COMPLETE Ikea Kitchen Cost Breakdown | DIY Savings

This blog post has been a long time coming, thank you all for sticking with us! We remodeled our kitchen about 2 years ago, roughly 4 months after closing on our house. And by that, I mean we started the kitchen remodel. As with most remodels, it has yet to be 100% finished. I’ll settle for about 95.5% done right now. Below, I’ll take you through our Ikea kitchen cost breakdown. I’m going to go ahead and separate it out into categories, so you can decide where you, personally might invest more or less in various areas of your own Ikea kitchen cost breakdown.

Factors That Determined This Ikea Kitchen Cost Breakdown

When it comes to Ikea kitchen products, I like take a strategic approach. I’m not a huge fan of the 100% modern, euro look of Ikea display kitchens. Instead, I prefer something that looks a little more aged. While Ikea offers everything from tile to light fixtures, we didn’t choose to get many of the finishes in this Ikea kitchen cost breakdown from the store itself. Here’s what did contribute to our Ikea kitchen cost breakdown. (Some numbers are rounded for a clearer picture.)

Elements of Our Kitchen From Ikea ($4,495)

• Cabinets (Sektion system) – $3,146
  • Base Cabinets
  • Cabinet Fronts
  • Shelves & Drawers
• Sink -$250
• Faucet – $149
• Dishwasher – $800
• Delivery – $150
• Sales Tax

After we took our receipt back during the 15% off kitchen & bath sale event for a price match, we got $705 refunded back to our card. This brought our Ikea kitchen cost breakdown to $3,790. I highly recommend planning to buy your kitchen either during or close to an upcoming sale event to take advantage of the discount.

Elements of Our Kitchen NOT From Ikea ($4,150)

• Light Fixtures- $280
• Cabinet Hardware – $100
• Concrete Countertops – $250
• Backsplash – $520
• Refrigerator + Delivery – $850
• Garbage Disposal – $100
• Paint & Brushes – $140
• Beadboard Ceiling – $240
• Trim – $110
• Floor Tile & Grout – $380
• Subfloor Cement Board & Thinset – $290
• Accessory Electrical, Plumbing, & Sealing – $290
• Haul Away & Disposal of Waste – $600

Grand Total Ikea Kitchen Cost Breakdown

When all is said and done, as of today at 95% finished, our total Ikea kitchen cost breakdown comes to roughly $8,645. This includes both the Ikea elements and the elements we constructed using materials from home improvement and home decor stores. Of course, when we finish adding toe kicks, switching out the faucet sink, and if we do every get around to adding a custom range hood, that number could change by anywhere from $500 to $2,000 more. At this point, the kitchen is functioning smoothly, and we’re not in any huge rush to throw more money into it.

Where We Saved With DIY

This is where we get to really appreciate the beauty in DIY work. Remember — we lived in our basement without a kitchen for roughly 8 weeks while this was going on. We did a lot of microwaving cooking, and I washed dishes in the bathtub. Even then, when we finally had a kitchen, it still wasn’t fully functioning for at least a couple more months. These savings came at a high price of convenience. But let’s take this part of the Ikea kitchen cost breakdown to emphasize how much we saved by going the DIY route.

Here are the estimated costs for labor in our area.

• Demolition & Disposal – $2,500
  • Removing hardwood floors underneath vinyl
  • Removing faux brick wall detail
  • Haul away & disposal
• Re-plastering & Patching Walls – $540
• Painting – $300
• Ikea Cabinet Installation – $3,000
• Handyman Jobs – $1,040
  • Trim Installation
  • Hardware Installation
  • Beadboard Ceiling
• Tiling – $2,400
• Concrete Countertops – $1500
  • Construction & Installation
• Misc. Electrical, Plumbing – $2,400
  • We actually received quotes for these projects that Ian would have preferred not to do simply due to being burnt out, so this is a pretty exact number! He is such a rock star for ponying up and doing the work to save us this much. (It took him about 4-6 weeks.)

Keep in mind that these estimates are conservative. We recently had a follower reach out to us and tell us that she got a quote for a kitchen remodel very similar to ours, and her quote was $20,000 with her husband doing much of the work himself. This isn’t surprising, either, since we were quoted $10,000 just to rough in a bathroom on our second floor. No finishes, no tile, nada. Tradesmen are in high demand right now, and prices for labor are exorbitant.   

Equity from DIY Work

In summary, we saved at least $13,680 by doing most of the work ourselves. If you factor in the increased cost of most “home improvement store” cabinets of comparable quality to the Ikea cabinets, we can estimate to have saved anywhere form $15,000-$38,000 total, for roughly the exact same kitchen purchased elsewhere & hired work. The most beautiful part is that this equity goes right back into our home.

Of course, remember that DIY WORK COMES AT A COST. The sad reality is that most people do not have the patience or tolerance for discomfort that comes with DIY remodel work. Just a few of the steps involved in this Ikea kitchen cost breakdown for DIY work include…

1. Planning, prep, & learning (so many YouTube videos!)
2. Demo. It’s disgusting, can be dangerous, and not nearly as fun as it looks on tv.
3. Having zero free time. Like, none. It all goes into working on the house.
4. Trial, trial, trial & error. Lots, and lots of error.
5. Just as much time spent waiting as there is time spent working.
6. Lack of basic resources like electricity & running water in many areas of the house.
7. Hard, sweaty work. The actual meaning of “blood, sweat & tears”.
8. So. Many. Trips to Home Depot.

To Us, DIY Is Still The Way To Go

In the end, by going the DIY route, we come out so much further ahead. Not only did we at least double (if not triple!) our initial investment of roughly $10,000, but we came out on the other side with a crazy amount of experience. Experience really is priceless. We anticipate owning multiple houses over the course of our lives. So not only did we save money not hiring a tiler for this house; now we are that much more experienced and able for all the future houses we will tile, as well. Same goes for cabinet installations, kitchen design, drywalling, painting, and so much more.

Not only that, but every single element in the kitchen is exactly the way we want it. From the cabinet hardware to the trim choice to the exact placement of each drawer. I wouldn’t change one single thing. It’s hard to put a price on working every day in a kitchen built exactly the way you would have it.

An Ikea Kitchen Cost Breakdown, In Summary

As you can tell, the price of the cabinets is far from the most significant part of this Ikea kitchen cost breakdown. The real value in an Ikea kitchen comes in the opportunity to perform the labor yourself. Since Ikea is geared directly towards DIYers, it’s a huge opportunity to build significant equity in your home. While there may be other cabinets on the market at a similar price point, they’re not geared towards inexperienced DIYers like Ikea Sektion kitchens are. (Nor do they match Ikea’s warranty, or other points that I go into in my Ikea Sektion Cabinet Review.)

Of course, DIY work isn’t for everyone. Sometimes schedules and lifestyle just do not allow for it. But we are so grateful for the sacrifices we were able to make to build equity in our home, and have our kitchen exactly the way we want it.

Do you have Ikea cabinets? What has your experience been like? Leave a comment below!

Disclaimer: We’re not professionals or experts on this topic, so all we can do is share our own personal experience in hopes that it helps you in your journey! We always recommend consulting with the pros directly.