What a kitchen remodel costs in Charlotte

We used to run a price table on this page. We took it down. A number stripped of the house it came from tells you less than nothing, and we watched it talk people out of projects that would have made sense for them. What follows instead is the honest version: the decisions that move a kitchen remodel's price, in the order they usually matter, so that when you do get a number, you already understand where it came from.

The three scopes, and why each one costs more than the last

We use three words for scope on every project, and the word alone tells you most of what you need to know about where the money goes.

• Refresh keeps your layout. New cabinet doors or a stock-cabinet swap, new counters, new backsplash tile, new lighting, paint. Nothing moves. A 1990s Ballantyne kitchen with oak cabinets and 12-by-12 beige tile is a textbook Refresh: the bones are fine, the finishes are dated.
• Replace guts the same footprint to the studs. New cabinets, new counters, new flooring, new everything, but the sink and range stay roughly where they are. This is more labor and more material than a Refresh because nothing gets reused, even if nothing structural changes.
• Reimagine is the one where a wall comes down or plumbing moves. Turning a 1938 Dilworth bungalow's closed, 9-by-11-foot kitchen into an open one is a Reimagine, and it costs more than Refresh or Replace for a specific reason: it adds structural engineering, potentially a load-bearing beam, and plumbing relocation on top of everything a Replace already includes. You are not paying more for the same work done bigger. You are paying for different, harder work.

Most sticker shock we hear starts with someone picturing a Reimagine kitchen — open concept, an island where there was none — while budgeting for a Refresh. The layout you are picturing is the single biggest input into what your project actually is.

What moves the number inside a given scope

Once scope is set, a second set of decisions moves the number up or down within it. In order of how much they typically matter:

• Cabinets, first and by a wide margin. This is usually the largest single line item in a Replace or Reimagine kitchen. A stock cabinet line and a semi-custom line with dovetail drawer boxes and soft-close hardware are both real cabinets, but they are not the same purchase, and the gap between them shows up in your number before anything else does.
• Whether plumbing moves, and what is under your house. In newer south Charlotte homes built on a slab foundation, moving a sink or dishwasher line means cutting concrete — real labor, real time. In an older Charlotte or Dilworth house over a crawl space, the same move is comparatively simple. We check which one your house has before we price a plumbing move, because the answer changes the number more than most people expect.
• Counters. Laminate, quartz, and natural stone sit at different price points per square foot, and an island multiplies both the material and the edge-profile labor.
• Appliances. A range, hood, dishwasher, and refrigerator package can be modest or major depending on brand and features. We price to your actual selections, which is part of why we do not attach a number until you have chosen them.
• Structural and engineering work. A load-bearing wall needs an engineer's stamp and a beam before it comes down. This only applies to some Reimagine projects, but when it applies, it is not optional.

Good, Better, and Best finish levels sit on top of scope. Good means solid, current materials at the value end. Better is our most common finish level. Best means upgraded cabinet construction, natural stone, and a fuller appliance package. The finish level you pick moves every line above, not just one of them.

What is already inside Dovetail's number

When a homeowner compares two remodelers' numbers, the comparison usually is not apples to apples, because most quotes leave out line items that show up later as change orders. Here is what is already inside ours before we ever write a fixed price:

• The full design phase: measuring, planning, a 3D render, every selection chosen and confirmed in a physical book.
• Permits for anything touching plumbing, electrical, or structure, and every staged inspection that goes with them.
• A contingency for what is inside your walls. Rot, old wiring, a surprise junction box — if our crew finds it, it is reported with a photo and it is our problem to solve inside the number, not a bill that shows up later.
• Dust walls and a daily broom. Zip-wall barriers, floor protection on the path to the door, the site cleaned every evening.
• A temporary kitchen — fridge, microwave, utility sink — set up before demo starts, so you are not eating off a hot plate on the porch for the length of the build.
• The two-year workmanship warranty and the 90-Day Walk-Through, a scheduled visit after you have lived in the kitchen, to adjust doors and drawers, re-caulk, and fix the drip nobody noticed at handoff.

A quote missing several of these items is not a better price. It is a partial one.

How the Fixed Number works

The order matters more than the promise. We design first and price second, and we carry a contingency for surprises inside your walls as part of the number itself, so we are not discovering mid-demo that plumbing has to move. As Renee puts it, "we do not start tearing anything out until the cabinets are sitting in our shop." If we run past your completion date for a reason that is ours, we pay you a daily until we finish, and we show you the math.

Where people overspend, and where they underspend

The overspend we see most often is an appliance chosen before the layout is settled, so the kitchen gets built to accommodate a range that would not otherwise fit. The underspend we see most often is counters and hardware treated as an afterthought late in selections, after the budget has already gone toward cabinets, so the last decisions get made in a hurry from whatever is left. Both are avoidable the same way: pick scope and finish level early, in the design phase, before anything is ordered.

Get a number built for your house

None of the above replaces a range built around your actual kitchen. The quiz asks about your room, scope, and finish level, and texts your Charlotte range straight to your phone. If you would rather talk it through in person, book a free design consult and a designer will measure your kitchen and tell you on the spot which of the three scopes above your project actually is.

Questions about this