We did a full gut bathroom and kitchen in 2017. We didn’t remove walls, move plumbing/gas or get new appliances and it cost 60k in a low cost of living area I think your budget is unrealistic. I’m sorry.

I agree with @ericakn $50-$60K would not cover everything, but that is a good start.

Gosh around me i’d expect just the bathroom to cost that. i’m in a vhcol area though… but once you talk removing walls you’re likely getting into electrical, engineering, replacing flooring, etc etc. typically its best to leave range against a wall as well for safety and venting.

if you’ve just moved in i’d alway recommend living in the space for 6 months before making any major decisions. except maybe that carpet, because who carpets a bathroom????

A good way to get a reasonable idea for your budget is to get on the Ikea kitchen planner software. I haven't used it in a long time, but I found it pretty easy to figure out.

Ikea has very good quality cabinets. Others will point out that once you factor in installation costs, there are other options out there however, if you watch some youtube videos, you two may decide you can do this yourselves and save money.

In any event, that exercise with the planner will give you a good idea of your lower budget cabinet costs. You can certainly buy a counter-depth frig pre-owned. You can shop around for a budget sink and use laminate or "prefab" counters or wood tops. You can save a lot of money by shopping for budget hardware and faucet and the like. You can put down inexpensive sheet vinyl for the flooring while you save your money for an upgrade. (But be advised that many folks, like me, like the flooring to run underneath the cabinets, so at least make sure your cabinets are as lifted as they need to be for your future flooring).

Now you have enough money left over for a structural engineer and GC to look into demo-ing that wall.

As for the bathroom: put down sheet vinyl in lieu of the carpet and paint the walls a warm white to cover that awful dark gray that does not complement the existing tile. Hold off on a bigger remodel.

Do yourself a favor and do nothing for the first 6 months. What you think you want when you first move into a house turns out to be the wrong thing because of how YOU live, how the light is in the house, etc. Wait. Figure out what works and what doesn't.

New bathrooms alone come in at your budget where i live. Good luck.

I agree with what everyone is saying, esp. the part about waiting 6 months. I know that’s hard to hear but it’s great advice. We moved into our home last year and it has some functional issues that I thought would make me miserable while we wait to renovate but it’s interesting to see what I don’t even notice anymore. I thought I wanted to gut the kitchen but have decided since living here to keep the cabinets because they work great.

We’re still waiting on our contractor to have availability for our remodel, so in the meantime I’ve done lots of painting and other small improvements to make the home more comfortable and attractive. I see several DIY projects you could tackle in your space while you save for your reno.

Also from experience in my previous home, buy the best fixtures and finishes for your remodel the first time. This may mean you only do the bathroom for now and then circle back and do the kitchen later. Don’t cheap out on materials so you can have “new” sooner.

We just completed a kitchen and bath full reno for about $75K. We did not change the footprint and used the existing appliances. I do not know if your budget expectations are realistic. I agree with @beeboo22 that using the best fixtures and finishes now will save you in the long run.

In my area, no, that's probably not a reasonable expectation. Even inexpensive, off-the-shelf cabinets alone are likely to be $30k with install. Counters say $10k. Very inexpensive appliances $5k. Backsplash $3k. Hardware $1.5k. Electrical and plumbing say $5k. Removing wall and adding beam at least $5k. That spends your budget just in the kitchen. Those are made up numbers but I think not far off for mid- to low-end. The bathroom, I think, is probably a more more involved project than you are envisioning. I would figure at least another $20-25k conservatively.

In my market, the average kitchen remodel is $100k and the average primary bath remodel is $50k.

Also, I do think you should consider a layout change in the kitchen as the refrigerator doesn't fit well where it is. I imagine the corner cabinet is very difficult to access. Given the size of the kitchen, I would consider a range instead of separate ovens. And I would reconsider opening up the range wall until you assess how much storage you need.

50-60K range is a medium to small kitchen with no structural changes, largely DIY, with just above builder grade, serviceable, but not upscale or designer, products. Or it could be a low to mid level 5 piece master bath, with the work done by contractors. Depends on the size.

@User I think my 11x11 kitchen looks pretty good and it was in that range. definitely not builder grade and not DIY. It depends on where you are.

@DeWayne I think my 11x11 kitchen looks pretty good and it was in that range. definitely not builder grade and not DIY. It depends on where you are.

You make DeWayne's point in that you spent that amount just for your kitchen. The OP wants to do his kitchen, bath and remove what is probably a load bearing wall for the same amount. Their budget doesn't meet their expectations.

@Kristin Petro Interiors, Inc. - OP said "because it’s just the two of us, and change from the gas cooktop and wall oven to an induction range"

I agree with you that removing that wall would also remove all that cabinet storage on that wall, not to mention the expense of wall removal.

@cpartist As I stated in my previous comment, I agree that the budget is unrealistic. I was saying a $60K budget can be enough for a nice kitchen depending on where you are located.

I was saying a $60K budget can be enough for a nice kitchen depending on where you are located.

My bad. I misunderstood. :)

60K is still 20K under the national average for a midrange cost kitchen redo. And right at 100K below an upscale kitchen redo. Read the Cost vs Value. It accounts for location. https://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2022/

Thanks for all the input, everyone. We’ll recalibrate our expectations.

@User - that link is suss. You must "register" to see what they say a kitchen remodel costs in your zip code. That is information harvesting so they can sell your information for Direct Marketing purposes - i.e. spam. Your linked website is "Remodeling by JLC". Who is Remodeling by JLC, and why are their statistics something to rely on and believe? Every other website that provides renovation costs statistics are much lower than $80k for a midrange kitchen redo, more in the $40-60k range depending on location. Obviously the $40-60k can be higher depending on the choices the homeowner makes, but $80k is not an "average number for a midrange kitchen redo".

So just to be clear, the "Cost vs. Value" report is interesting and maybe better than picking a number out of the clear blue sky, but numbers from that report are not trustworthy given the absence of any real methodology.

Their "cost" data comes from an outside vendor, and they say nothing about what that data is other than "it is grounded in the company's insights working with professional contractors and remodelers across the U.S." I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.

Their "value" data is even worse - it's not based on sales of homes that have undergone that type of renovation, but instead broad socioeconomic factors: "an econometric model that predicts project values based on best overall fit using a broad selection of variables, including changes in median household income, changes in number employed, changes in unemployment rates, local GDP, housing starts, existing home sales, existing home values, changes in existing home sales and existing home values, as well as others."

So again, it's perhaps better than nothing but I personally would not place any reliance on either number.

It depends on what one considers a ”nice kitchen.”

@darbuka Sorry if calling my kitchen nice offended you.

@Angela RH, I wasn’t offended. Why would I be? I was just saying, everyone has a different idea what ”nice” is.

That annual survey of industry remodelers and realtors has been around for 27 years, and is well respected in both industries. The numbers are good, realistic, talking points, if you dive into the specifications. If you do not want to give up an email, then use a throwaway, or fake one. It's no big deal.

@Brendon Parmelee = in the interest of helping you with your budget, what "existing components" are you interested in selling?

DeWayne The data is not collected via survey. They admit in the methodology that they eliminated the realtor survey entirely, and the costs also do not appear to be based on a survey. Take a look yourself: https://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2022/methodology

I'm not saying it's useless, but it's certainly not very useful.

“If you do not want to give up an email, then use a throwaway, or fake one. It's no big deal.”

To ”register” on the link you provided, you need to fill in email, name, full address, and answer questions about your project and when you plan to start on it. The site won’t give you information for your zip code without all that. As I said, they are harvesting information for direct marketing/spamming people. Sure, you can fill in fake info as you said, but why take the time to fill that out for a website that does not appear to have reliable information. Meanwhile, anyone can google ”average cost of kitchen renovation in my zip code”, and several websites come up, sites that don’t ask for personal information.

I would leave kitchen as is. I would just paint it. Like others said - wait a bit to see what you like/don’t like about it.
As for the bathroom , I personally would start there as carpet (to me) is a no-no in the bathroom. I would remove the carpet and lay down wood looking tile, get your free standing tub, etc. that seems more important to me as the kitchen seems ok just needs some sprucing up for now.

pull up the carpet in the bathroom and throw down sheet vinyl. Like everyone else says live there and make sure no other major catastrophes come along before you renovate. Our first week in our home we found out the line to the outside water was cracked and I tried to water the new flower bed and flooded the basement!

I have been in my home for 12 years and my husband stuck to "mechanicals first" before he let me deep dive into renovation. 5 years in the roof came before the kitchen, then the upstairs gut came before the kitchen. 10 years in I got the kitchen and I am so glad I waited because I really knew what I needed for our lifestyle.

We tackled one major project a year, paid cash for it, and slowly got the home we love.

Save the reno money for now, put it in a high yield account, and let time add to your bankroll.

edited to add my small kitchen came in about 60k, in 2021, for a 1500sf bungalow. We moved a wall, the pantry. doors, reconfigured most of the space and I installed custom cabinetry. I used the original floors found under 3 layers of linoleum and a subfloor. All new electrical and some plumbing changes, including moving the gas line and adding a water line for the fridge.

That number doesn't include the chimney repair we needed when we decide to expose the chimney and discovered we needed a new liner, or all the peripherals like décor, furniture, and lighting fixtures.