The Eight Decisions That Decide Your Kitchen

The reason kitchen projects stall is almost never money. It is that the number of choices feels infinite, so no single choice feels safe to make, so none of them get made and the Pinterest board gets another year older.

The number is not infinite. Eight decisions set the budget, the schedule and the look of a kitchen. Everything else is downstream of them, and most of it is reversible. Made in the right order, the eight take a few weeks, not a few years, because each one narrows the next.

1. Does anything move

This is the decision that sets your budget band, and it should be made first because everything else is priced differently on each side of it.

Keeping the layout means the sink, the range and the walls stay where they are. A mid-range Houston kitchen that keeps its layout runs roughly $25,000 to $60,000. A full gut with layout changes runs $60,000 to $120,000 and up.

The gap is mostly plumbing and structure. Moving a sink or a drain without cutting the slab is $500 to $1,000. Moving one that requires cutting and patching the slab is $1,800 to $5,000, which is the biggest single surprise line on a Houston kitchen. Taking out a load-bearing wall on a one story slab across an 8 to 20 foot span is $3,000 to $5,250.

If the kitchen genuinely fights you, pay for the change. If it only looks tired, do not buy a new floor plan to fix a color problem. Galley vs. L-shape vs. island is where to settle this one.

2. Cabinets: keep, reface or replace

Cabinets are the largest line in most kitchens, so this decision sets the ceiling on everything after it.

Painting sound solid-wood doors runs $3,500 to $6,000 for a typical Houston kitchen of 20 to 30 doors. Refacing runs $150 to $450 per linear foot of run. New cabinets installed run $230 to $500 per linear foot across stock, semi-custom and custom.

The test is not price, it is the condition of the boxes and whether the layout works. Refacing vs. replacing cabinets covers how to check.

3. Countertop material

Made third because it depends on the cabinet run and because it is the surface you will touch most.

Houston installed ranges by family: granite entry $50 to $80 a square foot, granite mid $80 to $150, quartz mid grade $75 to $110, quartz high grade $90 to $200, quartzite $65 to $150, marble $40 to $150, porcelain slab $50 to $120.

Two things move that number more than the family does. Stone is bought by the slab, not by the foot, so a 55 square foot kitchen can still need two slabs once you allow for 15% to 25% fabrication waste. And a waterfall end is $800 to $1,800 a leg and eats 12 to 18 square feet of slab per side, which is frequently what tips a job into a second slab.

4. The sink and how the counter meets it

Small decision, outsized daily consequence. Sink size and mount type have to be settled before the countertop is templated, not after, because the cutout is cut once. A sink cutout is $100 to $300.

Whether you want an apron front changes the cabinet, not just the sink, which is why this sits at number four and not number nine.

5. Cooking

Gas, electric or induction is a decision with a wiring and plumbing tail. A gas line run for a range is $400 to $1,100. Induction typically wants a dedicated circuit, and a dedicated 20 amp circuit is $250 to $900. If the panel is already full, upgrading to 200 amp service is $1,200 to $2,150.

Decide this before cabinets are ordered, because the range and the hood set the cabinet run around them.

6. Flooring

Houston sits on expansive clay and slabs move seasonally, which is why solid hardwood is a harder sell here than in most of the country.

Installed ranges: LVP $3.50 to $9 a square foot, engineered wood $6 to $14, solid hardwood $8 to $20, standard porcelain tile $12 to $25, natural stone tile $15 to $30. Add tear-out, which runs about $2.25 a square foot for carpet, $2.50 for vinyl or laminate, $4 for tile.

Pattern is a bigger multiplier than material. Diagonal adds 30% to 40% to tile labor. Herringbone adds 50% to 75%.

7. Backsplash

The cheapest place in the kitchen to be brave, and the easiest place to overspend on labor. A simple field tile set straight is inexpensive to install. The same tile set in herringbone is not, and a full slab backsplash is priced as more countertop material, not as tile.

Make this decision after the countertop, never before, because it is the counter that is hard to match.

8. Light and power

The decision most often left until it is too late. Recessed can retrofits run $150 to $300 each. A new receptacle is $150 to $330. Electricians in Houston bill $75 to $150 an hour with a trip minimum, so a scattered list of small additions costs more than the parts imply.

Under-cabinet lighting has to be wired before the cabinets go up and the backsplash goes on. If it is remembered at the end, it stops being cheap.

What each decision actually moves

Why the order matters more than the choices

Look at the right-hand column. The decisions that cannot be undone sit at the top, and the ones you could live with changing sit at the bottom. That is not a coincidence, it is the correct sequence.

Most stalled projects are stalled on decision seven while decision one is still open. Choosing a backsplash before you know whether the wall behind it is moving is not progress, it is a way of feeling productive while avoiding the hard question.

So take them in order, and give yourself permission to close each one. A closed decision that is 90% right will produce a kitchen you love. An open decision that might be 100% right produces nothing at all, for years.

How Haven handles this

We do not hand you a catalog and wish you luck. For each of these eight, we bring a small curated set, usually three or four options that we already know work with your cabinets, your light and your budget, rather than everything a supplier sells.

And when you ask what we would do, we answer. Marilu has been walking Houston kitchens for a long time, and she will tell you plainly which of the three she would put in her own house and why, including when the honest answer is the cheaper one. You are free to overrule her. Most people want an opinion in the room, not a wall of samples.

If the decisions are what has been holding this up rather than the money, we will sit at your table and work through the eight in order with you.