How Much Does a Kitchen Remodel Cost in Modesto in 2026?

A mid-range kitchen remodel in Modesto in 2026 lands between $95,000 and $140,000. A premium kitchen runs $140,000 to $250,000. A fully custom kitchen with high-end appliances, natural stone, and structural changes starts at $250,000 and can exceed $400,000. For Modesto-area homeowners, those ranges include design, permits, demolition, construction, and finishes — they do not include appliances or owner-supplied items.

If those numbers are higher than you expected, this article will show you exactly why. If they are roughly what you had budgeted, it will show you where the money goes and how to keep it from drifting.

What do "mid-range," "premium," and "custom" kitchen remodels mean?

A mid-range kitchen remodel ($95,000–$140,000) keeps the existing footprint and uses semi-custom cabinetry with quartz or moderate stone. A premium remodel ($140,000–$250,000) adds structural changes, custom cabinetry, natural stone, and appliances like Sub-Zero and Wolf. A custom kitchen ($250,000 and up) is one-off specification throughout — book-matched slabs, plaster hoods, integrated refrigeration. The terms get used loosely; here is how we use them when we write a proposal.

A mid-range remodel keeps the existing footprint of the kitchen. The plumbing and gas stay roughly where they are. Cabinetry is semi-custom — ordered from a regional shop, with control over box dimensions and door styles, but not built from scratch. Counters are quartz or a moderate-cost natural stone like soapstone or honed granite. Appliances are good-quality consumer brands (Bosch, KitchenAid, GE Café). Tile is real but not exotic — a domestic ceramic or porcelain. Lighting is a layered plan built from off-the-shelf fixtures.

A premium remodel opens up the structural conversation. It often means removing a wall, relocating plumbing, replacing the electrical panel, and adding a real lighting design. Cabinetry is custom, built in a small regional millwork shop. Counters are natural stone — marble, quartzite, or full-slab soapstone. Appliances move up to Sub-Zero, Wolf, Miele, or the equivalent. Tile is hand-made (zellige, terra-cotta) or a high-end domestic line. The hood is usually plaster or metal, built on site.

A custom kitchen is everything in the premium category, plus a level of specification you cannot buy off a shelf. Plaster hoods built into the wall. Book-matched stone slabs. Integrated refrigeration columns. La Cornue or Lacanche ranges. A walk-in pantry with its own millwork plan. Lighting designed by a lighting consultant. These are the projects where the design phase matters most, because every decision is a one-off.

Where does the money go in a $175,000 kitchen remodel?

In a representative $174,800 premium kitchen in Modesto, cabinetry is the largest line at $48,000 (about 27 percent of total), followed by design and project management at $22,000, counters at $18,500, and electrical at $12,500. Below is the full budget for a premium-tier kitchen with no major structural changes — the kind of project we price regularly across Modesto and Turlock. The numbers are rounded, and the proportions are the point.

The numbers

• Design and project management — $22,000. Roughly eight weeks of design, plus project management across a four-month construction window. About 13 percent of total.
• Permits and fees — $3,400. Modesto building permit, plan check, and Title 24 energy compliance.
• Demolition and disposal — $4,200. Selective demolition of the existing kitchen, debris removal, dump fees.
• Framing and structural — $6,800. Minor framing to accommodate a new range location and a soffit removal.
• Electrical — $12,500. New circuits for the range, dishwasher, microwave, and disposal. Twelve recessed cans on dimmers, four pendant boxes, and under-cabinet lighting wiring.
• Plumbing — $8,400. New supply and drain runs for a relocated sink and dishwasher, gas line modification for the range.
• HVAC — $4,200. Range hood ducting through the roof, with a make-up air unit.
• Drywall, paint, and finishes — $9,800.
• Cabinetry — $48,000. Custom rift-sawn white oak from a regional shop, with brass hardware. About 27 percent of total.
• Counters — $18,500. Honed soapstone, three slabs, with a waterfall on the island.
• Backsplash and floor tile — $11,200. Zellige backsplash, wall to wall, plus a floor patch where the original tile meets the new layout.
• Plumbing fixtures — $6,400. Polished nickel faucet, under-mount sink, disposal switch.
• Lighting fixtures — $4,800. Two pendants over the island, three sconces, recessed cans.
• Hood and miscellaneous millwork — $5,600. Plaster hood built on site, custom shelf brackets, vent cover.
• Contingency — $9,000. On houses of the age we typically work on, contingency gets used: a rotted subfloor section under the sink, a beam upgrade required at plan check, a hardware upgrade after the client sees a sample. Budget it, and expect to spend some of it.

On a typical premium kitchen, cabinetry alone runs 25 to 30 percent of total cost. Stone runs another 10 to 12 percent. The two together account for more than a third of the budget.

What are the soft costs of a kitchen remodel?

The soft costs of a kitchen remodel are the expenses that live outside the construction contract: eating out during the build ($3,000 to $8,000 for a family of four), owner-supplied appliances ($18,000 to $45,000 at the premium tier), window coverings and styling ($3,000 to $10,000), and rental costs if you move out. None of them appear on most contractor estimates, but they all show up in your bank account.

Eating out and temporary kitchens. A four-month kitchen remodel without a working kitchen will cost a family of four somewhere between $3,000 and $8,000 in additional food costs, depending on how often you eat out and how well you set up a temporary kitchen in the garage. We tell every client to budget at least $1,500 per month for this.

Owner-supplied items. Appliances are usually owner-supplied (and not in our number above). A premium appliance package — refrigerator, range, dishwasher, microwave, hood insert, wine fridge — runs Range$18,000–$45,000 at retail. Sub-Zero and Wolf together for a typical premium kitchen lands between $22,000 and $32,000 before tax and delivery.

Window coverings, art, decor, and styling. A finished kitchen needs roman shades or curtains, art, counter accessories, and the small things that make a space feel done. Budget $3,000 to $10,000 for a premium kitchen, more if you work with a designer.

Move-out costs. For larger projects that include the kitchen, clients sometimes move out for two to four months. A rental in Modesto runs $2,200 to $3,500 per month for a comparable home. Add storage if needed.

What pushes a project to the top of the range?

The biggest cost drivers, in roughly the order they show up in a budget:

1. Structural changes. Removing a load-bearing wall typically adds $8,000 to $20,000 for engineering, framing, and a steel or LVL beam. Relocating a kitchen entirely (to a different room) doubles the plumbing and electrical budgets.
2. Appliance specification. A Sub-Zero column refrigerator is $14,000. A standard counter-depth fridge from Bosch is $3,500. That single decision is a $10,000 line.
3. Stone selection. Honed soapstone is $80–$120 per square foot installed. Statuary marble is $180–$280. A custom-quarried slab can run $400 or more. A typical kitchen needs 60 to 90 square feet of stone.
4. Cabinetry construction. Semi-custom cabinetry runs $400–$700 per linear foot. Fully custom shop-built cabinetry runs $900–$1,800. A typical kitchen has 40 to 60 linear feet of cabinetry.
5. Hood treatment. A stainless hood off the shelf is $1,200. A custom plaster hood built on site is $4,000–$8,000.
6. Lighting design. A layered lighting plan with a dedicated lighting designer adds $4,000 to $12,000 in design fees, plus higher-cost fixtures.

What pushes a project to the bottom of the range?

1. Keep the footprint. If the plumbing and gas don't move, you save $8,000 to $15,000.
2. Semi-custom cabinetry. A regional semi-custom line in rift-sawn oak is genuinely beautiful and saves 30 to 40 percent over fully custom.
3. Quartz over marble. A high-quality quartz (Caesarstone, Cambria, Silestone) in a marble look is one-third the cost of real marble and doesn't stain.
4. Off-the-shelf hood and lighting. A well-chosen Best or Zephyr hood with a quiet motor is half the cost of a custom hood and performs identically.
5. Domestic tile. Daltile and Crossville make porcelain backsplashes that look great and cost a quarter what zellige does.

What's not included in any of these numbers?

• Appliances (owner-supplied)
• Furniture and decor
• Window coverings
• Art, accessories, styling
• Eating-out and temporary-kitchen costs
• Move-out or rental costs if you choose to vacate
• Major systems work outside the kitchen (panel upgrades, sewer line replacement)
• Anything discovered behind the walls that wasn't budgeted (a working contingency of 10 percent typically covers this)

How should you compare kitchen remodel bids?

If you are getting bids from multiple contractors, the only way to compare them honestly is to send each contractor the same scope, the same drawings, and the same specification list. Bids that arrive without a detailed scope are estimates, not bids — and the cheap estimate almost always becomes the expensive job. This is the core of why KHB works as a design-build firm: one team and one contract, with the cost of every cabinet, slab, and fixture fixed in the design phase, on paper, before construction makes those decisions permanent. You can read how that works step by step on our process page. If a contractor won't write a detailed scope, that is the answer to the question.

How should you think about this number?

A kitchen remodel is one of the most expensive things most people will ever buy that doesn't have wheels or a foundation. The number is large because the work is large: ten or twelve trades, three or four months of daily labor, materials that have to last a generation. The kitchens that get done well are the ones where the client and the builder agreed on the number at the start and didn't try to negotiate it down by cutting things that mattered later. The kitchens that get done badly are the ones where someone is trying to make a $175,000 kitchen happen for $110,000. There is a kitchen at $110,000. It is not the same kitchen.

If you are planning a kitchen and the numbers above are useful but you want them specific to your project, the best thing to do is have a real conversation. Start with our kitchen remodeling service page, look at a finished example like our Valley Mission kitchen, then reach out — no obligation, no estimate-on-the-spot pressure. Just a clear-eyed look at what your project is likely to cost and how to think about it.