What a Madison kitchen actually costs in 2026

Ask five Madison remodelers what a kitchen costs and you will get four lectures about how it depends and one number low enough to win a signature. Both answers fail you. It does depend, but the ways it depends are knowable, and you deserve them before you fall in love with a plan. So here are our real ranges and the logic behind them. (Everything on this page is illustrative demo content, but the logic is how honest budgeting works.)

The honest ranges

A full kitchen remodel through a design-build studio like ours lands between $85,000 and $220,000. Keep your existing layout with semi-custom cabinetry and quality finishes and you are in the $85k to $130k neighborhood. Move a wall, add an island with plumbing and power, and step up the cabinetry, and you are living between $130k and $180k. Structural reworkings with custom cabinetry, new windows, and appliance upgrades run $180k to $220k and beyond. If someone quotes you $45k for a full kitchen, they are describing a different project than the one you are imagining, and one of you will discover that during demolition.

What actually moves the number

Three things, in order. First, the plan: a moved wall costs engineering, framing, and everything that lived in that wall, usually $15k to $35k before it buys you a single cabinet. Second, cabinetry: it is a third of most kitchen budgets, and the jump from semi-custom to custom is roughly $20k to $40k on a full kitchen. Third, appliances: the same kitchen holds a $12,000 appliance package or a $60,000 one. Notice what is not on the list: counters and tile. People agonize over them, but they swing the total by thousands, not tens of thousands.

Three questions that predict your budget

One: does the layout work today? If yes, you have just protected yourself from the most expensive category. Two: are you a two-cook household? Two cooks need aisle widths, landing zones, and a second prep sink that one-cook kitchens can skip. Three: how long will you stay? Under five years, remodel for the neighborhood; over ten, remodel for yourselves and buy the range you actually want. We ask all three in the first conversation, and the answers do more work than any spreadsheet.

Why we publish this

Because the alternative is worse for everyone. When budgets are secrets, homeowners anchor on fantasy numbers from television, designs get drawn that can never be built, and the whole industry gets a reputation for 40-percent overruns. Our investment guide puts the tiers in public, and our design phase attaches a real price to every real decision. Say the numbers out loud early, and the rest of the project gets to be about the house.