A kitchen remodel in Central PA can run from about $20,000–$35,000 for a straightforward update to $100,000+ for a major renovation with layout changes and higher-end finishes.
For the kind of kitchen projects we typically look at, I’d break the starting conversation down like this.
| Type of kitchen remodel | Typical starting range |
|---|---|
| Refresh | $20,000 – $35,000 |
| Full remodel | $50,000 – $75,000 |
| Reimagined kitchen | $75,000 – $115,000+ |
Those are based on a medium-sized kitchen with relatively standard finishes. A small kitchen can come in lower. A large kitchen with custom cabinetry, structural changes and expensive finishes can go substantially higher.
And that’s really the problem with asking what the “average kitchen remodel” costs.
What are we calling a kitchen remodel?
Painting your existing cabinets and replacing the countertops?
Or tearing the room to the studs, removing a wall, moving the sink, replacing every cabinet and building a ten-foot island?
Those are completely different construction projects. Here’s how I’d think about your budget.
Size matters, but probably not as much as people assume.
A small kitchen isn’t automatically cheap. You still need electricians, plumbers, countertops, cabinets, flooring and all the other trades involved in a larger kitchen. But there is obviously less of everything.
| Size | Effect on the ranges above |
|---|---|
| Small — under roughly 120 sq ft. Galley, single-wall or a compact L without a large island. | about 15% less |
| Medium — roughly 120–200 sq ft. L or U shaped, often a modest island. This is our baseline. | the figures as shown |
| Large — over roughly 200 sq ft. Larger islands, more cabinetry, sometimes a walk-in pantry or separate prep area. | about 25% more |
But size is only the beginning.
The biggest question is usually how much of the existing kitchen we’re keeping. If you like the basic layout and the cabinets are worth saving, you may not need to tear everything apart.
The kitchen basically stays where it is. We might paint or reface the cabinets instead of replacing them. Replace the countertops. Install a new backsplash, sink and fixtures. Paint the room and update some finishes.
We’re not moving the sink across the room.
We’re not removing walls.
We’re not completely rebuilding the electrical and plumbing.
You’re improving the kitchen you already have rather than building a different kitchen. And sometimes that’s exactly what you should do.
If the layout works and the cabinets are solid, spending another $40,000 just because somebody told you a “real remodel” needs new cabinets doesn’t make much sense to me.
This is what most people picture when they tell me they want to remodel their kitchen.
Everything comes out. New cabinets, new countertops, new flooring, new lighting, new fixtures. We can make reasonable changes to the location of things within the room, and we’re opening walls as necessary to update the plumbing and electrical.
But the kitchen is still basically the kitchen. We’re not rebuilding half the first floor to make it work.
For a medium-sized kitchen with standard finishes, $50,000–$75,000 is a realistic place to start the conversation.
This is where the project becomes as much construction as kitchen remodeling.
Maybe the existing kitchen is simply in the wrong place. Maybe there’s a wall separating it from the dining room. Maybe the sink needs to move. Maybe you want a large island where a wall currently stands.
Now we’re potentially dealing with structural framing, beams, plumbing relocation, electrical changes, flooring transitions, drywall and ceiling repairs.
We’re not just replacing the kitchen anymore. We’re changing the house so the kitchen works better.
For a medium kitchen with relatively standard finishes, we generally start around $75,000–$115,000. Upgrade the finishes significantly and that number can climb quickly.
This comes up constantly. You have a wall between the kitchen and dining room. You want it gone.
Sometimes that’s relatively straightforward. Sometimes that wall is holding up the house.
If it’s load-bearing, we may need engineering, temporary support, a properly sized beam and new bearing points to carry those loads down through the structure. There may also be electrical, plumbing or HVAC running through it.
For budgeting purposes, structural wall removal can add roughly $6,000–$18,000 to a kitchen project.
Pennsylvania’s UCC requirements also become more significant when structural work is involved. The Commonwealth distinguishes structural alterations from simpler Level 1 work, and permit administration is generally handled by the municipality or its third-party code agency — so the exact process depends on where the house is.
That’s why I wouldn’t tell somebody what their wall removal costs from a picture they texted me. We need to know what the wall is actually doing first.
Once the scope is established, cabinetry is one of the biggest places homeowners can move the budget. You can buy perfectly functional stock cabinets. You can step into semi-custom cabinetry with more sizes, finishes and storage options. Or you can have cabinetry built specifically for the room.
None of those is automatically the right answer.
| Finish level | Effect on the ranges |
|---|---|
| Standard — stock cabinetry, laminate or entry-level quartz, good ordinary fixtures and hardware. | the figures as shown |
| Upgraded — semi-custom cabinetry, quartz, tile backsplash, upgraded lighting and hardware. | about 25% more |
| Custom — cabinetry built around the room, stone counters, fixtures selected for the project rather than off a standard line. | up to about 60% more |
That’s how a $75,000 project starts moving toward $100,000 or considerably more without making the kitchen one square foot bigger.
This one gets missed constantly. Our kitchen remodeling figures do not include new appliances.
A new appliance package can easily add another $8,000–$22,000 depending on what you choose, and you can obviously spend far more than that. The important thing is to budget for appliances separately from the construction number.
Otherwise it’s very easy to convince yourself you have a $75,000 kitchen budget when you really have a $60,000 construction budget and a $15,000 appliance budget. Those are different numbers.
Besides appliances, there are some things that shouldn’t automatically be assumed from a general pricing range.
Major structural repairs discovered after demolition are one. If we open a wall and find significant rot, insect damage or a previous structural modification that needs correcting, that’s different from replacing the kitchen we planned to replace.
The same applies to major whole-house system upgrades. If your electrical panel can’t support the proposed work, or we uncover a plumbing problem extending beyond the kitchen, we need to address that separately — and old houses often carry several generations of wiring and several generations of plumbing at once.
That doesn’t mean every little thing behind a wall should become a change order. A contractor remodeling old houses should expect some old-house stuff, and reasonable risk should be considered during planning and estimating.
But there is a difference between finding a couple of damaged studs and discovering that a substantial part of the house has a structural problem. We wrote separately about construction contingencies and what they should actually cover, because this is one of the places homeowners get burned comparing estimates.
This is where homeowners get frustrated. You might get one kitchen estimate for $48,000 and another for $78,000.
That doesn’t automatically mean the $78,000 contractor is expensive. And it doesn’t automatically mean the $48,000 contractor missed something. You have to compare what they’re actually building.
A price without a clearly defined scope isn’t very useful.
This is probably the biggest thing I’d want somebody to take away.
More expensive isn’t automatically better. If your kitchen has a terrible layout, bad cabinets and outdated mechanicals, putting $25,000 into new countertops and finishes may be throwing good money at the wrong problem.
But the opposite is true too. If you’ve got a good layout and solid cabinetry, you don’t necessarily need a $75,000 gut remodel because that’s what kitchen remodeling is “supposed” to look like.
Figure out what you actually dislike about the kitchen first. Then spend money fixing those things.
If you’re in Selinsgrove, Lewisburg, Sunbury, Northumberland, Danville, Shamokin Dam, Milton, Watsontown or the surrounding Susquehanna Valley, here’s the simplest way I’d think about it.
$20,000–$35,000 if you’re improving a medium kitchen without substantially changing it.
$50,000–$75,000 if you’re gutting and rebuilding a medium kitchen while keeping the room largely where it is.
$75,000–$115,000+ if you’re changing the layout of the kitchen or the house around it.
Then account for size, finishes, structural work, and $8,000–$22,000 for appliances if you’re replacing them.
That should be enough to tell whether the project you’re imagining is anywhere near the budget you’re comfortable spending. And that’s really the point of publishing the numbers.
I’d rather you know that now than spend three weeks meeting contractors only to find out the project was never in range.
The calculator takes the size, the scope and the finishes you’re actually planning and narrows these ranges down to your project.
How much does a kitchen remodel cost in Central PA?
A medium-sized kitchen remodel in Central PA will generally start around $20,000–$35,000 for a refresh, $50,000–$75,000 for a full remodel, and $75,000–$115,000+ when you’re substantially changing the layout. Size, cabinetry, finishes, structural work and appliances can move those numbers considerably.
Can I remodel a kitchen for $30,000?
Yes, depending on what you’re starting with. $30,000 can be a reasonable budget for updating an existing kitchen if you’re keeping the layout and much of the cabinetry, but it generally isn’t enough for the kind of full gut renovation we price in the $50,000–$75,000 range.
What is the most expensive part of a kitchen remodel?
There isn’t one answer for every kitchen, but cabinetry and the overall scope of construction are two of the biggest drivers. Moving walls, plumbing and electrical can sometimes affect the budget more than choosing a more expensive countertop.
Is it cheaper to keep the same kitchen layout?
Usually, yes. Keeping the sink, appliances and major walls in roughly the same locations can avoid structural work and significant plumbing or electrical relocation. But keeping a bad layout just to save money can be a poor investment if you’re already spending heavily on the remodel.
Do kitchen remodel prices include appliances?
Our published kitchen remodeling ranges do not include appliances. We recommend budgeting roughly $8,000–$22,000 separately for a new appliance package, depending on what you select.
Do I need a permit to remodel my kitchen in Pennsylvania?
It depends on the work and the municipality administering the code. Simple replacement work is treated differently from projects involving structural alterations or more substantial changes to electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems under Pennsylvania’s UCC, and most municipalities administer the UCC locally or through a third-party agency.
Fifteen minutes on the phone. You’ll have a realistic range before we hang up — and if we’re not the right people for it, I’ll tell you.