From $25,000
Smaller, straightforward renovations
Complete renovations of smaller kitchens, subject to layout, selections and scope.
Pricing guide · Canberra & the ACT
Kitchen renovation costs in Canberra
Complete kitchen renovations we do in Canberra start from around $25,000 for smaller, straightforward kitchens, and most custom family kitchens fall between $30,000 and $40,000. That's the whole renovation — design, cabinetry, benchtops, trades and installation — not cabinetry alone. This guide explains what sits behind those figures so you can work out where your kitchen is likely to fall.
The short answer
How much does a complete kitchen renovation cost in Canberra?
These are indicative project budgets based on the kind of work we do — not fixed package prices, quotes or guarantees. Your kitchen is priced on its own size, layout, materials, services and scope.
$30,000–$40,000
Our typical target range
A complete custom kitchen renovation for a family home — the work we specialise in.
$40,000–$60,000+
Larger or more involved
Larger, more complex or higher-specification kitchen renovations.
Why nobody can price your kitchen from a web page
Two kitchens the same size in the same suburb can be thousands of dollars apart, because most of the cost is decided by things you can't see in a photo: how much cabinetry there is, what's behind the walls, whether services move, and which surfaces you choose.
These ranges are a genuine reflection of the work we do, not an advertising figure. A large renovation with significant structural or trade work will go beyond them, and we'd rather tell you that at the first phone call than discover it halfway through.
We give you an itemised quote after measuring your kitchen: cabinetry, benchtops, installation and the trades involved, each shown separately, so the agreed scope is set out in writing before any work starts.
Budget scenarios
What different budgets typically buy
Illustrative scopes, not quotes and not past customer prices.
What can a $25,000 kitchen renovation include?
From around $25,000
A smaller kitchen keeping its existing layout and service positions. Custom cabinetry in quality Polytec or Laminex door ranges, a laminate or entry-level benchtop, soft-close Blum or Hettich hardware throughout, a standard tiled splashback, minor electrical work, installation and removal of the old kitchen.
What does a $30,000–$40,000 renovation typically include?
Around $30,000–$40,000
A family kitchen with a modest layout change, an island or peninsula, your choice of benchtop material and edge profile, a good drawer and pantry storage package, relocated plumbing or power, a splashback, and make-good to floors and paint so the room is properly finished.
What changes when the budget reaches $40,000–$60,000?
$40,000–$60,000+
A larger kitchen or a bigger change: opening up to the living area, extensive tall and pantry joinery, integrated appliance cabinetry, thicker or waterfall benchtop details, specialist door finishes, or matching laundry and other joinery done at the same time.
These scenarios describe scope, not a fixed price list. Not every kitchen fits neatly into one of them, and we'll say so early if yours doesn't.
Not sure where your kitchen sits?
Tell us about your kitchen and budget and we'll give you an honest view before anyone visits. Or see completed Canberra kitchens.
Smaller budgets
Is $10,000 enough to renovate a kitchen in Canberra?
A $10,000 budget is generally not enough for a complete custom kitchen renovation, particularly when replacing cabinetry, benchtops and coordinating multiple trades.
However, if your existing kitchen cabinetry is in good condition, replacing the benchtops can make a significant visual difference without the cost of a complete renovation.
For homeowners wanting to refresh their kitchen without replacing the cabinetry, Canberra Benchtop Replacements provides a dedicated benchtop replacement service across Canberra. It's a separate specialist business under the same ownership as Vibrant Kitchens.
Explore Canberra Benchtop Replacements
Complete kitchen renovations through Vibrant Kitchens generally start from $25,000 for smaller, straightforward kitchens, depending on layout, selections and scope. These are indicative budgets, not fixed quotations.
Cost drivers
What costs the most in a kitchen renovation?
In rough order of impact for the Canberra kitchens we renovate.
Size and how much cabinetry there is
Cost follows linear metres of cabinetry more closely than room area. A compact galley with two runs is a materially different job from a large kitchen with an island, a bank of tall units and a butler's pantry.
Whether the layout changes
Keeping existing service locations can be one of the easiest ways to control renovation costs when the existing layout already works. Moving the sink, waste or power — or removing a wall — brings in more trades and more make-good.
Benchtop material and detailing
Laminate, stone-look mineral surfaces and other materials sit at genuinely different price points, and so do the details: edge profiles, thicker or waterfall ends, mitred joins, and large islands that need bigger slabs. The right choice depends on how you use the kitchen, not on one material being better for everyone.
Doors, panels and finishes
Standard Polytec and Laminex ranges are excellent value. Specialist finishes, textured or timbergrain doors and shaker profiles carry more material and more machining.
Hardware and storage
Soft-close Blum and Hettich runners and hinges are standard in our kitchens. Costs climb with drawer count, internal drawers, corner solutions, bin systems, pantry pull-outs and lift-up systems.
Demolition and rubbish removal
Taking out the old kitchen, making services safe and getting the waste off site. Straightforward on most jobs, more involved where there's tiling to old walls or asbestos-era materials that need assessment.
Plumbing and electrical
New circuits for appliances, relocated waste, rangehood venting and lighting. Older Canberra homes often need more electrical work than expected simply to meet current requirements.
Splashbacks, flooring and make-good
Tiling or glass, and whatever the old kitchen leaves behind: floors that stop at the old cabinet line, damaged plaster, bulkheads to remove, painting to finish the room properly.
Appliances
Usually supplied by the homeowner and sitting outside the renovation budget, but they influence the cabinetry. It's worth deciding on them early either way.
Comparing options
Custom cabinetry versus flatpack kitchen pricing
A flatpack kitchen is priced as a set of standard-sized boxes. The cabinetry itself is cheaper, but the price you see usually doesn't include removing the old kitchen, the trades, benchtops, installation or anyone coordinating it all. Those costs are still there — you just organise and pay for them separately.
Custom cabinetry is designed and built for your room. We make ours in our own workshop in Mitchell, so it fits the actual walls, uses the space that standard modules leave as fillers, and is built around your appliances and the way you cook.
The bigger difference is the renovation around it. Our price covers the whole job, managed from design to handover, with one point of contact and the trades sequenced for you. When comparing quotes, compare complete renovations to complete renovations, not cabinetry prices alone.
Your quote
What's normally included and excluded from a renovation quote
The exact inclusions depend on your individual quotation — everything that's in is listed in your proposal before work starts.
A complete renovation can involve
- Kitchen design and planning
- Removal and disposal of the existing kitchen
- Custom-manufactured cabinetry
- Benchtops and selected finishes
- Cabinetry installation
- Coordination of licensed plumbers and electricians
- Splashbacks, tiling, plastering, painting and flooring where specified
- Appliance installation and reconnection where included in the agreed scope
- Project coordination from design through to completion
Not automatically included
- Appliances and other fixtures you select yourself, unless specifically quoted
- Structural alterations and engineering
- Asbestos removal
- Approvals, where a project needs them
- Extensive flooring outside the kitchen
- Other building work that only becomes apparent once the old kitchen is removed
None of this rules a project out. Where extra work is needed, we can assess it and quote it so you see the full picture before deciding.
Getting value
How to manage your budget without sacrificing quality
- Spend on hardware. Runners and hinges are the parts you touch thousands of times a year, and they're the first thing to fail in a cheap kitchen.
- Spend on layout. Getting the plan right costs drawing time, not materials, and it's the thing you live with every day.
- Save by keeping services where they are, if the layout still works. Moving a sink is rarely worth it on its own.
- Save on door finish before you save on carcass construction. A good cabinet in a standard range outlasts a specialist finish on a poor box.
- Choose the benchtop material and edge profile for how you use the kitchen. A simpler edge or a standard thickness can free up budget for storage you'll use every day.
- Be realistic about appliances. They're often a bigger line item than people plan for and they sit outside the renovation budget.
- Tell us your budget early. It lets us design to it, rather than trimming a design back later.
Completed work
Complete renovations we've finished in Canberra
Genuine Vibrant Kitchens projects, showing the kind of custom kitchen this guide describes.
Common questions
Kitchen renovation budget questions
Can I get a complete kitchen renovation for $25,000?
For a smaller kitchen with a straightforward layout, often yes. That usually means keeping the sink, cooktop and power roughly where they are, choosing from standard door and panel ranges, and a laminate or entry-level benchtop. Once the layout changes or the kitchen gets bigger, the number moves up. We'll tell you at the first conversation whether $25,000 is realistic for your kitchen.
Is $30,000–$40,000 a realistic budget for a Canberra kitchen?
Yes — it's the range most of the custom family kitchens we design and build fall into. It typically allows for a well-planned layout, an island or peninsula, a good drawer and pantry storage package, your choice of benchtop material and edge profile, and the plumbing, electrical and finishing trades the job needs.
What pushes a kitchen renovation past $40,000?
Usually size and complexity rather than any one item: a large kitchen, removing a wall or relocating services, extensive tall and pantry joinery, integrated appliance cabinetry, thicker or waterfall benchtop details, or laundry and other joinery done at the same time. Larger renovations can sit anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000 and beyond.
Are appliances included in the price?
Generally not. Most homeowners choose and buy their own appliances, and we design the cabinetry around them and install and reconnect them where that's part of the agreed scope. If you'd like appliances included, we can price them into the quote.
What does managing the complete renovation actually involve?
We design the kitchen, build the cabinetry in our Mitchell workshop, and book and sequence the licensed plumbers, electricians and finishing trades so each one arrives when the job is ready for them. You have one point of contact from the first measure to handover, rather than coordinating separate contractors yourself.
Can the price change after I accept the quote?
Accepting your quotation establishes the agreed scope of work and price. If you request a variation, or unforeseen site conditions mean additional work is needed, we'll explain the work and any price adjustment and obtain your approval before proceeding, where practicable. An accepted price cannot simply be increased without a basis in the agreed terms, and your rights under Australian Consumer Law remain unchanged.
Related reading
What's included in a complete renovation
The full scope your quote covers, from demolition through to handover.
How design affects the budget
The decisions made at design stage that set most of the final cost.
When you pay and what happens when
The seven stages of a Vibrant renovation and where the quote sits in them.
Choosing a benchtop
Benchtop materials, finishes and edge profiles, and how each choice affects a budget.
Cabinetry and finishes
What you're paying for in the cabinetry, and how finish choices affect the figure.
Storage and hardware
Where extra drawers and better hardware are worth the money, and where they aren't.
Get a real number for your kitchen
Tell us your suburb, the kitchen you've got and roughly what you want to spend. We'll tell you honestly whether that's realistic before anyone visits.