Free Kitchen Remodel Estimate Template & Generator
A preliminary kitchen budget is built almost entirely out of allowances, because on the day you write it the homeowner has not chosen a door style, a slab, or a range. This one prices a 168 square foot galley off a measured field layout: demolition, cabinetry at a per linear foot allowance, countertop by the square foot, named appliance figures, the three trades separately, finishes, and a contingency sized against the scope below it.
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| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demolition and disposal allowance | 1 | $3,800.00 | $3,800.00 |
| Cabinet and countertop allowance | 1 | $18,500.00 | $18,500.00 |
| Plumbing and electrical allowance | 1 | $7,200.00 | $7,200.00 |
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Use-case checklist
What to include in a kitchen remodel estimate
Homeowners remember the first number. Hand over a single figure for a kitchen before selections exist and that figure becomes the budget in their mind, no matter how many times you said preliminary out loud. Six weeks later they come back from the showroom with inset doors and a quartzite slab, the real cost lands thousands higher, and the conversation is about your integrity rather than about their selections. Allowances written as allowances prevent that, but only if each one carries its basis on the line: 22 linear feet at $420 supplied, 58 square feet fabricated at $78, a named dollar figure for each appliance. Then a change is arithmetic the homeowner can do without you. The kitchen is also the room a household cannot live without, so every week of schedule you fail to account for is a cost somebody feels.
- property and preliminary layout
- demolition, cabinetry, counters, and trades
- appliance, fixture, and finish allowances
- permits, schedule, and temporary facilities
- concealed conditions, exclusions, and path to a firm quote
Example starting lines
| Description | Qty | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Demolition and disposal allowance | 1 | $3,800 |
| Cabinet and countertop allowance | 1 | $18,500 |
| Plumbing and electrical allowance | 1 | $7,200 |
Complete it cleanly
Reference the measured layout and concept plan, separate trade allowances, list owner selections still pending, and show unit rates or contingency for concealed plumbing, electrical, or structural conditions.
How to make a kitchen remodel estimate in 6 steps
Open the estimate generator
Start from this page so the estimate opens with fields and sample lines already set up for kitchen remodelers and design-build contractors. No account is needed to create or preview.
Enter both parties
Add your business name, address and contact details, then the customer name and address exactly as they should appear on the record.
Add the kitchen remodel lines
Replace each sample line with the real work or goods. Make sure the document shows property and preliminary layout, demolition, cabinetry, counters, and trades, appliance, fixture, and finish allowances.
Check the figures
Totals calculate as you type. Confirm quantities, rates, any tax line and the final total against your own records before you send anything.
Set the reference and dates
Give the estimate a unique number and the correct date so it can be traced later and matched to related documents.
Review and download the PDF
Reference the measured layout and concept plan, separate trade allowances, list owner selections still pending, and show unit rates or contingency for concealed plumbing, electrical, or structural conditions. Preview is free; a PDF download costs $4.99, or is included with Unlimited.
Worked example
A 168 sq ft galley budgeted before any selections exist
Marisol Reyes asked Northbank Design Build for a budget before choosing anything, so this estimate prices her 168 sq ft galley kitchen at 77 Linden Court off a field measure dated March 4, 2026 and concept plan CP-2. No cabinet, counter, or appliance selections exist yet.
- Scope basis: 168 sq ft kitchen, field measure dated Mar 4, 2026 and concept plan CP-2, no selections made
- CP-2
- Demolition and disposal: cabinets, counters, flooring, 2 walls of backsplash, one 9 ft non-bearing wall removed, 2 dumpster pulls
- $4,850.00
- Cabinetry allowance, semi-custom: 22 lf of base and wall boxes total, including the 36 in island run, at $420.00 per lf supplied
- $9,240.00
- Countertop allowance: 58 sq ft of slab at $78.00 per sq ft fabricated and installed, one undermount sink cutout
- $4,524.00
- Appliance allowance, owner selects: range $2,200.00, hood $650.00, dishwasher $900.00, refrigerator $2,400.00
- $6,150.00
- Trades: electrical $6,800.00 (12 circuits, 6 recessed, under-cabinet, 2 dedicated appliance circuits); plumbing $3,900.00 (sink relocated 4 ft, supply and waste, disposal, dishwasher); HVAC $1,450.00 (hood duct to exterior)
- $12,150.00
- Finishes: 168 sq ft LVP at $9.50 installed $1,596.00; 32 sq ft backsplash allowance at $18.00 installed $576.00; paint $1,250.00; drywall and patching $1,900.00
- $5,322.00
- Temporary kitchen setup in the dining room, sink and counter; permit and plan review fees billed at cost when issued
- $600.00
- Contingency at 10% of the $42,836.00 of scope above, concealed conditions inside this scope only, unused balance credited on the final invoice
- $4,283.60
- Estimate total, 18% overhead and profit on $47,119.60, expires June 4, 2026
- $55,601.13
The allowance lines are not prices. Cabinetry selected at $600 per linear foot instead of $420 adds $3,960 plus the 18 percent markup, or $4,672.80, and counters and appliances move the same way. Put that sentence on the page, not into a conversation two months later.
When this document is the right choice
Use this estimate to set a realistic expected cost before the final scope is known. An estimate is an informed approximation, not a final invoice. State the assumptions that could move the price and replace it with a quote or invoice once scope is confirmed.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write a cabinetry allowance so the homeowner does not read it as the price?
Put the unit basis on the line, not in a footnote: 22 linear feet of base and wall boxes total, including the 36 inch island run, semi-custom, at $420 per foot supplied. Stating the run as a total is what keeps the island from reading as an unpriced extra. A homeowner can then do the arithmetic when the showroom quotes $600 and see the $3,960 difference themselves. Carry the allowance as its own line in every draw so the actual supplier invoice sits beside it, and state that your overhead and profit applies to that difference exactly as it applies to base scope.
The plan removes the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Can I price that before an engineer looks at it?
Price the demolition and the patching, and carry the structure as a stated exclusion until someone qualified has looked at it. Whether that 9 foot opening needs a beam, what size, and what happens at the bearing points below are questions an engineer answers, and the answer can add a beam, posts, footing work, and sometimes another inspection. Write that the estimate assumes a non-bearing wall based on visual observation only, and that structural design, engineering fees, and any framing the engineer specifies are priced separately once the drawing exists.
What belongs outside a preliminary kitchen budget entirely?
Anything you cannot see and anything the homeowner has not decided. Keep out utility service upgrades, structural work, remediation of whatever is behind the plaster in an older house, floor leveling you have not measured, and permit and plan review fees, which you can list at cost instead. Testing requirements for older homes vary by jurisdiction and with the age of the house, so confirm what applies with your building department rather than assuming. Then write each exclusion where the homeowner reads the total, and pair it with the event that resolves it: after demolition, after the engineer's drawing, after the plumber opens the sink wall. An exclusion with no resolution attached reads as a dodge. One with a resolution reads as a schedule.
What is the contingency actually for, and who keeps it if it is not spent?
Say both on the line. In the example the 10 percent covers concealed conditions inside the priced scope only, meaning the surprise behind the sink wall, not the homeowner adding an island. Selections above allowance are not contingency, they are allowance differences, and mixing the two is how a contingency vanishes without anyone noticing. Then state the disposition plainly, most commonly that any unused balance is credited to the homeowner on the final invoice, because a contingency with no stated owner is assumed to be yours.
The homeowner has made their selections. How do I turn this budget into a firm quote?
Replace each allowance with a real number and say on the face of the revision which allowance each one replaced. Cabinetry becomes the supplier's quoted price carrying its own quote date, counters become the fabricator's figure after template, appliances become model numbers, and the contingency usually shrinks once demolition has exposed the walls. Show the movement in one column rather than making the homeowner recompute the kitchen, because a client who can see exactly where the $9,240 went is not the client asking whether the budget was ever real. Reset the expiration date while you are there. A fabricator's price after template and a cabinet quote both have their own shelf life, and a firm quote assembled from three expired numbers has quietly turned back into a budget.
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