 hood, Fixr’s averages) are about $5,700 of a $16,400 subtotal before the contingency, about a third. Cabinets and counters run along the walls, which shrink less than the floor does. So the highlighted job, which keeps the appliances, comes to about $175 a square foot here and $148 in the measured 10 × 10 ft L on 10x10 kitchen cost, with 20 ft of cabinets.

Small kitchen remodel cost without appliances

Keeping the appliances you have takes the set and its hood out of the budget: about $5,700 at the calculator’s middle prices, about $6,600 with the 15% contingency. In the 70 sq ft example, new stock cabinets, quartz, a backsplash and a vinyl plank floor come to about $12,300 with the old appliances kept and $18,800 with new ones. Fixr’s 10x10 guide puts appliances at about $5,000 on average: about $2,500 if you keep some, $7,000 or more to replace them all. Its $15,000 average for a 10 × 10 ft remodel includes new appliances, so it is not the same job as a remodel that keeps them.

How to keep a small remodel small

• Keep the sink and range where they are. Moving a sink or an electric range costs $1,000 to $4,000 (Fixr).
• Paint or reface instead of replacing. Painting a small kitchen’s cabinets runs $1,000 to $3,500 (Fixr); refacing a kitchen under 150 sq ft $4,400 to $6,875 (Fixr). Against the cheapest stock cabinets refacing can cost as much as new boxes; it saves most against semi-custom and custom.
• Choose laminate or butcher block. Laminate averages $35 a square foot installed (HomeAdvisor), against $75 to $125 for mid-grade quartz (Fixr).
• Fit full-size function into less space. A 24 in range and fridge and an 18 in dishwasher save wall length; see small kitchen layouts for what fits.

Questions people ask