Kitchen Renovation in Ontario: Full Budget, Order of Work, Quotes and Contracts

Kitchens & BathroomsRenovation Planning

Kitchen Renovation in Ontario: The Whole Job, the Right Order, and How Not to Sign the Wrong Quote

Beyond the cabinets: every trade priced, the sequence they come in, the quotes compared on one scope, and the contract and payment rules the province gives you.

A kitchen renovation is eight trades and a cabinet shop in a room you cannot cook in for six weeks. The cabinet quote is a third of it. These pages are the other two-thirds: what it costs, who comes when, and what to sign.

Budget the whole job Read the cost guide Compare quotes

The numbers

Ontario, with HST, contractor-run, on a 150 square foot kitchen with 18 feet of cabinets and a 6-foot island. Checked October 2026.

$18k – $28krefresh: painted cabinets, new counters
$55k – $70ksame layout, new everything
$75k – $100klayout change, sink moved, wall out
6 – 8 wkdemolition to done, same layout

The guides

Kitchen Renovation Cost Calculator

Cabinets through appliances, three levels each of electrical, plumbing and wall work, demolition, drywall, permit, contractor coordination or self-managed, contingency and HST. Run it.

Renovation cost in Ontario, 2026

The three kitchens people actually buy with every line, where the money goes by share, each trade explained with its range, contractor vs doing it yourself, and the seven surprises that show up after you sign. Read it.

Order of work

Six steps before anyone starts, fourteen build steps with who comes in which week, the four wrong orders and what each one costs, and the flooring-before-cabinets argument settled. Read it.

How to compare kitchen quotes

Write the scope, make all three price it, put them on one grid and compare the last row. With the ten lines that hide the difference and Ontario’s contract and deposit rules. Read it.

Kitchen quote review

A builder reads your quotes or your drawing before you sign. $149 for the quotes, $199 for the layout, $449 for a full schedule and scope. See how it works.

The cabinets and the counters

Priced on their own pages: the cabinet cost guide, the IKEA vs. custom comparison, and the countertop cost guide.

The five rules

  1. Order the cabinets first. Six to ten weeks of lead time; everything else is scheduled backwards from the delivery date.
  2. Keep the sink where it is unless you have a very good reason. Same spot is $800 of plumbing. The island is $4,500, a permit and a floor opened up.
  3. Pick the appliances before the drawing is final. The openings are sized to them.
  4. Budget 10% you cannot see. Nobody has opened a kitchen wall and found nothing. On a pre-1980 house, 15.
  5. Pay by stage, hold back 10%. Deposit, cabinets ordered, rough-in passed, cabinets in, substantial completion, and the last 10% when the deficiency list is done. Ontario’s guidance on contracts and deposits is on the province’s renovation rights page.

Your room, your cabinet run and your choices in; the whole budget out, trade by trade, with HST. No email required.

Run the renovation calculator

More planning guides

Permits, the contractor, the contract, the island and the layout, and the new-home version of all of it.

Before you sign anything

Three contractor quotes on one written scope. A drawing you have signed. Payments tied to stages. Ten percent held back. And a plan for dinner.

Start with the cost guideBack to Kitchens & Bathrooms