2026 local estimate · updated 2026-07-22
Cost to remodel a kitchen in New Orleans, LA
A typical kitchen remodel in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA area runs $65,394, with most projects landing between $9,342 and $121,446 — about 7% below the national average.
Low
$9,342
Basic materials, simple job
Typical
$65,394
What most people pay
High
$121,446
Premium materials or complex job
What's priced: Mid-range remodel of a typical kitchen — new cabinets, countertops, sink and fixtures — without moving walls or relocating plumbing. Excludes permits, structural repairs found mid-job, and premium upgrades.
Why New Orleans is cheaper than average
Almost entirely labor. Carpenters in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA area earn about 19% less than the national mean for the same occupation, per Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. Because kitchen remodel is roughly 35% labor, that difference flows straight into the total.
Cabinets and countertops are the largest line items in a kitchen remodel and are bought rather than built on site, so materials carry most of the cost. Labor share rises on gut renovations that move plumbing or electrical, and falls on cabinet-and-counter refreshes.
Get a number for your own job
The figures above are for a standard project. Your size, materials, and access will move them. Run your own specification through the calculator, then apply the ×0.812 local labor factor to the labor portion.
Open the kitchen remodel calculator →Permits for a kitchen remodel in New Orleans
Issuing authority: City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits (plumbing permits: Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans)
New Orleans exempts replacing cabinets and countertops from a building permit as long as the job doesn't also include replacing plumbing fixtures or any fixed equipment — if the job also replaces plumbing fixtures or fixed equipment, that exemption no longer applies. When a permit is required, the building fee is $60 plus $5 per $1,000 of the work's value, and if plans are required there's a separate plan review fee of $1 per $1,000, with a $60 minimum on that review fee.
Properties inside a local historic district pay an additional 50% surcharge on the permit fee. Plumbing runs on a separate track: those permits are issued by the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, not the Department of Safety and Permits that handles the building permit, so a kitchen job with new plumbing means dealing with two different offices.
When a permit is needed
- “Replacement of cabinets and countertops when it does not also include replacement of plumbing fixtures or any fixed equipment.” — City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits (plumbing permits: Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans), Guide to Building Permits - City of New Orleans (105.2 Work Exempt from Permit) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Fees
- “The building permit fee is $60 plus $5 per $1000 of work to be performed (use the formula: job value x .005 + $60)” — City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits (plumbing permits: Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans), Guide to Building Permits - City of New Orleans (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “If plans are required there is a plan review fee of $1 per $1000 of work to be performed (job value x .001 + permit fee from above). Please note that the minimum Plan Review fee is $60.” — City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits (plumbing permits: Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans), Guide to Building Permits - City of New Orleans (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “If a property is within a local historic district there is a 50% surcharge on the permit fee (job value x .0025 + fees from above)” — City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits (plumbing permits: Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans), Guide to Building Permits - City of New Orleans (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Fees for building permits (not including demolition): $60 base fee + $5 per $1000 of construction value.” — City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits (plumbing permits: Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans), City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits - Building Permit Fee Schedule (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Also published
- “Plumbing permits are issued by the Sewerage and Water Board, not the Department of Safety & Permits.” — City of New Orleans Department of Safety & Permits (plumbing permits: Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans), Guide to Building Permits - City of New Orleans (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Quoted verbatim; not recalculated.
Rules set by the state of Louisiana
- Louisiana requires remodeling contractors to register with the state: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Nearby metros
- Kitchen remodel in Baton Rouge, LA — typically $65,884
- Kitchen remodel in Columbia, SC — typically $65,394
- Kitchen remodel in Chattanooga, TN — typically $65,419
Compare kitchen remodel cost across every US metro we cover — the same labor-adjusted model as this page, ranked from most to least expensive, if you want the national picture rather than New Orleans alone.
How we calculate this
We take a national installed-cost range, split it into labor and materials, and scale only the labor half by this metro's actual wage data. That is the whole model — no black box, and reproducible from the figures on this page.
- National range: $10,000–$130,000, from our kitchen remodel cost data (last verified 2026-07-13).
- Labor share: 35%. An industry rule of thumb, not a measured value — the softest assumption here, which is why we state it rather than bury it.
- Metro labor factor: ×0.812, being the mean annual wage for Carpenters in New Orleans-Metairie, LA divided by the national mean for the same occupation.
- Materials: held at the national level. We vary labor by metro and hold materials at the national level. That is deliberate: shingles, copper, HVAC equipment, and cabinets are nationally traded and priced, and what actually varies locally is freight and sales tax — both small next to the labor spread. We have no metro-level materials index we can defend, so rather than invent one, we vary only what we can source.
Wage source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), metropolitan area estimates, May 2025. A U.S. Government work, in the public domain and free to reuse. Where BLS suppresses wage data for a metro, we publish no page for it rather than fill the gap with an estimate.
Educational estimate only. A real quote for your specific property beats any model, including ours — get at least three.
Related
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to remodel a kitchen in New Orleans, LA?+
A typical project in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA area runs about $65,394, with most falling between $9,342 and $121,446. Of the typical figure, roughly $19,894 is labor and $45,500 is materials. That puts New Orleans about 7% below the national typical cost of $70,000.
Why is it cheaper to remodel a kitchen in New Orleans, LA than the national average?+
Almost entirely labor. Carpenters in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA area earn about 19% less than the national average for the same occupation, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. Because kitchen remodel is roughly 35% labor, that wage difference flows through to the total. Materials are priced nationally and barely move between metros.
What's included in these New Orleans, LA estimates?+
Installed cost — materials plus labor for a standard project of this type. It does not include permits, which vary by municipality, structural repairs discovered mid-job, or premium upgrades. The range reflects genuine variation in scope and material grade, not uncertainty about the metro. Always get at least three local quotes before budgeting; a real quote for your specific property will beat any estimate, including ours.
How is this different from a national average with the city name swapped in?+
We split the national installed cost into labor and materials, then scale only the labor half using the actual mean wage for Carpenters in this specific metro area, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Materials stay at the national level because we have no defensible metro-level materials index — shingles and HVAC equipment are nationally traded, and only freight and sales tax really vary. Where BLS suppresses wage data for a metro, we do not publish a page for it at all rather than fill the gap with a guess.