Prices vary widely from one seller to the next and geographic location makes a big difference too.

I can tell you that in the Midwest and outside of the major cities where we're located, I recently worked on a kitchen about that size. Two walls had cabinets and there was one island. Nothing fancy in terms of appearance but the inner workings were all high end. This means stuff like Blum hardware, pullout shelving, Corian counters with undermount sink, customized lazy susans and specialized drawers).

The total cost for that came just under $20,000 with taxes, install and everything included. Granite would have only raised the price a few hundred.

If you're in the city, expect to pay more - especially considering you're working with a designer and probably have one or two middlemen involved. I'd also guess the East coast and West coast are more expensive than the Midwest.

How much is a blue car? You're asking the same type of question.

Yes to all of your guesses. Would that include appliances? Could really swing it.

I kind of understand where the OP is coming from. Before beginning my kitchen remodel, I had no idea how much it would cost and couldn't even begin to guess. I often hear people on GW saying that you need to know your budget, but if you've never done anything like that before, you don't know what a realistic budget is, either on the high end or the low end. It wasn't until I sat down and started pricing out each individual item that I could actually see how much money I would realistically need. Things like electrical, drywall, etc. I had to estimate, but having pretty accurate costs for everything else made it much easier to pin down costs to somewhere in the realm of reality. Of course I ended up going over budget, but not by too much and I did make one costly mistake (two backsplashes!) and demo revealed a problem that required an engineer's involvement and some additional expenses I hadn't planned on. One other interesting thing I noticed ... when thinking about costs in my head, I would imagine a sink would cost so much and faucet would cost so much, etc., etc., but then I was shocked when I started going in to showrooms and saw the ACTUAL costs ... who knew those things could cost so much? Not me!!

I can only tell you what I spent on our kitchen. It was a complete gut and reno. We moved the location of the kitchen, so there was quite a bit of construction work including electrical and plumbing. All new sheet rock, hardwood floors, cabinets, countertops, backsplash, hardware, and lighting. All in, our actual cost was a bit over $30K. Check out details of my renovation under post heading "My Medallion Kitchen Reveal". Has several pictures.

Good luck with your kitchen.

" Before beginning my kitchen remodel, I had no idea how much it would cost and couldn't even begin to guess. ..."
That is the most common state of things. I suggest to clients to pick a number (this is what my DW does) and see what it gets you. How do you pick a number when you know nothing? how much are you comfortable with? what would you like? how much makes you uncomfortable?
Pick somewhere in between. Then find a KD who will work with you and explain what you get for what you want to spend. It's a way to start and it helps in evaluating who you are working with.
There are suggested guidelines- 10-20% of the home value; quite a swing in there. What you'd spend on a new car-I drive a glorified go cart but have a to die for kitchen.

New construction is trickier but in an attempt to give you an idea....
11 x 11 done right (good detail and function) with modest style choices -to ceiling with moldings
Cabinets- 9-20k (low mid range to mid range) realistically mid teens- style choices can swing price by up to 40%
Counters- no island? 36 sq ft at 60-120 per ft
appliances- too many variables- shop around on line a little
floor- 140 ft at 8-20 per ft.
electric- should be in house price
undercabinet lights- 3-700
hardware-150-500
sink and faucet-300-3000
room lighting-
construction- in house price
cabinet install- 1500-5000 depending on complexity

For remodels, here in the northeast, a well done, mid range kitchen including all construction, middle of mid range cabinets, counter, electric, new floor, new lighting, and appliances all done carefully but with a few splurges 35-45k...minimal 30k being very caution with bargain appliances...extravagant $$$$
Cabinets tend to go up at around 10% per grade, maxing out at about a 35- 50% increase for apples to apples from mid mid to top shelf.

Very helpful post, jakuvall. I agree that the "suggested guidelines" are somewhat pointless. Given my area in So. Cal., 20% of my homes value would have given me a WAY over-improved kitchen for my home and neighborhood! Home values here area crazy for what you actually get.

Thank you so much to everyone who attempted to answer my open ended question. I am in the NE, so will probably end up being on the high end of some of those estimates. We spent a few hours in Lowe's this weekend and I think my DH has a better idea of what is involved.