Every kitchen renovation quote we put in front of a GTA homeowner in 2026 sits between $38,000 and $120,000 CAD for a full gut job, and for most of those homeowners the real question isn't "what's the number," it's "where does the money actually go."
Because the number is just a total, and a total doesn't tell you what you can trade off when your budget hits a wall. This post is the line-item sheet — the same categories we use on every quote, with the ranges we're actually seeing this year, and the stuff we'd cut first and last. If you want the week-by-week version of what it's like to actually live through the build, read living through a kitchen renovation in the GTA.
Framing the job: we're going to cost out a standard GTA mid-size kitchen — roughly 120 to 180 square feet of floor area, 14 to 22 linear feet of base cabinets, an island, quartz counters, a new tile backsplash, new flooring in the kitchen footprint, a new range hood that vents to the exterior, and a full set of new appliances.
No wall comes out in this baseline, but we'll call out where wall removals would add if you're considering one. This is roughly 70% of the kitchen jobs we actually sign in a typical year.
Demo, prep, and the things that disappear before cabinets arrive
Demo runs $1,200 to $2,800 CAD on a standard GTA kitchen depending on how much tile, how much cabinetry, and what you're keeping. We price demo based on dumpster trips — every kitchen demo is two to three dump runs, one for cabinets and drywall, one for tile and counters, and sometimes a third for old appliances if they're going to a scrapper. The labor is a two-man crew for one to two days. Not complicated, just physical.
Dust containment and floor protection is the line nobody wants to pay for and everyone is glad we did. We install a ZipWall 4-mil poly barrier at every opening, Ram Board from the kitchen to whichever door the crew uses, HEPA air scrubbers during demo and drywall days, and 6-mil poly over every HVAC register.
The materials run about $350 and the labor to set it up and break it down is another $500. We don't skip it because the alternative is a house full of drywall dust three days in and a homeowner who stops enjoying their renovation on day four.
- Demo and haul-away (full gut, 2 dumpsters): $1,200–$2,800 CAD
- Dust containment (ZipWall, HEPA, floor protection, setup + break down): $850–$1,200
- Protection of adjacent rooms and furniture: $200–$450
- Temporary kitchenette setup if requested: $400–$700 (material + labor)
- Unknown-surprises contingency we bake into the quote: $800–$2,500
Cabinets — where 30 to 40% of the budget lives
Cabinets are the single biggest line on a GTA kitchen quote and the one most homeowners underestimate. A standard 14-linear-foot base and upper run plus a 4-by-8 island runs $14,000 to $44,000 CAD in 2026 depending on the tier you pick. The three tiers we quote: IKEA SEKTION at the bottom, Kraftmaid or Fabritec or similar semi-custom in the middle, and shop-built custom at the top. Each comes with real tradeoffs — we walk through them in our IKEA vs semi-custom vs full custom cabinet breakdown.
IKEA SEKTION with nice doors from Semihandmade or a local shop runs $14,000 to $22,000 installed. Semi-custom (Kraftmaid, Fabritec, or a regional brand like Cabico) runs $22,000 to $36,000 installed. Full custom shop-built is $36,000 to $70,000 installed — we run custom through a cabinet shop we've worked with since 2019 and the pricing on a mid-size kitchen with custom doors and hardware typically lands around $42,000 to $55,000.
Hardware (pulls, hinges, drawer slides) is included in each tier at different grades — IKEA comes with Blum, Kraftmaid comes with Blum, custom comes with whatever you spec up to Hafele.
- IKEA SEKTION + nice doors, installed: $14,000 to $22,000
- Semi-custom (Kraftmaid, Fabritec, Cabico), installed: $22,000 to $36,000
- Full custom shop-built, installed: $36,000 to $70,000
- Blum soft-close hinges: included in every tier we install
- Pull-out spice drawers, trash cabinet, pantry cabinet: $600 to $1,800 extra each depending on tier
Counters, backsplash, and the tile trade-off
Quartz counters on a mid-size GTA kitchen run $4,200 to $7,800 CAD installed in 2026. We default to Caesarstone, Silestone, Cambria, and Hanstone as the four brands we've had the best experience with, and we price at $70 to $110 per square foot installed depending on edge detail, sink cutout complexity, and which slab lot the showroom pulls from. Waterfall edges on an island add $1,400 to $2,200. Mitred 2-inch thick edges add another $800 to $1,400.
Natural stone (marble, granite, soapstone) is priced similarly for most varieties but jumps hard on the exotics. Calacatta Gold marble runs $120 to $200 per square foot installed, roughly double mid-tier quartz. For most GTA families we're quoting quartz because quartz doesn't etch when someone leaves a lemon wedge on it overnight.
Every marble counter we've installed has come back to bite someone within two years. We tell clients this honestly, and some of them buy the marble anyway because they want it. That's a real preference, not a mistake — as long as you go in knowing.
Tile backsplash: $1,600 to $4,500 installed for the 40 to 60 square feet on a standard kitchen. The range is almost entirely tile cost — a 3x6 subway tile at $4 per square foot comes in at the bottom, handmade Moroccan zellige at $28 per square foot pushes the top. Labor is roughly $900 to $1,600 regardless of tile cost on a standard run because the install hours don't change much. If you're tiling a full wall behind a range in zellige or handmade cement tile, add an extra day for layout.
- Quartz counter, mid-tier (Caesarstone / Silestone / Cambria): $70 to $110 per SF installed
- Marble counter (Calacatta Gold or similar): $120 to $200 per SF installed
- Waterfall edge on island: $1,400 to $2,200 extra
- Mitred 2" thick edge: $800 to $1,400 extra
- Tile backsplash, subway or standard: $1,600 to $2,800 installed
- Tile backsplash, handmade/zellige: $3,200 to $4,500 installed
Appliances, plumbing, and electrical
Appliances run $6,500 to $22,000 CAD for a standard four-piece package (fridge, range, dishwasher, range hood). The low end is a full Frigidaire or Whirlpool set; the middle is Bosch or KitchenAid; the top is Miele, Wolf, or Sub-Zero. We don't sell appliances, so this is the one line where we give our clients a spreadsheet of honest picks at each tier and they buy direct from a dealer. The install labor is $700 to $1,400 total for the package and sits in our labor line.
Plumbing on a standard reno (no wall moves, sink stays within 3 feet of original location) runs $1,400 to $2,600 CAD. This includes a new shut-off under the sink, new supply lines to the dishwasher and fridge if there's an ice maker, rough-in for the new sink, and all of the final connections after counters go in.
If the sink moves to a new wall (more than 3 feet) or to an island, add $800 to $1,800 for the floor penetration and venting. Ontario requires a minimum 1.25-inch drain line and a properly vented trap — we don't shortcut this.
Electrical is where the ESA (Electrical Safety Authority) permit sits, and where most of the line variance lives. A basic kitchen reno with no added circuits runs $900 to $1,800 in electrical — just disconnecting, rewiring existing, and reconnecting.
A real kitchen reno with new 20-amp counter-top circuits, new dedicated 20-amp for the dishwasher, dedicated 20-amp for the fridge, new under-cabinet lighting, new pendants over the island, and a new 40-amp range circuit runs $3,200 to $5,800 including the ESA permit. Code compliance is non-negotiable — if a contractor quotes $900 electrical on a full kitchen reno they are doing unpermitted work.
- Appliance package, mid-tier Bosch/KitchenAid: $9,500 to $16,000
- Appliance package, high-tier Miele/Wolf/Sub-Zero: $18,000 to $42,000
- Appliance install labor (all four pieces): $700 to $1,400
- Plumbing, no-move sink: $1,400 to $2,600
- Plumbing, sink to new location or island: add $800 to $1,800
- Electrical, full code-compliant with ESA permit: $3,200 to $5,800
- Range hood ducted to exterior, first-floor run: $600 to $1,200 extra
Flooring, paint, trim, and the finish line
Flooring in the kitchen footprint only is $3,200 to $7,500 CAD depending on material. Engineered hardwood, laminate, and LVT (luxury vinyl tile) all sit between $7 and $18 per square foot installed in the GTA in 2026. Real hardwood that extends into adjacent rooms adds more labor because we have to weave the new boards into the existing field — that's not a kitchen line, that's a whole-house flooring decision, and we'd quote it separately.
Paint, trim, and finish carpentry run $1,800 to $4,200 CAD on a kitchen reno. This covers priming and painting the walls and ceiling in the kitchen and any adjacent area we had to patch, new baseboard where the cabinets don't land, new crown if the uppers don't run to ceiling, a painted bulkhead if the old soffit stayed, and the inevitable dozen little trim returns at cabinet sides and window casings that weren't there before. This is the line that's easy to under-quote and the one that catches crews out on the punch list. (It's also why we quote finish carpentry and trim as its own scope.)
“We expected one big number. You gave us a sheet with forty lines on it. That's the only reason this reno didn't blow up.”
The reason we share this level of detail in advance is that a kitchen renovation is the kind of project where a homeowner can save $8,000 or spend $20,000 extra without even realizing which category the money moved between. When the line-item sheet is in front of you, the tradeoffs become obvious — keep the Bosch dishwasher instead of buying a new Miele, skip the waterfall island edge, pick a $12/SF tile instead of $28/SF zellige. Those are real choices you can make in a single conversation, and they don't exist when you're staring at a one-line $90,000 quote. If you want to talk through the scope with us, start at our kitchen renovations service page.
