Kitchen Renovation Cost in Canada: Prices by Size and Finish

A kitchen's price turns first on whether anything moves. New surfaces in the same layout start at about $15,000, and a custom kitchen with walls moved runs to $200,000 or more. Between the two, the cabinet grade and the kind of firm doing the work decide the number, so settle the layout before anyone prices it.

How much a kitchen renovation costs in 2026

Kitchens are priced by scope, not by an average, because a refresh and a custom kitchen with a moved wall share little beyond the room. The table puts 2026 tiers from three markets side by side, each from a renovator's or builder's own price list.

The firm matters as much as the city. A Kitchener-Waterloo firm's tiers sit above a Toronto builder's at every level, and each list reflects one firm's standard of work.

Refresh in the same layout

A refresh keeps the sink, range and fridge where they are and replaces what you see: doors or cabinet boxes, counters, backsplash, lighting and flooring. Leaving plumbing, gas lines and circuits alone is what holds it to $15,000 to $55,000, and it is the scope that usually needs no building permit.

Mid-range remodel

A mid-range remodel replaces the cabinets, counters and appliances and brings the plumbing and electrical up to date in roughly the same footprint. Ontario lists put it at $50,000 to $110,000, and a Vancouver renovator prices a 100 sq ft mid-range kitchen at $40,000 to $55,000. The cabinet grade and the state of the old wiring and plumbing decide where in that range a kitchen lands.

Custom and structural kitchens

Cabinets made for the room, stone counters and a premium appliance package take a kitchen to $95,000 or more in Toronto, $100,000 or more in Vancouver and $110,000 or more in Kitchener-Waterloo. Once walls come out or services move, a Toronto builder's list starts at $150,000, because engineered beams, permits and the rooms next door join the job.

Kitchen renovation cost per square foot

Per square foot is a rough check for a kitchen, not a way to price one. A GTA renovator put kitchens at $250 to $500 a square foot in September 2026, so a 150 sq ft kitchen works out to $37,500 to $75,000 and a 200 sq ft kitchen to $50,000 to $100,000. An Ontario renovator's 2026 figures put kitchens and bathrooms at 3 to 5 times the per-foot cost of other rooms, because cabinets, counters, appliances and services are packed into a small floor area.

The cabinet run tells you more than the floor area. At one Toronto builder's prices, 20 linear feet of stock cabinets costs $5,000 to $10,000, and the same run in full custom costs $24,000 to $30,000. An island adds counter, cabinets and often plumbing while adding little floor, so price the run and the appliances first, then check the total against the per-foot range.

Kitchen renovation cost in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary

Toronto prices depend on who is pricing. A builder working on older houses puts a mid-range remodel at $50,000 to $95,000, while a cabinet maker that installs prices a same-layout GTA kitchen at $25,000 to $60,000. The gap is the firm and the scope each assumes: one prices a remodel in pre-war houses, the other a full kitchen that keeps its layout.

A Metro Vancouver renovator's tiers run from $15,000 for a basic refresh to $185,000 or more for custom work, and its text puts most mid-range projects at $20,000 to $45,000. One design-build firm starts kitchen renovations in Calgary at about $60,000 for a very small kitchen that keeps its footprint, against $15,000 to $55,000 for a same-layout refresh in the table, and prices a complete makeover at $110,000 to $150,000 or more and an open-concept conversion at $150,000 to $200,000 or more.

The Calgary figures are one firm's 2026 prices, not a city average, and the firm handles design and project management as well as the build. Outside these markets, start from the tier table; the line that changes for certain is sales tax, which runs from 5% in Alberta to 15% in most of Atlantic Canada.

Condo kitchens

A condo kitchen costs 15 to 20% more than the same kitchen in a house, by one Vancouver renovator's figures, because the elevator has to be booked, work hours are restricted and debris goes out through the building. Get the building's renovation rules in writing before you collect quotes, since the permitted hours and the approvals the board or strata requires change the price.

Where the money goes in a kitchen budget

Cabinets are the largest line in each of the three 2026 breakdowns below, at 30 to 40% of the budget. Labour comes next at 20 to 35% where it is priced on its own; a Toronto builder's breakdown has no labour line and shows project management and overhead at 15 to 20%.

Cabinet, countertop, flooring and appliance prices

Cabinets come in three grades. Stock boxes are made in set sizes, semi-custom boxes are built to order within a maker's range, and custom cabinets are made for the room. One Vancouver renovator puts a kitchen's worth at $3,000 to $10,000 stock, $8,000 to $20,000 semi-custom and $15,000 to $40,000 or more custom; a Toronto builder prices stock at $250 to $500 a linear foot and full custom at $1,200 to $1,500.

Counters are priced by area, so 40 sq ft of quartz comes to $3,600 to $5,600 installed and the same area in natural stone to $4,800 to $10,000. Appliances are handled differently from one quote to the next: some firms include a package or an allowance, and others price only cabinets, counters and trades and leave appliances to you. A $55,000 quote and a $65,000 quote can be the same kitchen with and without a mid-range appliance package.

What moving the sink or a wall adds

Every item that moves brings new plumbing, venting, circuits or structure, and most of them bring a permit and an inspection with it. The prices below are the change itself, from an Ontario and a Vancouver renovator's 2026 figures.

Taking out a load-bearing wall needs a permit, drawings and a beam sized for the span, and Edmonton requires engineer-stamped drawings for it; the span and beam type decide where in the $8,000 to $25,000 range it lands. Get the engineer's answer on which walls carry load before anyone prices an open-concept kitchen.

Older houses cost more to open up

Opening the walls of an older house adds work no quote can see in advance. A Toronto builder lists knob-and-tube wiring, panels too small for a modern kitchen's circuits, cast iron drain stacks, floors out of level and walls out of plumb as the usual finds, and a row house with no laneway access costs more to work in than one with a driveway. We would hold a contingency of 10 to 20% on top of the quote, and 20% in a house built before 1980.

Sales tax and permit fees on a kitchen

Sales tax is charged on the contract price at the rate for your province, as set out in the Canada Revenue Agency's GST/HST rate table. In BC the contractor pays the 7% PST on materials it buys for the job, whether the contract is a lump sum or time and materials, under the BC Ministry of Finance rules for contractors, so the PST sits inside the price and the invoice adds 5% GST.

A kitchen that keeps its layout usually needs no building permit, but moving walls does, and moving plumbing or adding circuits needs a plumbing or electrical permit of its own. The City of Edmonton lists installing kitchen cabinets as work that needs no permit, requires engineer-stamped drawings for load-bearing wall changes, and issues plumbing, gas and electrical permits separately. The fees are small next to the work.

Toronto's rate comes from its 2026 building permit fee schedule: a 200 sq ft kitchen is about 18.6 m², which comes to about $214, so the $214.79 minimum applies. The City of Calgary fees include its 4% Safety Codes Council fee, and Calgary requires a separate electrical permit for all electrical work and a plumbing permit for all new plumbing.

Why kitchen quotes differ by $20,000 or more

Two quotes for the same kitchen can be $20,000 apart without either firm being wrong. The low one has usually priced allowances in place of selections, left appliances, permits or disposal out, or assumed the layout stays put.

The fee is the other gap. A Toronto builder shows project management and overhead at 15 to 20% of a kitchen budget, and a Vancouver renovator gives the same 15 to 20% as the general contractor's fee. On a fixed price that fee is built into every line; on a cost-plus contract it is a separate percentage on top of what the job costs.

How to keep a kitchen renovation on budget

Keep the layout where the room allows it. An Ontario renovator puts the saving at $10,000 to $25,000 on a kitchen, and across a house its figures show work in the existing layout costing 30 to 50% less than the same work with a layout change.

Order cabinets before anything comes apart. Custom cabinets take 8 to 12 weeks from approval by an Ontario renovator's figures, or 12 to 15 by a Toronto builder's, and semi-custom 5 to 8. The kitchen is out of use for 2 to 8 weeks, the short end when cabinets are finished before demolition, so the kitchen's schedule is set by the cabinet order date.

Group rooms where you can. Done as part of a larger renovation, a kitchen costs less per room: an Ontario renovator puts the saving at 15 to 25% against the same rooms done one at a time, because dust barriers, mechanical access, permits and design are shared rather than repeated.