Budget a kitchen in this order: start from the cabinetry band, add the counters, add the appliances, add the trades, and then hold back a contingency for what is behind the walls. The order matters because cabinetry is usually the largest single line and the one you control most directly, while the walls are the one line you cannot see until they are open. For most Vancouver kitchens the whole project lands between $30,000 and $50,000, with smaller kitchens from about $18,000 and large high-end builds past $100,000. Those are planning ranges. Here is how to build yours so the surprise, if it comes, is already paid for.
Cabinetry is priced by size, finish, and interior organization. On our site, cabinetry alone starts at $15,000. Run your kitchen through the calculator with the finish you actually want, not the one you think you should want, and take the range it gives you as the first line of the budget. It is a planning range, not a quote, and the real number is confirmed after we measure. If you are keeping the boxes and replacing doors or refinishing, that is quoted per project after a look at the existing cabinets, and it costs a fraction of a new kitchen.
Quartz is the most common counter in the kitchens we build. Its cost is driven by the square footage, the number of slabs, the edge profile, the cutouts for the sink and cooktop, and whether you want a waterfall end on the island. An island almost always adds a second slab. Get the counter quoted from the cabinet drawings, because the drawings tell the fabricator exactly what they are cutting, and a quote from a rough sketch will move.
Appliances change two lines, not one. They are their own cost, and they change the cabinetry, because cabinet openings are built to the appliance. A 36-inch range needs a different run than a 30-inch. A panel-ready fridge needs panels made in the same finish as the doors. An integrated dishwasher needs a door front. An induction cooktop may need a new electrical line. Pick the appliance package before the cabinetry drawings are final, or the drawings will change and the price with them.
We design, build, and install the cabinetry and coordinate the project. The rest is done by licensed trades, and each one should be its own line in the budget rather than a lump called renovation:
Get each trade to quote from the same drawings. When every trade is working from the same plan, the quotes are comparable and the gaps between them are visible.
This is the line people skip, and it is the reason a kitchen goes over. Once the old cabinets are out, you find out what the house has been hiding: wiring that is not to code, a drain that runs where the new dishwasher wants to sit, a subfloor that got wet under the old one, a wall that leans an inch over eight feet, or asbestos in the drywall mud or the vinyl under the tile in an older house. None of it is visible from the kitchen you have now.
We are not going to give you a percentage, because the honest number depends on the house. A ten-year-old condo has fewer secrets than a hundred-year-old house with three previous renovations. Hold back an amount you would not be upset to spend, and hold more if the house is older than you are. Put it on its own line. Do not spend it on a bigger range in week two, because that is exactly how the leak in week four becomes a surprise.
Add the lines up and check them against the ranges. A small kitchen with a standard finish and builder appliances runs about $18,000 to $28,000. A medium kitchen with a premium finish and mid-range appliances runs $30,000 to $50,000, and most projects land there. A large kitchen with high-end finishes and appliances runs past $100,000. If your total is well outside the range for your kitchen's size, one of the lines is wrong, and it is usually the appliances or a trade that was quoted from a sketch.
Start with the Vancouver Kitchen Cost Calculator for the cabinetry band, then read where your kitchen budget actually goes to see the lines side by side. When you have a first draft of the budget, book a free consultation and we will check it against the room.